Joe Baugher lists 41- 9016 lost on this date along with 12 crew. The ABMC shows a loss on 6th December 1943 with the names of Clanton, Clement, Scala and Hanson all buried in North Africa. Can anyone link these two dates or are they all one and the same? Perhaps someone can place the rest of the names. Bob [signature]

Correction to that. The men are buried in Ardennes and Lorraine. There is no MACR quoted for the 6th but there is one for the 5th. Bob [signature]

41-9016 crashed at 0225 December 6th 1943 in Mount Paní, Spain. The exact hour comes from the Bulova of one of the crew members, which was found stopped at that precise time. The crew list is: 2nd Lt. Earl Richard Clement (O-524 977) 2nd Lt. Robert Murray Ryan (O-731 671) 2nd Lt. Harvey Julian Hanson (O-732 727) 2nd Lt. John Albert MacDonald (O-732 641) 2nd Lt. Pheley, John Kemp (O-854 201) Corp. Christian Jean Becht (32-417836) T/Sgt. Thayer Todd Turman (17-044 922) S/Sgt. Fred Clanton (38-223 515) T/Sgt. James Theodore Thomas(18-134 027) S/Sgt. Guy Edward Schof (33-236 869) S/Sgt. Leonard Lable Rosenburg (20-745 625) S/Sgt. John Louis Scala (32-389 401) I hope this helps. best regards, Javier [signature]

Bob & Mazlinger,
 
As a favor to a friend who was once stationed on El Pani in Spain, the site of the above-mentioned crash, I am looking for info on the net.  So far this post is the only thing I have seen by the B-17 's serial number.  I don't find anything at www.aviationarchaeology.com either.  Auto-translated info from a Spanish officer at the base follows:
 
Boeing B-17E-BO Flying Fortress s/n 2487, AAF s/n 41-9016, 68th RG, 16th RS, on electronic reconnaissance mission off southern France, crashed on mount Panit (Girona). Whole crew killed.  The 6 of December of 1943 was the day in which the airplane was lost. It had taken off of Tunisia the night of the 5, for a night mission  of recognition of the radars Germans “Freia” located in the French coast, to prepare the invasion of Provenza. Debia to fly towards Perpignan and to follow the French coast towards Marseille soon to turn to the south and to return to the base.  Without a doubt due to bad weather they could not correct a small error of navigation and instead of arriving at France they hit against the mountain of the Pani. They crashed against the slope of the mount to the 02:25 of day 6, the hour we know it because in one of corpses was a dowry clock marks stopped Bulova that hour.
 
Where did you guys come by your info?
 
Also, I've found that some of the crew were interred stateside in 1950, while others were left in Lorraine and Ardennes.
 
Regards,
 
jdarren