Please click here for more information, there is also 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
42-30033 Nose Art, "Little America"
42-30033, 546th Bombardment Squadron, 384th Bombardment Group
Escape and Evasion report by SSgt Claude R Leslie after bailing out of B-17F 42-30033 "LITTLE AMERICA" . All other crew members became POWs
MACR 1335
Delivered Cheyenne 2/4/43; Sioux City 13/4/43; Kearney 4/5/43; Bangor 20/5/43; Assigned to the 547BS/384BG [S0-G] Grafton Underwood 24/5/43, then the 546BS [BK-G]; Missing in Action Leverkusen 1/12/43 with Maj Maurice Stanley Dillingham, Co-pilot: Edmund Samuel Goulder, Navigator: Arthur Claude Harris, Bombardier: William Boomhower, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Edward Arthur Thomasson, Radio Operator: William Francis Sears, Waist gunner: Paul Ralph Saunders, Waist gunner: Michael Joseph Vodilko,Tail gunner: LT Ernest Marshall Boyce Jr. (9 Prisoner of War), Ball turret gunner: Claude Robert Leslie (evaded capture); mechanical problems, crashed Prum, Germany. Missing Air Crew Report 1335. LITTLE AMERICA.
This aircraft was credited with 22 combat missions with the 384th.
Group
The 384th Bomb Group flew B-17s from Grafton Underwood, Northamptonshire, between May 1943 and June 1945. They were engaged in daylight bombing missions over Germany as part of the Allies' efforts to destroy the effectiveness of the Luftwaffe by...
Squadron
Squadron
Military | First Lieutenant | 384th Bomb Group
Killed in Action (KIA) on 29 Feb 1944
Military | Technical Sergeant | 384th Bomb Group
Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator | 384th Bomb Group
Shot down 14 October 1943 in B-17 #42-29800 'Me and My Gal'. Prisoner of War (POW).
Military | Captain | Navigator on B-17 "Little America" | 384th Bomb Group
W.E. "Bill" Blount was my Father. He was born in Slocomb, Alabama on July 1, 1915 and died December 7, 1972. I am extremely proud of my Dad and consider him to be a war hero. He served from Grafton-Underwood in the 384th Bomb Group in 1943 and...
Military | Captain | Group Bombardier | 384th Bomb Group
•Flew to England with 384th Group Commander, Colonel Budd J. Peaslee, per Army Air Base Kearney Special Orders #96 dated 17 May 1943.
...
Military | Lieutenant | Bombardier | 384th Bomb Group
Shot down 1 December 1943 in B-17 #4230033 'Little America. ' Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
Military | Second Lieutenant | Tail Gunner | 384th Bomb Group
Shot down 1 December 1943 in B-17 42-30033 'Little America. ' Prisoner of War.
...
Military | Staff Sergeant | 384th Bomb Group
Military | Technical Sergeant | 384th Bomb Group
Military | Second Lieutenant | 384th Bomb Group
22 June 1943
The German rubber industry (Chemische Werke Hüls AG) at Marl (district Hüls-Nord), Germany, is the primary objective of this mission and is assigned to the Bomb Groups with the most expericence. Also the industrial area of Antwerp, Belgium is assigned...
26 June 1943
The targets for today are all Luftwaffe installations: the Villacoublay air depot SW of Paris, France is the primary; the airfield at Poissy, France is attacked as the secondary because of cloud cover; the airfield at Tricqueville, France; and the...
28 June 1943
The primary specific target for this mission are the lock gates at St. Nazaire, France to be attacked by two separate formations and also another force is despatched to bomb the German airfield at Beaumon Le Roger, France. A formation of 120 B-17s of...
29 June 1943
1st Bomb Wing despatches two formations: one has the air depot at Villacoublay, France as their primary; and one has the Luftwaffe airfield at Tricqueville, France as their primary.
...
