350TH BOMB SQUADRON

A/C 42-3233  B-17F- 40-DL  "OUR BABY" LN-R     10 POW

MAJ GALE "BUCK" CLEVEN                                COM P   POW     08 OCT 43         BREMEN

350TH SQDN. THIS IS AN "ORIGINAL" 100TH CREW.

LEON CASTRO HAD BEEN SHIPPED BACK TO THE STATES FOR CADET TRAINING PRIOR TO 8 OCT 43; HE WAS REPLACED BY JEROME FERROGGIARO FROM THE N. H. SCOTT CREW. ALBERT FREITAS AND LEO CALLAHAN WERE RECOVERING FROM WOUNDS RECIEVED ON THE 6 SEP 43 (STUTTGART) MISSION AND WERE REPLACED BY WILLIAM J. WILLIAMS OF CAPT MARK CARNELL'S CREW AND WILLIAM R. WOODBURY, A REPLACEMENT GUNNER.

GALE W. (BUCKY) CLEVEN, 350TH CO, FLEW AS COMMAND PILOT ON OCTOBER 8, 1943.

Flak and Fighters over target. This ship leading the 350th. Hit by flak & fighters and forced to leave formation. three men injured, all eleven (11) bailed out and landed near Essen, Germany. Taken to Frankfurt for interrogation. Downs (Lt John W. Downs) says bailed out near Oldenburg. Cleven (Maj. Gale W. Cleven) says bail out near Osnabruck.

 A/C 42-30840 LN-O (no name)  B-17F-125-BO   5 POW  5 KIA

Hogsett (Lt Vernon N. Hogsett) stated after the war, "The engineer (S/Sgt Patrick J. Neilon) and I landed a small pond in a farmyard. With the assistance of German civilians I got Neilon to shore. He complained greatly of back injury, which I believe was caused when bailing out of the plane. There was no external injuries. I pleaded with the Germans to bring a doctor, but I do not believe they understood me. Sgt Neilon lost consciousness immediately and I firmly believe he died before the German Officer in charge took me away with the rest of the crewmembers.

The disabled plane had gone into a uncontrollable dive and apparently Nash, Speas, Dilts and Bost were unable to get out. The plane broke up near the tail wheel and Kirkpatrick actually fell from the ship at that time. Hogsett, after his capture, was taken to the site of the crash and identified the bodies of Nash, Speas, Dilts, and Bost which had been thrown clear of the wreckage.

German records show burial of the five dead at the cemetery of "Hoya/Weser in graves #34, 35, 36, 37 and 38.

 42-3433 "LENA" LN-W (RETURNED EARLY)

A/C #42 30318  B-17F-120-BO    "SALVO SAL"      LN-S   8  POW  1 KIA  1 EVA

350th Sqdn. Crew, as above, joined 100th Group on 2/8/43.

Tenth mission for crew. Target, Bremen Time 1500 hours approx.Ship was leading 2nd element of the high sqdn. Agee was struck by a 20mm about 30 minutes before crew bailed out over Holland. German Medical Report in MACR says " . . shot in both lungs and bled to death". Body was interred on 12/l0/43 at Beetsterswang Cemetery (Friesland) Row 21, Grave 26. All others bailed out over Holland and were taken prisoner. Aircraft crashed near the Zuider Zee in western Holland.

Carl Spicer was helped by Dutch underground and later joined Jack Justice, pilot of the 349th Sqdn. who was shot down on 10/10/43. Also, see p. 109 of "THEY NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD". McGlinchey and McDonald were on the established escape route to Spain but were captured after more than four months at a Border Post in the Pyrenees. Spicer made it across the Spanish border and eventually returned to England in January 1943. All the POWs survived the war and were returned to military control in May 1945.

A/C #42-30358  B-17F -100-BO    "PHARTZAC"      LN-X    2 POW  8 KIA

This was apparently the seventh mission for all members of this crew with the exception of Bob Wussow & Dexter Pate. Wussow, the radio operator on the original crew #11, was probably about at the end of his tour. 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 cemetery at Waller Friedhof, near Bremen

 42-30047  B-17F -85-BO  "SWEATER GIRL" LN-Q   

350th Sqdn. Assigned September 1943.

This was the fourth mission for the crew. Sgt. Walker may have died of wounds in hospital or POW camp. STATMENT (in MACR) BY Lt. Walts "Lt. Oss climbed out nose of plane (it had broken in half) after it had come out of spin over target at 1500 ft. Sgts. Higginbotham & Murphy bailed out before it went into the spin. Sgt. Brumbeau believes he was thrown from plane when it broke in two. Sgt. Murphy wounded by burst of 20mm just as he and Fetherstone were about to jump. Fetherstone probably killed by this burst. Oss recalled seeing Lt. Dodson lying in nose of plane and believed him dead or mortally wounded. "As Walts was crawling to the escape hatch he had to crawl over Lt Whallace and noticed that blood covered his face.

