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B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 29/4/43; Sioux City 11/5/43; Dow Fd 18/6/43; Assigned 563BS/388BG Knettishall. Missing in Action Kassel 3 July 1943. Pilot : Earl E. Pickard, Navigator Robert J. Hoke, Bombardier Wallace N. Soderberg, Engineer/Top Turret Gunner Orville W. Lewis, Radio Operator Walter E. Togel, Ball Turret Gunner Sam H. Tucker Jr, Left Waist Gunner Ralph T. May, Right Waist Gunner Harlan C. Oakberg, Tail Gunner Donald M. Boyd (9 Prisoners of War); Co-Pilot Billy J. Hooker (evaded capture). Hit by Flak, then shot down by Hans Walter Sunder of 8/JG26. Crashed near Berlaar, SE of Lier, Antwerp Province, Belgium. Missing Air Crew Report-MACR 3125.
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 | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 388th Bomb Group
Shot down 30 July 1943 in B-17 #42-30202. Initially evaded with the help of Belgian citizens and members of the Résistance. Sheltered in many places, notably in Antwerp and Brussels, he was caught in a trap and arrested by the Gestapo on 4 September...
Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator | 388th Bomb Group
Shot down 30 July 1943 in B-17 #42-30202, Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
Military | Flight Officer | Co-Pilot | 388th Bomb Group
Shot down 30 July 1943 in B-17 #42-30202, Evaded (EVD).
Military | Technical Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner | 388th Bomb Group
Shot down 30 July 1943 in B-17 #42-30202. Prisoner of War (POW).
Military | Staff Sergeant | Left Waist Gunner | 388th Bomb Group
Shot down 30 July 1943 in B-17 #42-30202. Prisoner of War (POW).
Military | Staff Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner | 388th Bomb Group
Shot down 30 July 1943 in B-17 #42-30202, Prisoner of War (POW).
Military | Captain | Pilot | 388th Bomb Group
Earl Pickard was a Pilot in the 388th Bomb Group/563rd Bomb Squadron. Shot down 30 July 1943 in B-17 #42-30202. Prisoner of War (POW). He remained in the Air Force and was posted to different bases, including in Japan in the 1950s. Ended his career...
Military | Second Lieutenant | Bombardier | 388th Bomb Group
Shot down 30 July 1943 in B-17 #42-30202, Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator | 388th Bomb Group
Shot down 30 July 1943 in B-17 #42-30202. Prisoner of War (POW).
Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 388th Bomb Group
Shot down 30 July 1943 in B-17 #42-30202. Prisoner of War (POW).
30 July 1943
The aircraft factories at Kassel, Germany are the primary targets for this mission. The mission is flown by two elements of B-17s which attack 15 minutes apart. The firts element is a combined force of 119 B-17s from: 91BG (20); 303BG (23); 351BG (21);...
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...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Crashed | 30 July 1943 | |
|
near Berlaar, SE of Lier, Antwerp Province, Belgium |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 20 January 2020 13:55:01 | ED-BB | Changes to description |
| Sources | ||
Corrected positions of two gunners and one typo in Bio |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 19 January 2020 10:22:17 | ED-BB | Changes to description, events and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
MACR 3125 |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:40:27 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 3125 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
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