COMMENTS & NOTES
MEMO 1:
CREW
2nd Lt Frank H.Meadows P KIA 8/10/43 BREMEN SN# O-672378
2nd Lt Lloyd W.Evans CP KIA 8/10/43 BREMEN SN# O-677693
2nd Lt FranK B.Bush NAV KIA 8/10/43 BREMEN SN# O-735264
2nd Lt William C.Hubbard BOM P0W 8/10/43 BREMEN SN# O-669408
T/Sgt Harold R.Jackson TTE KIA 8/10/43 BREMEN SN# 38131435
T/Sgt Leo R.Cannon ROG POW 28/4/44 SOTTEVAST(With W.G.Lakin) see NOTE below SN# 34354823
S/Sgt Richard H.Agor BTG KIA 8/10/43 BREMEN SN# 13052841
S/Sgt James F.Ward RWG POW 8/10/43 BREMEN SN# 32518361
S/Sgt Vlncent D.Sapone TG KIA 8/10/43 BREMEN SN# 12096707
350th Sqdn. Joined,as above,the 100th Group on 25/8/43.
This was the crew's eighth mission. Leo Cannon was replaced for this mission by Sgt.Robert H.Wussow who was KIA. Wussow was from the crew of Lt R.F.Claytor. Also on this 8/10/43 mission was Sgt Dexter B.Pate,LWG, who was KIA.
Apparently 2 bombs hung up in bomb bay over target(Bremen). A/C then hit by direct flak burst which blew
one waist gunner out of ship. Hubbard later stated that he believed both Meadows & Evans were killed by
the flak burst and that Bush said; "I'm getting the hell out of this plane" and bailed out of the nose
hatch. Hubbard further states that he thought Bush''s chute caught fire and burned in midair
Statement of James Ward: "The reason I cannot answer most of the questions is because our plane had two
bombs which failed to release,they were hit by flak,causing the plane to explode. I
was lucky enough to get out alive with quite a few injuries, which caused me to go unconsious after I
pulled my rip cord.Therefore I didn't see any more of the crew".
MISSIONS OF LT FRANK MEADOWS:
1. 03/09/43 PARIS A/C# 230840 LN-O
2. 15/09/43 PARIS A/C# 230358 LN-X PHARTZAC
3. 16/09/43 LaPALLICE A/C# 230047 LN-Q SWEATER GIRL
4. 23/09/43 VANNES A/C# 230047 LN-Q SWEATER GIRL
5. 27/09/43 EMDEN A/C# 230047 LN-Q SWEATER GIRL
6. 2/10/43 EMDEN A/C# 230725 LN-Z AW-R-GO
7. 4/10/43 HANAU A/C# 230840 LN-O
8. 8/10/43 BREMEN A/C# 230358 LN-X PHARTZAC
CREW
M.A.C.R #947 Micro fiche #313 350th Sqdn.
Mission: Bremen A/C #42-30358 "PHARTZAC"
Date: 8 Oct.1943
1st Lt Frank H.Meadows P KIA
2nd Lt Lloyd W.Evans CP KIA
2nd Lt Frank B.Bush NAV KIA
2nd Lt William C.Hubbard BOM POW
S/Sgt Robert H.Wussow ROG KIA From "Original" Crew #11 Lt Roy Claytor
T/Sgt Harold R.Jackson TTE KIA
S/Sgt Richard H.Agor BTG KIA
S/Sgt James F.Ward WG POW
Sgt Dexter B.Pate WG KIA
S/Sgt Vincent D.Sapone TG KIA
This was the eighth mission for all members of this crew with the exception of Bob Wussow & Dexter Pate. Wussow, the radio operator on the original crew #11-Lt Roy Claytor,was probably about at the end of his tour.Sgt Pate was likely a replacement on the crew and the number of his missions is not known.
Lt.Hubbard,after the war,stated; "The reason I cannot answer most of these questions is because our plane had two bombs that failed to release and received a flak hit which caused them to explode. I being lucky enough to get out alive with quite a few injuries that caused me to become unconsious after I pulled the rip cord. One waist gunner (Jim Ward)was blown thru the side of the plane as it exploded. His chute opened and he reached ground.
