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42-30023

B-17 Flying Fortress

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Delivered Denver 2/4/43; Smoky Hill 27/4/43; Dow Field 19/5/43; Presque Is 20/5/43; Geiger 26/5/43; Presque Is 28/5/43; Assigned 349BS/100BG [XR-M] Thorpe Abbotts 5/6/43; Missing in Action Munster 10/10/43 with Ed Stork, Co-pilot: John Minerich, Bombardier: Art Twitchell, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Larry Willey, Ball turret gunner: Paul Caveny, Waist gunner: Doug Brown, Waist gunner: Gordon Shields, Tail gunner: Ira Turner (8 Prisoner of War); Navigator: John Gibbons, Radio Operator: Stefan Palmer (2 Killed in Action); flak set aircraft ablaze, crashed Amelsbeuren, three miles S of Munster, Ger; Missing Air Crew Report 1022. HORNY aka FOREVER YOURS II.

Service

Units

  • 8th Air Force

    8th Air Force


    Eighth Air Force Bomber Command became the Eighth Air Force on February 1944, it oversaw bombardment of strategic targets in Europe until 1945. ...

  • 100th Bomb Group

    100th Bomb Group

    Group
    "The Bloody Hundredth", so-called because of a reputation for losing a high number aircraft and crews, flew B-17s from Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk. Their losses were not the highest of any Eighth Air Force Group but on several occasions the Group lost many...

  • 349th Bomb Squadron

    349th Bomb Squadron

    Squadron

People

  • Douglas Brown

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Left Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner
    Shot down 10 October 1943 in B-17 #42-30023 'Forever Yours'. Prisoner of War (POW). POW

  • Paul Caveny

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner
    Shot down 10 October 1943 in B-17 #42-30023 'Forever Yours'. Prisoner of War (POW). POW

  • John Gibbons

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator
    Shot down 10 October 1943 in B-17 #42-30023 'Forever Yours'. Killed in Action (KIA).

  • John Minerich

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Co-Pilot
    Shot down 10 October 1943 in B-17 #42-30023 'Forever Yours'. Prisoner of War (POW).

  • Stefan Palmer

    Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator, Radio Operator Gunner
    Shot down 10 October 1943 in B-17 #42-30023 'Forever Yours', Killed In Action (KIA).

  • Gordon Shields

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner
    Shot down 10 October 1943 in B-17 #42-30023 'Forever Yours'. Prisoner of War (POW). POW

  • Edward Stork

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Pilot
    Shot down 10 October 1943 in B-17 #42-30023 'Forever Yours'. Prisoner of War (POW). POW

  • Ira Turner

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner
    Shot down 10 October 1943 in B-17 #42-30023 'Forever Yours'. Prisoner of War (POW). POW

  • Arthur Twitchell

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Bombardier
    Shot down 10 October 1943 in B-17 #42-30023 'Forever Yours'. Prisoner of War (POW).

  • Lawrence Willey

    Military | Technical Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner
    Shot down 10 October 1943 in B-17 #42-30023 'Forever Yours'. Prisoner of War (POW). POW

Missions

  • VIII Bomber Command 114

    10 October 1943
    This mission was intended to be a massive attack of 307 B-17s on the railroad facilities and waterway (canals) at Munster, Germany. This attack was to be supported by a diversion 39 B-24s. The formation was attacked by hundreds of German fighters which...

Places

  • Thorpe Abbotts

    Military site : airfield
    Home of the 'Bloody Hundredth’, a Bomb Group with a reputation for high casualty rates, Thorpe Abbotts was under USAAF control from June 1943 to the end of the war. Some of the airfield survives today, and the control tower houses the 100th Bomb Group...

  • 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum

    Other location

  • Presque Isle Army Airfield

    Military site : airfield

Events

Event Location Date
Failed to Return (FTR) Germany 10 October 1943
Nicknames
Forever Yours II, Horny
Production block number
B-17F-80-BO Fortress
Manufacturer
Boeing
Markings and paint scheme/livery
Not yet known

Revisions

Date Contributor Update
16 January 2020 21:17:46 jmoore43 Changes to nicknames
Sources

Added the nickname mentioned in the A/C “Description”.
Date Contributor Update
16 January 2020 21:11:24 jmoore43 Changes to description
Sources

Added a space to the A/C “Description” for readability.
Date Contributor Update
16 January 2020 21:09:53 jmoore43 Changes to unit associations and mission associations
Sources

Added connections to the 8th AF and to the 8th AF mission for 10 Oct 1943.
Date Contributor Update
14 October 2018 12:43:13 apollo11 Changes to nicknames and place associations
Sources

Information gathered after visiting the 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum.
Date Contributor Update
27 September 2014 18:40:26 AAM AAM ingest
Sources

Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 1022 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

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