Personnel

CREW



DATE: 25 June 1943, Bremen, Germany

349th Sqdn. A/C #42-3260 "ANGEL'S TIT"                 

MACR #271,   Micro-fiche 90



1st Lt Alonzo P.Adams III    P KIA

   F/O George Z.Krech        CP KIA

2nd Lt Nicholas Demchak    NAV POW

2nd Lt Jessie D.Gurley        BOM KIA

 T/Sgt John K.Sullivan        TTE KIA

 T/Sgt James D.Purcell       ROG KIA

 S/Sgt John G.Kruzich        BTG KIA

 S/Sgt Edmonde J.Walker   WG KIA

 S/Sgt Norman Asbornsen   WG KIA

 S/Sgt Bryant Hutchinson    TG KIA



According to Nick Demchak,sole survivor,they were jumped by fighters about 20 miles from the enemy coast. Demchak's statement: "My mind is a complete blank from the time we got the bail out signal until I regained Conciousness on a German boat. 2nd Lt.Gurley was in nose of ship and was not hurt when we received the bail out signal - I was firing my guns and did not hear the signal but Gurley informed me. I believe Adams and Krech were severely wounded or killed by a burst of machine gun fire which came quite close to me and from the angle appeared to enter the cockpit.Directly after that the bail out signal was given. I believe the plane exploded at that moment and the rest of the crew were killed by the explosion or rendered unconscious and unable to operate their chutes. The German boat that picked me up said they did not see anyone else."



The bodies of Adams and Asbornsen must have been recovered but all of the others appear on the Wall of The Missing at Madingly.



This was the 1st mission for this crew.



Message From: Mpinscher@aol.com 

To: fruffino@club-internet.fr 

Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 2:06 PM

Subject: Re: B-17: "Angel's Tit"



Franck, 

In a telephone conversation I had with Uncle Nick last night (he's in 

Massachusetts and I'm in Florida), he provided a bit of info that you might 

already have, but here goes...





"The inherent problem with the mission that "Angel's Tit" and the other planes were on was the fact that they had no escorts. The bombers could merely cruise and were way out maneuvered by the smaller, quicker Messerschmidts who were right on their tails. 

The Germans had open target practice on the B-17s and were able to pick them off at will. He was amazed at the amount of victories attributed to the fighter pilot who shot his plane down, and quickly acknowledged that each was just doing their job. "



Nicholas Demchak, last survivor of "Angel's tit" 's crew 

died on October 5, 2001 and was buried on October 10.

We shall never forget his bravery.

The Family Name was Asbjornsen Some chose to drop the J in Asbjornsen. Norman's parents never dropped it but apparently Norman chose to. Often people chose to Americanize their names. I don't know when he first changed the spelling or whether or not it was done so officially. Haven't looked into it. I do have Norman's will drawn 19 April 1942 at AAB Kearney, Nebraska which I'll include in my package. Name spelled Asbornsen....Doris Richardson, Great Niece of Norman





Norman Asbornsen was residing in Hudson County, New Jersey when he entered the military service. No NARA enlistment record has been located. He received basic training and then flexible aerial gunnery training. Upon completion of this course, he was assigned to a combat crew of the 100th Bomb Group and deployed to England with the unit in May 1943.



On June 25, 1943, Asbornsen was scheduled to take part in a bomb raid at Bremen, Germany. The formation was unescorted, and was soon heavily engaged by German fighters. A burst of machine gun fire evidently damaged the plane and wounded the pilot. The bail out signal was given but before the crew could respond, the aircraft exploded. There was only one survivor, who was picked up by a German rescue boat. Neither the survivor nor the German crew saw any parachutes. The wreckage fell approximately 30 km north of Langeoog, Germany.  German records state the B-17 was shot down by Feldwebel Edgar Dorre, flying a BF-109 from JG 29/9.



SSgt Asbornsen is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the American War Cemetery at Margraten, Holland.

  The aircraft involved in this incident was B-17F # 42-3260, nicknamed "Angel's Tit," assigned to the 349th Bomb Squadron. No photo of the aircraft, containing nose art, has been found.



Missing Air Crew Report 271 applies, and states the crew consisted of:



1 Lt Alonzo P. Adams     p

F/O George Z. Krech    c-p

2 Lt Nicholas Demchak     nav

2 Lt Jessie G. Gurley     bomb

TSgt John K. Sullivan    eng/tt gun

TSgt James D. Percell     r/o

SSgt John C. Kruzich    btg

SSgt Edmonde J. Walker    lwg

SSgt Norman Asbornsen    rwg

SSgt Bryant Hutchinson    tail gun



Lt. Demchak was the only survivor, and was taken as a prisoner. All other crew members were killed and are remembered on the Tablets of the Missing at the American War Cemetery at Margraten, Holland. Evidently some bodies were later recovered, as known burial sites in addition to posting to the Tablets of the Missing are noted.