S.O.C. P.20/23 has touching story of Agor ordering (in Sept.) roses to be sent to his mother in Shamokin,Pa for Christmas. They arrived many weeks after his death.
S.O.C. p.22 "James Ward,a gunner blown out of .Meadows'ship,pulled the rip cord before his mind blotted out,and Bill Hubbard,descending in his chute,saw Meadow's Fort drop by a super-highway near Bremen.Hubbard was clapped in "solitary",and threatened with death unless he would "talk",but he refused,and the Germans forced him to walk 100 miles to prison. Ward was unconscious 10 days in a hospital."
The dead of this crew were buried in a cemetary at Waller Friedhof,near Bremen.
Inbox :: Message
From: Jabo
To: Michael Faley
Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 3:54 am
Subject: S/Sgt Sapone 8th oct 1943
Dear Mr. Faley,
the eye witness report is only a voice report,but here the story which told me Mr. Peper from Fischerhude.
I have added some suggestions in (). :
One day in october 1943 (8 th oct ) I was 3 or 4 kilometers west of Fischerhude on a field to look at the cows.I saw a plane that smoked and suddenly it exploded above me.Debri fall down around me like rain.I belive 8 men died. One wrecked part of the aircraft was still at the place where it falled down, all the time untill the end of the war.It looked like something where you can mounted weapons.(Maybe a part from the tail.) I collected cartridges there and wondered ,something smelled but I have not had a idea what it was.After the war I realized it.As they (whoever it was) clean the fields from that what was left from the plane ,they found in or under the wrecked part a body. (S/Sgt Sapone ?)
Round about 15 minutes after the first plane crashed ,a second one came down in a spin ,touched a high voltage cable and exploded.It crashed between Fischerhude and Surheide.Nothing what was left from the plane was bigger than a car.(Shepherd crew,390th BG,crashed Quelkhorn. I have a photocopy from the photo that shows the crashsite.)
End of Report.
Recived now a page from MACR 783 ( Shepherd,390 BG) that shows a german KU report where 3 airmen reported dead,one of them S/Sgt. Sapone. Sapone coudn´t be the man who was found after the war. Does anybody know where the B-17 # 42-30358 crashed exactly?
Regards from Germany
Jabo
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I know a man, who was 17 in 1943.He found in the night after the crash a Flight Jacket at that location where the first aircraft crashed.He show me the jacket, it is a B-3 model,size 36R.One sleeve was damaged and replaced by a new one (other typ of leather )just after the war.But now the best: At one of the rips,to close the jacket at the throat,there was written on a rank and a name,but unreadable.The only thing I was able to read was the rank, a Lt.
Now it will be nice to know whom jacket it was.Is there a way to find out the size from the officers ?
Sorry for my simple english but it is 25 years ago that I have learned it at school.
Regards
Jens-Michael Brandes
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:00 am Post subject:
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NOTE:
CREW (28 Apr 44)
COL ROBERT H. KELLY COM KIA 28 APR 44 SOTTEVAST (NOBALL)
CAPT WILLIAM G. LAKIN P KIA 28 APR 44 SOTTEVAST (NOBALL)
LT HERBERT A. ALF CP POW 28 APR 44 SOTTEVAST (NOBALL)
CAPT JOSEPH "BUBBLES" PAYNE NAV KIA 28 APR 44 SOTTEVAST (NOBALL) (BLAKELY CREW, LEAD NAVIGATOR)
LT MAURICE H. CAIN BOM POW 28 APR 44 SOTTEVAST (NOBALL)
T/SGT LEO R. CANNON ROG POW 28 APT 44 SOTTEVAST (NOBALL) (FROM MEADOWS CREW)
T/SGT JAMES C. BROWN TTE KIA 28 APR 44 SOTTEVAST (NOBALL)
S/SGT ALBERT M. FREITAS BTG POW 28 APR 44 SOTTEVAST (NOBALL) (FROM DEMARCO CREW)
S/SGT JOHN N. SPIKER WG KIA 28 APR 44 SOTTEVAST (NOBALL)
S/SGT JOSEPH A.RICHARD WG POW 28 APR 44 SOTTEVAST (NOBALL)
S/.SGT DELBERT E. BARNHART TG KIA 28 APR 44 SOTTEVAST (NOBALL)
COL KELLY COMMANDED THE 100TH FOR ONE WEEK AND TWO DAYS. HE WAS LOST ON HIS FIRST MISSION TO SOTTEVAST. AT TAKE-OFF TIME THE NEW COMMANDER ELECTED TO BUMP THE 100TH'S BEST FLIGHT LEADER (CAPT JACK SWARTOUT) AND LEAD HIMSELF. THE RESULTS WERE A DISASTER, TWO SHIPS WERE LOST WHEN THE COL ELECTED TO MAKE A SECOND RUN OVER THE TARGET AT THE SAME ALTITUDE AND ON THE SAME HEADING. AMOUNG THE KIA'S WAS THE 100TH BELOVED LEAD NAVIGATOR JOSEPH "BUBBLES" PAYNE; SAID BY JIM BROWN AND HARRY CROSBY TO HAVE BEEN THE BEST.
