I am searching for any information: crew names, missions, aircraft number/name, on my great-uncle. He was a bombadier with the 741st BS, 455th BG in San Giovanni, Italy. He was from and enlisted in Missouri in Jan 1943, he died 27 August 1944. The family story is his A/C was downed on a mission and he never exited because it was believed he was trying to destroy the bomb sight. Thanks in advance.

I can tell you that he graduated from Big Springs, TX bombardier class 44-04. I have a site dedicated to bombardiers, the link is below my name. I have sections history, training, equipment, photos and much more. I will add Franke to my database section with the info you have provided. As you find more data or have a photo, please contact me at the site. The site address is located in the CONTACT US section. Dave [signature]

A suggestion....please go to [url "http://www.abmc.gov"]www.abmc.gov[/url] and select WW II Listing...then drop down to Units Search...then input 741 in Unit Search....look for 741 BS 455 BG and then Franke's name he is buried at the Florence American Cemetery in Florence Italy, in Plot C, Row 7, Grave 42. Please go to the top of this page and click on the Research block at the top right of the page. This will give instructions on how to obtain his IDPF, or Individual Deceased Personnel File. Also, the MACR d/b at the top of this page lists one B-24 as lost from the 455th BG on Aug 27,1944...a/c 42-94938..MACR 11703. You can email [url "mailto:lynn.gama@maxwell.af.mil"]lynn.gama@maxwell.af.mil[/url] for a copy of the MACR 11703....."Missing Air Crew Report"...there may be a delay as there are a lot of requests. Be sure to include his name to be certain it is the correct MACR. Also, please click on the 455thBG in the blue line at the top of this page....for the 455thBG Association...ask the contact listed there for any additional information. You have his serial number from the abmc website and Squadron , which should be enough to locate him in the 455th BG, 741 BS. Jim :-) [signature]

Anyone know which San Giovanni is "the" San Giovanni the 455th was stationed at? Of the eight in southern Italy, I'm betting on one of the northern four. Probably one of the two east of Naples. Thanks in advance.

Hello CT, The pushpin along A16 near Andria is probably the one. The 455th was stationed at San Giovanni Airfield, which was roughly five miles southwest of Cerignola (the closest town). According to the 455th BG history, San Giovanni Field was part of a nobleman’s large farm. Stephen Ambrose also talks about Cerignola and San Giovanni Field in The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944-45. Try your map search on Cerignola... that should get you to the area. Good luck! Dave [signature]

Sorry, should have mentioned on the last map, the pin on the Adriatic is Cerignola. Then the BG was stationed in Cerignola, with the airfield called San Giovanni. If so, I think I've got a good idea now of where. The blue circle is a 6-mile radius of Cerignola, with a place called San Giovanni in Fonte WSW of Cerignola.

This is a minor update, but many of the books I've ordered have arrived. Cross referencing through two of them has yielded a bit more information. Based on the assumption that Uncle Sonny was a regular crew member on A/C 42-94938. Then it was built by Ford at the Willow Run factory and was named "Heavenly Body" after the Varga girl from Esquire. p. s. - The books in question, for those interested, are: Consolidated B-24 Liberator, Michael O'Leary, Ospery Publishing, Production Line to Frontline - and - B-24 Nose Art Name Directory, Wallace R. Forman, Specialty Press

Several questions if anyone can provide some answers…

How uncommon was it for Bomb Groups from different Wings to hit the same target? Or was it more common to send an entire Wing against one target? (I’d image it took much more coordination between Wings than for one Wing to coordinate its’ Groups when selecting a target.) I’m wondering because I’ve discovered four other A/C that were lost on 27 Aug 44, one from one Wing (449th BG), and three from a second Wing (2x 464th BG, 1x 485th BG). Including my Uncle’s A/C, four are only listed as “lost”, while the fifth is listed as “crashed on mission to Blechhammer”. Would it have been likely that the only mission of that day for four different Groups from three Wings would have been Blechhammer?

p.s. – What is the time window for requesting a MACR from AFHRA?

