Location: [unknown]
Surname/tag: World War 2
Aircraft Info From Together We Served
B-17F #42-30208, 563rd Bomb Squadron of the 388th Bomb Group, operating from Knettishall, England. The crew had previously flown 3 missions with one ending in a mechanical malfunction abort.
On July 26, 1943, the crew was scheduled for their 4th mission, a raid on German war industries in Hannover, Germany. The 563rd Bomb Squadron put up 21 aircraft for the raid. Four aborted over the Channel due to mechanical failures. Flak was moderate until the IP. Two aircraft were lost over the target due to flak, and German fighters shot down 3 more on the trip home.
Some of the crew survived the shoot-down by bailing out; others were killed by fighter attack. Five of the crew were taken POW, and the remainder were killed. German records show the shoot-down was officially credited to Oberleutnant Karl Becker, in an FW-190.
The aircraft involved in this incident was B-17F #42-30208, unnamed, from the 563rd Bomb Squadron. Records from the 388th Bomb Group and 8th Air Force mission descriptions confuse this aircraft with others on the raid. Known confusion exists among aircraft #42-30198; #42-30202; and #42-30225.
Missing Air Crew Report 3142 applies and lists 42-30208 as the correct aircraft. It gives the crew as:
- 2 Lt Aubrey M. Bobbitt p
- 2 Lt Peter P. McCahill c-p
- 2 Lt Gordon L. Amos nav
- 2 Lt Lawrence A. Wiegman bomb
- TSgt James L. Duncan r/o & gunner
- Tsgt Robert (NMI) Clayborn eng/tt gun
- SSgt Lawrence R. Hopwood rwg
- SSgt James (NMI) Langley lwg
- SSgt William J. Hart tail gun
- SSgt Paul W. Warren btg
The 5 POWs were McCahill; Wiegman; Hart; Clayborn; and Bobbitt. Lt Bobbitt was first listed as MIA; then as POW. Later he was declared KIA.
Sources
- https://airforce.togetherweserved.com/usaf/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=141111
- http://www.388bg.info/servlet/Controller?pageType=detail&id=388-C031&dataType=Crew
- http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/4181
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