This was what can best be called a "pick-up" crew of veteran airmen, with the exception of Col. Kelly fresh from the States
and had became the 100th's Commanding Officer only nine days prior to the mission. Joe "Bubbles" Payne was
a member of the original air echelon of the Group as were T/Sgt James C. Brown and S/Sgt Albert M. Freitas.
With the exception of Magee Fuller, they were the last of the "Original 100th" to become casualties.
T/Sgt Leo R. Cannon joined the Group in August 1943, his orginal crew (F.H. Meadows) was shot down at Bremen
08 Oct 1943. Capt William G. Lakin had been with the Group prior to October 1943.
The following from MACRs: "....On 02 May 1944, at 0730 hours an American Airman was captured
by two German soldiers on the street of Rochville, Sottevast, France. The Germans record the following
data: Name: Cain, Maurice # 0-681859. According to his statement he rescued himself from the burning
aircraft on 28 April 1944. Sent to Airbase Command, Paris, France..Date 3 May 1944 @ 1320 hours."
The Originating German Officer is not identified..pw
MEMO 2:
Richard Hopkin Agor was born on April 18, 1922 in Shamokin, Pennsylvania to Joseph and Marie Hoover Agor. Both the US Censuses 1930 and 1940 show the family residing in Shamokin.
Agor enlisted in the Army Air Forces in Philadelphia on June 28, 1942. His NARA enlistment record states he had completed 4 years of high school, and was employed as a photographer. He was selected for flight duty, and received training as an aerial gunner. He was then promoted to Sergeant and assigned to an operational unit for crew training. He then deployed in 1943 with this crew to England. He flew 8 missions.
On October 8, 1943, he was selected, along with the crew, to bomb the facilities located at Bremen, Germany. Over the target, two bombs hung-up in the racks and failed to release. A flak shell hit the aircraft, that exploded, throwing two men into open air space.
The two made successful parachute landings, but were captured. Eight dead were recovered from the wreckage. These dead were buried in a local cemetery at Waller Friedlof, near Bremen. After the war, they were retrieved and moved to other cemeteries. SSgt Agor presently lies in the Shamokin Cemetery in Shamokin, Pennsylvania.
Comments/Citation
SSgt Richard H. Agor was acting as the ball turret gunner on B-17G # 42-30368, named "Phartzac,"assigned to the 350th Bomb Squadron.
Missing Air Crew Report 947 was issued , and pertains to this loss. Crew rosters show the crew was composed of:
1 Lt Frank H. Meadows p
2 Lt Lloyd W. Evans c-p
2 Lt Frank B. Bush nav
2 Lt William C. Hubbard bomb
TSgt Harold R. Jackson eng/tt gun
SSgt Robert H. Wussow r/o
SSgt Richard H. Agor btg
SSgt James F. Ward wg
Sgt Dexter B. Pate wg
SSgt Vincent D. Sapone tail gun
Ranks and grades as of mission date.
Lt Hubbard and SSgt Ward were the only survivors.
SSgt Wussow was a replacement for Tsgt Leo R. Cannon. Sgt Pate was an addition to the crew.
