Delivered Denver 9/5/43; Gore 10/5/43; Smoky Hill 17/5/43; Dow Fd 30/5/43;



Assigned 366BS/305BG [KY-N] Chelveston 10/6/43;



Missing in Action Hanover 26/7/43 with Pilot Otto Kuhlmann, Co-pilot: Sam Swain, Navigator: Bill McCaffrey, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Fred Fryer, Radio Operator: Leo Kelly, Ball turret gunner: Leon Miller, Waist gunner: Milford Roehrborn,Tail gunner: Harry Britton (8 Prisoners of War – picked up by minesweeper 342 and taken to Borkum Island); Bombardier: Jim Jennings, Waist gunner: Sam (Barron?) Brown (2 Killed in Action); enemy aircraft, ditched North Sea, near Borkum Island, Germany. Missing Air Crew Report 95.



Events as written up by John Kuhlmann, whose father was a cousin of Otto Kuhlmann

"Pilot 1LT Otto W. Kuhlmann, O-661500, after ditching, he escaped out via the pilot’s cockpit window and into a life raft."



"Co-pilot: 2Lt. Samuel Swain, O-677314, injured, he left via the observation hatch. The German navy hospital at Borkum Island reported that he had serious wounds in both lower legs and a shell wound with a fracture on the right thigh and was captured within sea grid 9593."



"Navigator: 2Lt. William McCaffrey, O-798844 was directly behind Jennings as they were leaving their duty stations in the nose of the B-17 via the hatch between the pilot and co-pilot into the cockpit when Jennings was hit and killed."



"Bombardier: 2Lt. James K. Jennings, O-738556, as he was going from his ditching position when he was wounded by machine gun fire in the right arm also hit by a 20mm shell in the chest also as he was coming through the hatchway from the navigator’s compartment to the pilot’s compartment, between the pilot and co-pilot. The navigator was directly behind Jennings at the time of his (Jennings) death. Jennings died in the nose of the plane."



Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner: T/Sgt Fred Fryer, 37185979

Radio Operator: T/Sgt Leo Kelly, 31126320

Ball Turret Gunner: S/Sgt Leonard R. Miller, 15333361

Right Waist Gunner: S/Sgt Milford A. Roehrborn, 36253614

Tail Gunner: S/Sgt Harold W. Britton, 18077445 was seriously injured in the upper left arm and cheek as reported by the German naval hospital at Borkum.



"Left Waist Gunner: S/Sgt Sam A. Barron, 3819832, He was wounded early in the mission in the leg and side. He had been hit a number of times but still stayed at his position. He said that: “I am wounded and don’t forget to help me out.” Barron was in his ditching position in the radio room when he was hit again by machine gun fire. The plane was strafed by a German fighter from above and hit Barron down the middle starting from his head on down. He was dead when they hit the water. He was killed in the radio room of the plane and dead when they finally hit the water and was last seen floating in the water at the rear of the plane as the surviving members of the crew abandoned the sinking plane..."



"And the survivors went into the life rafts, the dead went down with the ship, the injured were in fair shape."