See:MUNSTER: The Way It Was p. 154. This A/C was shot down by Hauptmann 'Walter Hoeckner of 2 Staffel Jagdgeschwader 1. It was his 60th air victory but he was shot down (forced to bail out) by fire from Walt's ship. Probably from the BTG gunner Gratzfeld.

Hoeckner fired 320 shells from his four 20 mm cannon, and 202 bullets from his pair of 17 mm machine guns during his attack. With all guns firing accurately, about 70 rounds a second were striking B17 823. On average, 20 hits from a 20mm were sufficient to bring down a Fortress.

Memories from Lt Walts (mpf 2001)

"One of the most haunting memories I have is from being in the barracks on the night after we were on the raid to Bremen. Everyone was shot down from our squadron except us and the emptiness in the barracks that night has stayed with me.

Our Bombardier, Richard Cooper Dodson, always told us he was going to be killed and one night he said to us, "Fellows, if I go down today, I will be happy because I have had a steak" It was either the night he said that or shortly after that he was killed. That memory has stayed with me too.

On this mission to Bremen, when we returned, I noticed a hole in the plane just in back of my head!. One of my friends, Frank Meadows, was in the B-17 in front of us and I saw a German fighter fly right into the nose of his plane and it exploded. I had always thought everyone was killed on that plane but later I learned that two had parachuted to safety, but not Frank.

349TH BOMB SQUADRON

42-30487   B-17F-105-BO    "TORCHY III"      XR-F

42-30154   B-17F      “WAR EAGLE”    XR-H      9  POW   1 KIA

A/C #42 3229  B-17F -40-DL       "PASADENA NENA"    XR-A  

349th Sqdn. Crew, as above, joined the 100th Group in early July 1943

 42-30170  B-17F-90-BO     "HOT SPIT"    XR-G

42-5957  B-17F-40-VE "HORNY II"      XR-D

 42-30088   B-17F-85-BO    " SQUAWKIN HAWK"      XR-E

418TH BOMB SQUADRON

 A/C 42-3393  B-17F -50-DL   "JUST-A-SNAPPIN"   LD-Y

42-30758 B-17F-120-BO     "ROSIE’S RIVETERS"   LD-W

42-3237  B-17F-40-DL   "STYMIE"    LD-R   (RETURNED EARLY)

42-30062  B-17F  -85-DL      "TERRY N’ TEN" LD-O (RETURNED EARLY)

42-30152      B-17F-90-BO      "MESSIE BESSIE"       LD-X

 42-30091  B-17F-85-BO    "BLIVIT"       LD-S

351ST BOMB SQUADRON

 42-4997  B-17F-40-VE      "HEAVEN CAN WAIT"     EP-F

 42-5864  B-17F -30-VE      "PICCADILLY LILY"       EP-A    5  POW  6  KIA

THIS CREW LED THE 100TH ON THE MISSION TO BREMEN (AFTER MAJ KIDD AND CAPT BLAKELY LEFT FORMATION DUE TO BATTLE DAMAGE) AND CAPT ALVIN L. BARKER. 351ST OPERATIONS OFFICER, FLEW IN THE RIGHT SEAT. MARSHALL LEE THE REGULAR CO-PILOT FLEW AS BTG TO ISSUE REPORTS TO MURPHY AND BARKER. LEE WAS APPARENTLY KILLED AFTER LEAVING THE BALL TURRET IN HOPES OF RENDERING AID TO THE TWO PILOTS, BOTH OF WHOM WERE ALSO KILLED.

SOON AFTER BOMB RELEASE THE PICCADILLY LILY WAS HIT BY FLAK NEAR THE NAVIGATORS STATION CAUSING EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO THE FLIGHT DECK AREA AS WELL. THIS SHELL OR OTHERS STARTED A FIRE IN THE #3 ENGINE AND DESTROYED THE

SHIPS OXYGEN SYSTEM. WITNESSES INDICATE THE LILY ENTERED A NEAR VERTICAL NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE AND EXPLODED WITH ONLY FOUR CHUTES OBSERVED.

42-30723  B-17F-115-B0    "HOLY TERROR"    EP-D

 42-3474  B-17F-65-DL      "KING BEE"      EP-B

42-3386  B-17F-50-DL   "MARIE HELENA"      EP-H      10 KIA

From the MACR it would appear that this crew was attacked by E/A and crashed about 20 miles SE of Emden, Germany. Bodies were burnt to 3rd degree and at least one was not identified at the time. An eyewitness statement said: ". . . a red nosed FW 190 crashed into Lt Gormley's aircraft and both went down in flame. "

42-30796   B-17F-120-BO       "SUNNY II"     EP-K