Personnel

CREW



2nd Lt Frank H.Meadows          P    KIA    8/10/43  BREMEN  SN# 0-672378

2nd Lt Lloyd W.Evans             CP    KIA    8/10/43  BREMEN SN# 0-677693

2nd Lt FranK B.Bush            NAV     KIA   8/10/43  BREMEN  SN# 0-735264

2nd Lt William C.Hubbard     BOM     P0W 8/10/43  BREMEN  SN# 0-669408 

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".



Does anybody know why S/Sgt Sapone wasn´t burried at Bremen/Walle ? An eye witnesss report from somebody who lives in Fischerhude said that one crewmember was found after the war,as they(whoever it was) cleared the crashsite from the last wrecked parts.



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. 



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:      



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

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

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________







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 " " "

LT HERBERT A. ALF   CP POW 28 APR 44 " " "

CAPT  JOSEPH "BUBBLES" PAYNE   NAV KIA 28 APR 44 " " "

LT MAURICE H. CAIN   BOM POW 28 APR 44 " " " 

T/SGT LEO  R. CANNON   ROG POW 28 APT 44 " " "

T/SGT JAMES C. BROWN   TTE KIA 28 APR 44 " " "

S/SGT ALBERT M. FREITAS   BTG POW 28 APR 44 " " "

S/SGT JOHN  N. SPIKER   WG KIA 28 APR 44 " " "

S/SGT JOSEPH A.RICHARD   WG POW 28 APR 44 " " "

S/.SGT DELBERT E. BARNHART  TG KIA 28 APR 44 " " "



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