Raymond H Bidwell | American Air Museum in Britain

Shot down 16 August 1943 in B-17 #42-30001. Killed in Action (KIA).

Service

John Cannell

Military | Technical Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner | 379th Bomb Group
Shot down 16 August 1943 in B-17 #42-30001. Killed in Action (KIA).
Elvin Cocherall

Military | Staff Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner | 379th Bomb Group
Shot down 16 August 1943 in B-17 #4230001. Prisoner of War (POW). POW
Mario Del Re

Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator | 379th Bomb Group
Shot down 16 August 1943 in B-17 42-30001 'Mary Ann' Prisoner of War (POW). ...
Victor Ghesquier

Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator | 379th Bomb Group
Shot down 16 August 1943 in B-17 #4230001. Prisoner of War (POW). POW
Thomas Johnson

Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 379th Bomb Group
Shot down 16 August 1943 in B-17 #42-30001. Killed in Action (KIA).
Peter Murray

Military | Staff Sergeant | Left Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner | 379th Bomb Group
Shot down 16 August 1943 in B-17 #4230001. Prisoner of War (POW). POW
Lawrence Prentiss

Military | Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 379th Bomb Group
Shot down 16 August 1943 in B-17 #4230001. Prisoner of War (POW). POW
Wayne Rader

Military | Second Lieutenant | Bombardier | 379th Bomb Group
Shot down 16 August 1943 in B-17 #4230001. Evaded. (MACR 1297 incorrectly lists his last name as 'Bades')E&E from Corbeil, France to England (via a fishing boat from Brest, France) AMPH
Jack Ryan

Military | Second Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 379th Bomb Group
Shot down 16 August 1943 in B-17 #4230001. Killed in Action (KIA).

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. ...
379th Bomb Group

Group
The 379th Bomb Group (H) (heavy), based at Kimbolton, flew more sorties than any other Bomb Group in the Eighth Air Force and dropped a greater bomb tonnage than any other Group. The B-17 Flying Fortress Group was awarded two Distinguished Unit...
526th Bomb Squadron

Squadron

42-30001 MARY ANN

B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 25/3/43; Smoky Hill 3/4/43; Dow Fd 15/4/43; Assigned 526BS/379BG [LF-E] Kimbolton 23/6/43; Missing in Action Le Bourget 16/8/43 with Raymond H. Bidwell, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: John Cannell, Ball turret gunner: Tom Johnson...

VIII Bomber Command 83

16 August 1943
This mission consists of two elements of B-17s despatched to bomb the German airfields of Le Bourget (Paris), Poix and Abbeville, France. The first element is a combined force of 180 B-17s from: 91BG (21); 92BG (17); 303BG (20); 305BG (20); 306BG (20);...

Kimbolton

Military site : airfield
Planned for RAF use, Kimbolton airfield was built by W and C French Ltd. in 1941. The airfield was increased in size to accommodate a full US heavy Bomb Group, and the first such unit to us it was the 91st Bomb Group, who arrived in September 1942....

Event	Location	Date
Born	Barrington, Illinois, USA
Killed in Action (KIA)	France	16 August 1943
Buried	Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial
Raymond Bidwell rests at Plot A, Row 6, Grave 34

Date	Contributor	Update
11 January 2020 03:33:19	jmoore43	Changes to unit associations
Sources
Added a connection to 8th AF.
Date	Contributor	Update
05 October 2018 14:43:07	ED-BB	Changes to service number, biography, awards, events, person associations, place associations and mission associations
Sources
ABMC website
Date	Contributor	Update
27 September 2014 18:22:08	AAM	AAM ingest
Sources
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 1297 / MACR 1297; 379th Bombardment Group Anthology, pg 275 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database