42-102952

Delivered Cheyenne 22/4/44; Kearney 7/5/44; Grenier 24/5/44; Assigned 511BS/351BG [DS-H] Polebrook 31/5/44; Missing in Action 29m Merseburg 28/7/44 with Pilot Bill Long POW; Co-Pilot Ben Upshaw POW; Flight engineer/top turret gunner Jack Hurley POW; Ball turret gunner Frank Gozy POW; Waist gunner Carmelo Frontino POW; Tail gunner Jim Howarth POW; Navigator Pete Mandros POW* (wounded, bailed out, captured, killed by SA during transport to Friedberg/Hessen the same day); Bombardier Chas Gratiot KIA (during air attack); Radio Operator Don Skoglund POW (wounded, died in german hospital in Bad Nauheim 27th of August 1944); enemy aircraft set an engine afire, with Germans shooting at descending chutes, crashed in a field close to the village Bauernheim, NE of Friedberg/Hessen, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 7817. (*Give as POW in book by Pete Harris/Ken Harbour)

Connections

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Units served with

The insignia of the 351st Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 351st Bomb Group 511th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant
  • Role/Job: waist gunner
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 351st Bomb Group 511th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Ball Turret Gunner
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 351st Bomb Group 511th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Flight Officer
  • Role/Job: Bombardier
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 351st Bomb Group 511th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Tail Gunner
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 351st Bomb Group 511th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Top Turret Gunner

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Other

Failed to Return (FTR)

Germany 28 July 1944

Revisions

Date
ContributorMission_501
Changes
Sources

added known facts.
a) Peter Mandros jr. killed by an SA man, when transported after capturing from Bauernheim to Friedberg/Hessen, shortly before reaching village Fauerbach. The SA man was living in Fauerbach. The SA men was arrested by the US Army after the war and sentenced to death. According an historian, his "excuse" was, that Peter Mandros jumped out and wanted to escape. The crew reports say, that Peter was wounded and also seemed to have a hard landing because some trouble with his chute. So I ask myself, if Peter really wanted to escape in his condition. In Friedberg history archieve is only little information available. But I guess the court documentation of the US-Army knows the truth... Fauerbach, which is closely located to the Friedberg marshalling yard, had a lot of civil losses during that time due to inprecise bombing. So may be hate was a motivation. War...

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 7817 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database