The time frame for expecting a MACR varies depending on how busy they are but I have received them in 2 weeks but have heard others say it took much longer. Don't despair. It has been 60 years and a few weeks probably won't make that much difference.

Vic Walzel, brother of 1st Lt Leland H. Walzel, bombardier with the 93rd Bomb Group, 330th Squadron. KIA 6 March 1944 on his 25th mission.
www.lelandwalzel.150m.com

There were Operations Orders which gave the Group Formation, call signs, time over target, Flares of the Day,,usually in two time periods, Route to the target, Route home, known flak areas, to name a few. Other orders came down with type bombs, total bomb load on each aircraft, number of aircraft from each Bomb Group (if one squadron could not furnish the called for number of aircraft, the Group would assign another squadron to make up the difference).

It was all worked out ahead of time..in my case in the 15th AAF, the mission was directed by the U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe, which controlled both the 8h AF and the 15th AF..so in effect, the targets were selected by the USSAFEU, and filtered down through the 15th AAF, the Combat Wings, then the Bomb Groups, and the Squadrons.

So yes, if the selected target was Blechhammer South, all or part of the Wings could be sent against one target, or part could be diverted to another target...there were TWO Blechhammers....one was Blechhammer North Oil Refinery, and the other was Blechhammer South...Part of the wing could be sent to the Blechhameer North,and part to blechhammer South...the priority was set by the top directing authority, which was the US Strat Air Forces In Europe.

Jim :-)

James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)

The USAAF Combat Chronology has the following entry for August 27, 1944:

MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (MTO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Fifteenth Air Force): 530+ fighter-escorted bombers
attack targets in Germany and Italy; the B-17s hit an oil refinery in
Blechhammer, Germany; the B-24s also hit an oil refinery in Blechhammer and
in Italy, a railroad bridge at Ferrara, and viaducts at Avisio, Venzone, and
Borovnica.


So, with both B-17s and B-24s hitting Blechhammer, it looks like more than one wing, but I'm not up on 15th organization and operations... Jim?
They were probably each hitting separate targets in the same city. This was a strategy used by the 8th to cause the most distress to recovery efforts. Fire crews would start at one factory, then another would be hit across town, then another. The hope was that at least some of them would burn to the ground while others were being handled.

-------------
David Warren
www.447bg.com

David...The B-17s hit Blechhammer NORTH oil refinery that day.

The B-17s were from the 5th Wing...there was one wing of B-17s and 4 wings of B-24s

The B-17 Wing was composed to the 2nd ,97th, 99th,301st, 463rd and 483rd Groups, and with 4 Sqdns of B-17s to a Group...equals 24 B-17s to a Group, or about 144 of the aircraft were B-17s.

The B-24s composition was of 4 wings, one of the wings (49th) had 3 Bomb Groups,and the other three had 4 Bomb Groups...47th Wing, 55th WIng and the 304th Wing, for a total of 15 B-24 Bomb Groups. Thus, usuing the same number of B-24s to a Group, and the balance of Heavy Bombers would equal the difference....530 total less the 144 B-17s would equal to 386 B-24s...or about 25 B-24s to a Group. These are approximate figures. It appears with the additinoal targets. the B-24s hit other targets, so the B-24s over Blechhammer (probably Blechhammer SOUTH) probably would have been close to the number of B-17s, as the balance fo the B-24sa were at other targets.

I am guessing, as I don't have information on the B-24s. I think I probably am farily close.

JIm :-)

James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)

My mother has come across a few of photos while trying to clean up grandma's house. My bother has managed to get two of them scanned and has finally sent them to me. One I can figure out and will post about it in the appropriate BG forum. The only thing I have found about the other, is I believe it to be 42-40071, B-24D-30-CO, listed as condemned salvage Aug 11, 1945 according to the USAAC/USAAF serial number list. So, which of y'all, who are good at these things, can shine a little more light on this photo?