24 July 1943
Three targets in Norway are the primary targets for this first mission flown by 8th AIr Force to Norway. They are the nitrate works at Heroya and the port areas at Trondheim and Bergen. The first element is a combined force of 180 B-17s from: 91BG (22)...
28 July 1943
The German aircraft industry at Kassel (Fieseler works) and Oscherleben, Germany are the primary targets of this mission. 182 B-17s from: 91BG (20); 92BG (17); 303BG (20); 305BG (21); 306BG (24); 351BG (21); 379BG (19); 381BG (20); and 384BG (20) are...
27 August 1943
This mission is the first attack by the USAAF on suspected V-Weapon sites. The German development of pilotless winged aircraft was first divulged to the British just shortly after the beginning of World War II in two letters sent to the British embassy...
31 August 1943
This mission is composed of two elements. The first element is composed of 170 B-17s from: 91BG (16); 92BG (19); 303BG (20); 305BG (18); 306BG (18); 351BG (21); 379BG (21); 381BG (19); and 384BG (18). The primary target for this element is German...
3 September 1943
German airfields in France and the Caudron-Renault works at Paris are the targets for this mission. The mission is composed of three elements. The first element is a combined force of 168 B-17s from: 91BG (14); 351BG (19); 381BG (22); 92BG (19); 305BG ...
6 September 1943
This mission was planned as massive attack of 338 B-17s on the industrial areas of Stuttgart, Germany and would be supported by a formation of 69 B-24s flying a diversion. This would be the first action from the UK for the B-24 Groups that had recently...
Military site : airfield
Grafton Underwood was built in 1941 by George Wimpey and Co. Ltd. It was the first airfield in England to receive an Eighth Air Force flying unit, when in May 1942 personnel of the 15th Bomb Squadron took up residence. As a satellite airfield for...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Failed to Return (FTR) | Germany | 1 December 1943 |
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 09 October 2017 19:40:50 | mvandemark | Changes to markings and description |
| Sources | ||
http://384thbombgroup.com/_content/_pages/One384thAircraft.php?AircraftK... |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 09 October 2017 19:30:53 | mvandemark | Changes to person associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
http://www.384thbombgroup.com/_content/_pages/SortieReport.php?SortieKey... |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 09 October 2017 19:19:17 | mvandemark | Changes to unit associations, person associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
http://www.384thbombgroup.com/_content/_pages/SortieReport.php?SortieKey... |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 09 October 2017 19:15:29 | mvandemark | Changes to person associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
http://www.384thbombgroup.com/_content/_pages/SortieReport.php?SortieKey... |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 09 October 2017 19:07:53 | mvandemark | Changes to person associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
http://www.384thbombgroup.com/_content/_pages/SortieReport.php?SortieKey... |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 09 October 2017 19:03:33 | mvandemark | Changes to person associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
http://www.384thbombgroup.com/_content/_pages/SortieReport.php?SortieKey... |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 09 October 2017 18:58:20 | mvandemark | Changes to person associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
http://www.384thbombgroup.com/_content/_pages/SortieReport.php?SortieKey... |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 09 October 2017 18:54:12 | mvandemark | Changes to person associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
http://www.384thbombgroup.com/_content/_pages/SortieReport.php?SortieKey... |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 09 October 2017 18:51:08 | mvandemark | Changes to person associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
http://www.384thbombgroup.com/_content/_pages/SortieReport.php?SortieKey=4 |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 09 October 2017 18:46:11 | mvandemark | Changes to person associations |
| Sources | ||
Corrected error in connecction |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 18 January 2015 22:10:33 | bombercommand | Changes to media associations |
| Sources | ||
384thbombgroup.com |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 18 January 2015 22:09:16 | bombercommand | Changes to place associations, mission associations and media associations |
| Sources | ||
384thbombgroup.com |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 18 January 2015 22:07:43 | bombercommand | Changes to nicknames, description, place associations, mission associations and media associations |
| Sources | ||
384thbombgroup.com |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:40:26 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 1335 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
||
