15th aaf

I'm looking for information about my grandfather I don't know much and i have no idea where to begin.  He's very old and doesn't remember much so when i try to talk to him about it he cant seem to remember.  what i do know is that he was a gunner in the 15th army air corps, His plane was shot down in Romania and he was a POW for a few months before he was rescued.  i have his  serial number as 32738591and his name was James E. Mann If you could help me with anything that would be greatly appreciated.

Hopefully  a moderator will move this thread to the 463rd BG section;  another member,  jj463 , may be able to provide more info.
 
That said, while searching a bit more, I found your grandfather listed with a crew :
 
 
" A Touch of Venus "   B-17  Aircraft # 42-38122. The aircraft was shot up and it never flew after its 8th mission.  April 13th mission to  Gyor, Hungary
 
Original Crew of A Touch of Venus
 
Pilot John Nosal
Co-Pilot Weldon H. Harris
Navigator William A. Seward
Bombardier Warren T. Meyer
AEG James E. Mann
ROG Gilbert N. Lahullier
AROG John C. Coogan
AAG Richard C Hudson
AG Robert G. Cline
AAEG Rocco J. Colassono
 
 
Then half of the original crew of " A Touch of Venus " were assigned to another plane : 
 
" On the May 18th mission to Romania, John Nosal, Weldon Harris, Warren Myer, James Mann, John Coogan were shot down while flying A/C # 4231829- "JAUNTY JOAN".  Harris and Coogan were killed,along with George Werdell from another crew"
 
 
http://rascal2.websitetoolbox.com/printthread?id=1157134
 
Following link is to a story of the May 18th mission and loss of 42-31829 " Jaunty Joan " as told by Bruce Spitzer, a relative of John Coogan, who was KIA on the mission.  Your grandfather is mentioned in the account.
 
http://cooganresearchgroup.com/crg/xcribe/csww2coho.txt
 
 
You may also want to order a copy of the Missing Aircrew Report for 42-31829
 
It is MACR 5434
 
See the " Research Help " link at top for help in obtaining the MACR from the archives.
  
  
 

Yeah be sure to sign up at the 463rd bombardment group website forum and discuss anything you desire on those threads.I am very sure everyone would be interested especially because your grandfather is still alive.
Thank you for looking all that information up SHAEF1944 it helps a lot.
By the way at ****s Warbird Videos there is a great film on the Ploesti raids narrated by former President Ronald Reagan.It's called Air Siege (Ploesti).It's under his U.S. Bombers go to War DVD.The film is brief but it shows those raids by the 15th Air Force,Also the return of those POW's and the damage done to the refineries there.

Anyway be sure to sign up at the forums.Joel (Swindy) also has 3 Pictoral History of the 463rd BG CD's available for viewing on a PC.They are very good and especially worthwhile.Many 463rd BG vets and kids have been donating photos and documents to make those.
You will find that information out in the 463rd's forums (Bulletin Board).

Alex -So far there are not many individuals (463rd Veterans,kids,grandkids or relatives) signed up at the 463rd forum especially those that might have a photo of those KIA or POW's.I couldn't contribute (but would have gladly done so to help you) because my fathers crew were never Ploesti POW's or KIA although they had a few later missions over the Ploesti refineries. 

You have made your post over at the 463rd BG forum fairly recently.
You might want to contact Bruce59 at the 463rd's forum though as his great uncle (John Coogan) was killed on a May 18th mission over Ploesti which was mentioned earlier in this post by SHAEF1944.He did quite a lot of research on his great uncle.

Something else might trickle in slowly over time most likely originating from a family member of a KIA or POW Ploesti 463rd BG vet.
It took quite a while before people sent in scanned photos for Joel's 463rd CD's.
Myself I sent in scanned documents and photos for his 3rd CD and actually sent him every document and order that my father had (I was quite surprised that my dad saved all of his orders).

Thanks for your information too about the Ploesti airlifts. -Jonathan

Pmozz, go to top of page, click on " Photo Galleries " and follow directions on making your own photo gallery on this website .....  This would be best, as they will always be available for viewing.
 
The other way to post them is in this thread, but as time goes by, the thread will drop out of the " active " and not many will see the pics.  To put them in a thread, you have to post the pics on a free photo hosting site such as PhotoBucket, and then put the link from there into the thread.

Peter...Dick Drain's 5th Wing History of Aircraft Assigned show the following :

42-31829   No Name*   772  Original aircraft. MIA Ploesti 18/5/44.. fighters.. crashed near Bucharest. John Nosal crew, Harris (KIA) Anderson,Myer, MANN, Roark,Coogan,Roark, Wescott,Werdel (KIA). (MACR 5434)

No Name *...Explanation....To be recognized as an official name, the data information located under the pilot's sliding glass window (left side) HAS to be visible in a photo of any nose art/name ,OR ...the aircraft tail number MUST be visible in any nose art/name photo.

Problem : ...Many photos are of the RIGHT side of the nose, and in some cases there was a different name/nose art applied to opposite sides of the nose.

Jounty Joan, therefore is NOT recognized by any author of any book due to the positioning of the nose art/name on the RIGHT side of the nose, and there is no tail number shown ID'ing the aircraft by the tail number.

Jim :-)
The data information includes the following  :

U.S. ARMY B-17G-55-BO   (or DL, or VE)
SER NO. 4X-YYYY

Jim :-)

Alex K check out your post over at the 463rd BG website forum.Bruce59 wants to contact you about your book as well as trying to contact pmozz1
He emailed me early in the morning about having problems with logging into this forum.

Also everyone (Bruce59,Swindy) is looking for a picture of the B-17 42-31829  which is tail number 231829 nicknamed "Jaunty Joan" but as Jim Peters said it's not official.
So be on the look out for it and if you have such a picture be sure to contact these members over at the 463rd BG forum.