[image]local://upfiles/4973/7C061C385D714B1286BC8F4A3C182D1D.jpg[/image]

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Standing: second from right; is my great-uncle. I do not have any names for the rest of the crew in this photo. As far as I know, there are no names on the photo. I am awaiting a reply from my brother confirming this. Also, from the distance of the photographer, its hard to make out the name on the plane. There appears to be something (a goose?) to the left of the girl. And a name, which I cannot make out very well. Anyone out there who might recognize this A/C or other crewmembers?

[image]local://upfiles/4973/F5A33115594B4BA08422060615B26290.jpg[/image]

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Your 1st image (Post #13) is not "42". It is "44"...
SWEAT BOX B - 24 J - 145 - CO 44-40071 8 44 66 QK D+
http://www.b24bestweb.com/Pics-S-SWEA-SWEET_D.htm

Your 2nd image (Post #14) is...
MISS-I-HOPE B - 24 J - 1 - NT 42-78624 15 449 718 ~

Daniel L. Stockton "B-24 Best Web"
http://www.b24bestweb.com/

Got PICs? (>7600 on site!)
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Attached is a closeup of the MISS-I-HOPE noseart. What you are seeing to the left of the girl, and overlaying part of the name, is a reflection of the engine nacelle and prop hub.

The info I have lists MISS-I-HOPE arriving to the 449th on 5 October '44. A possibility is that your great-uncle's crew may have ferried the ship overseas. Often neither the crew, nor the bomb group they went to, kept the ferried plane - the a/c usually went to the depot for later distribution as needed.

Per your previous posts, the 47th Wing hit targets in N. Italy on 27 August. The 449th hit the Ferrara Bridge. The 449th a/c lost that day was 44-41067 of the 716th squadron.

[image]local://upfiles/928/D572A89008B14DC39EDA6D791EBBB796.jpg[/image]

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Dear Friend ,

I have listing of all crews of 455th BG . I willcheck my archive and will write to you tonight when I will be back at home . I have more photos of crews from 455th BG . I will send to you all what I have . You can write to me to my home e-mail address :
vkaquam@orangemail.sk

Regards ,

Viliam

I originally thought it was the one I did because I didn’t find 40071 listed in the 1944 serial numbers. Now I know that the list is merely incomplete.

Concerning the second photo, how can you tell its MISS-I-HOPE - 42-78624 15 449 718, and not MISS-I-HOPE - 42-78213 15 454 736, or MISS-I-HOPE - 42-51624 15 455 740? I’m really curious how everyone can identify the A/C? As far as I can tell, I cannot identify any serial numbers or other identifiable markings. (Of course I couldn’t tell it was the reflection of the engine nacelle, until I stopped looking at it at 400% - 1200%; forest for the trees )
As for MISS-I-HOPE - 42-78624 15 449 718 arriving 5 OCT 44, to the 449BG, could that have been an inter-Wing A/C transfer? Because my Uncle wouldn’t have been around by then.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

The nose-art is the key to identity in this case. Notice that the girl and the name are the same in both photos. Also, note that in my photo, the last three digits of the s/n has been painted ahead of the navigators window - the 62 of 624 is visible.

The ferry theory is just a guess. However, a/c could remain at the depot for days or for weeks before being assigned to a group. Any idea when your uncle arrived overseas? It is also possible that your photo was taken stateside and the a/c was ferried by others. Per the Individual Aircraft Record Card, 42-78624 arrived OHAM (Bari) on 9/9/44, and was assigned 5 October. 449th records show this s/n flew to the end of combat. 42-78624 was flown home to Hunter AAF on 6 July 45.

Mark is right . It is no atypical to transfer the planes between BGs . For example B-17 plane "Crazy House " was transferred from 97th BG to 483rd BG on April 1944 . The plane "MISS-I-HOPE" , Ser.No 42-78624 was by 455th BG . Please see book about 455th BG "Flight of the Vulgar Vultures, page 221 . It is there nose art photo of this "MISS-I-HOPE " whit first two No. 62 .
Phill is right too . Your color photo is an factory photo .

Regards ,

Viliam