Following recent government announcements the museum is currently closed, there is plenty to explore in our online archive.
The American Air Museum is a charity - Find out how you can support us
B-17 Flying Fortress
388th BG Tail Marking
The insignia of the 561st Bomb Squadron, 388th Bomb Group.
Delivered Cheyenne 17/3/44; Gr Island 6/4/44; Dow Fd 28/4/44; Assigned 561BS/388BG Knettishall 30/4/44; On a local flight 9/7/44 with Doug McArthur, Co-pilot: Stamos Zades, Navigator: George Mille, Bombardier: Chas Meyer, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Benone Terrano, Radio Operator: Bob Ward (6 Returned to Duty); on landing aircraft struck a parked vehicle, causing so much damage could not be repaired. [? Missing in Action Munich 11/7/44 with ?; flak, crashed Rtrange, Fr; Salvaged 26/2/45?]
Group
The 388th Bomb Group flew strategic bombing mission from Knettishall, Suffolk from June 1943 to the end of the war. During this time, though, detachments were sent to Fersfield, Norfolk to conduct Aphrodite missions. In these Aphrodite missions veteran...
Squadron
Military | First Lieutenant | Bombardier | 388th Bomb Group
The person with this name and birth/death dates buring at Fort Bliss National Cemetery is listed as "Master Sergeant - US Army" on his headstone. Boozer is wearing Captain's bars in his photo. This birth and death date may well be for the wrong ...
Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 388th Bomb Group
Military | Lieutenant Colonel | Pilot | 388th Bomb Group
My father Clifford L. Hanks was a WWII hero. He flew 30 missions and was with the 388th out of Knettishall, England. Iccky Poo was is plane. He was awarded six clusters and two DFC's. He was a member of The Lucky Bastard's Club. He flew the Berlin...
Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 388th Bomb Group
28 May 1944
29 May 1944
Mission #2. The target was an aircraft assembly plant. Flak was exceedingly heavy. We were in the air 7-1/2 hours.
30 May 1944
Mission #3. Same target as before. A piece of flak broke the pilots windshield. No-one hurt.
31 May 1944
Bombed the marshaling yards. Heavy flak but no hits.
2 June 1944
3 June 1944
4 June 1944
6 June 1944
D-Day. Start of Operation Overlord.
12 June 1944
Willie Hussong got his arm caught in the door of the lower ball turret. Palmer and Rollinger pried him out with a gun barrel. Bombed an airfield. Hussong hospitalized.
14 June 1944
Mission #10. Bombed an airfield south of Brussels. Bob Martin flew in place of Hussong.
Military site : airfield
Knettishall was built to Class A standard for an American Bomb Group that would be bringing up to forty heavy bombers with them in three or four Squadrons. The 388th Bomb Group, which stayed at Knettishall for their entire service in the ETO, flew B-17...
Other location
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Delivered | Cheyenne, WY, USA | 17 March 1944 |
| Assigned | Knettishall, Diss IP22 2TH, UK | 30 April 1944 |
|
388 BG |
||
| First 388th BG Combat Mission | Magdeburg, Germany | 28 May 1944 |
| Final 388th BG Combat Mission | 78200 Mantes-la-Jolie, France | 8 July 1944 |
|
22 Combat Missions |
||
| Crashed | Knettishall, Diss IP22 2TH, UK | 9 July 1944 |
|
Struck vehicle upon landing after a local flight. Salvaged |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 19 February 2021 21:25:34 | jmoore43 | Changes to description |
| Sources | ||
Capitalized surname of "Meyer". |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 29 December 2017 02:40:57 | 466thHistorian | Changes to media associations |
| Sources | ||
388th BG |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 09 December 2017 03:37:45 | 466thHistorian | Changes to production block number, manufacturer, markings, events, unit associations, person associations, mission associations and media associations |
| Sources | ||
B-17 Flying Fortress Story - Roger Freeman |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:40:10 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log |
||
