Dear all,
 
On 13th may 1944 a Fortress of 447th BG bombed the airfield Bergen/Alkmaar as alternative target with 12 x 500 lbs. These bombs exploded West of the airfield and caused litlle damage.
 
I'm looking for the identity of this B-17 and its crew and hope somebody has a clue on file.
 
Thanks in advance,
Hans Nauta
The Netherlands

Hans - according to 447th BG History , the weather was good over target Osnabruck Rail Yards and all A/C hit target.
There is one possibility- # 2102638 711 Sq.  was hit , # 3 Engine on Fire, before target - may have salvoed early ???
Pilot -  Lt. R.D. McClintock
Note: Mission report states Group flew North of Target before turning right to Bomb - Heading 270 Degrees.
cheers

Dear Shooshoobaby,
 
Thanks for your reaction. I doubt however, if 42-102638 was responsible for the attack on Bergen/Alkmaar airfield as this ship was lost in Germany and the airfield is located way back at the Dutch coast...
 
Strange enough the 447th History states that all aircraft hit the target, while the general mission report of that date attributes the attack on Bergen/Alkmaar by a B-17 of 447th BG.
 
Perhap somebody has some more on file?
 
Kind regards,
Hans Nauta 
 
 

Hans - I was thinking with the location and prelude to D - Day , the A/C could have been a 9th AF or 2d Tactical  Fighter/Medium Bomber?
From History of 9th Air Force - " Between 1 May and 5 June , 36 Airfields from Brittany to Holland were hit ".
B - 26 and A - 20 groups flew 1 or 2 Missions a day during this time period.
Just a thought. The info I sent on 447th is from the Group Mission report. All 3 Divisions were on Missions this day. 1 B - 17 from 306th BG Ditched North Sea ????
Mike

Hi Mike,
 
Thanks again for your reaction. My primary source is the General Mission Report held in The National Archives London. That report indicates that a B-17 of 447th BG attacked the target of opportunity Bergen/Alkmaar airfield with 12 x 500 lbs.
I'll check this source again at my next visit to this archive in October.
 
Best regards,
Hans Nauta

Hans - be interested to see what you find . The 447th reports in the book are pretty complete. Note - the Report says 447th bombloads were 10 500 LB bombs.
Is there a possible TYPO in your report - could it be 457th , 467th , 487th ???
Cheers

Hans,
Shooshoobaby has given you some good information.  I too am wondering if it is a typo or something.  I have check several sources and have not found a reference to a single Fortress attacking Bergen/Alkmaar on 13th May 1944. 

Now this doesn't mean it didn't happen, a target of opportunity... maybe but would seem odd.  Other than the reference of 42-102638, I don't see where there were any stragglers, that would find themselves in a target of opportunity or salvo situation.

Good Luck!  Please let us know if you find something else. 
-Keith
 
Another thought I had was that the 447th had P-38, P-47 and P-38 Fighter Escort during this mission. 
Perhaps a fighter straffed the airfield? 
ahh but the 12 - 500lbs,  a secret 4-engine P-38?  

-Keith Hardie
Nephew of John David Hardie, 447th BG waist gunner.
www.447bg.com

Hi  Shooshoobaby, My name is Tom Wallace. 2102638 was my dad's ( Robert R Wallace) plane. It was indeed shot down an 13 May 1944. He is the crew as recorded in his diary:
Crew #90
Pilot Lt Raymond D Mclintock, Huntington, Missouri
Co Pilot Lt Robert M Dalby, Minneapolis, Minnesota - Died when he left ship without chute (In oral history Dad always said Lt Dalby was unable to properly connect O2 bottle and this caused him to act irrationally.
Nav Lt Stanley Gilman, New York He broke his ankle when landing (after bail out)
Bom Lt Walter H Trotter Jr, Oakland, California
ROG Ben F Little (Arkansas)
AE or AG Abrey Teague (Oklahoma) He was shot while in the camp
AG (ball turret) R R Wallace, Hibbing, Minnnesota
AAG John Gingrich (Pennsylvania)
AAE Leon Bernedo (California)
TG Jack C Young (I can't remember where he is from)
 
Enlisted were all Sgt or SSG grade and were taken to Luft Stalag IV until "The March" in Feb 1945
I believe officers went to Luft Stalag 1 but I am not sure.
 
MACR number is 4772. I have not heard of this document before but will send for it and related reports.
Tom

Tom - For a Free Copy of MACR from Ms. Lynn Gamma - Archives:
Email Lynn.Gamma@Maxwell.af.mil   inclue MACR # , A/C Serial # , date .
From Book- History of the 447th BG by Doyle Shields.
# 2102638 Hit just before reaching target , Osnabruck GE
# 3 Engine on Fire - Crew bailed.
A/C crashed near Greffern , GE. 
Mike

Hi  Mike and Keith,
 
Last week I visited The National Archives in London again and checked document AIR40/627 again, but I didn't make a typo...
447th BG sent out 21 Fortresses to Osnabrueck out of which 20 bombed Osnabrueck and one the airfield Bergen/Alkmaar.
 
This airfield may also be called Egmond in the files of 447th BG, perhaps this is another clue?
 
Best regards,
Hans Nauta
 
Best rega
 
 

Hans - this is a mystery. In the Mission report , " Returning from Target the Formation went over the Coast of North Sea at the Mouth of the Rhine River ". 1st Division diverted to targets in Stettin and Straslund. No mention of incident.
One thing I picked up on - McClintock's B - 17's #3 Engine trailing smoke but was still with Formation on RETURN from target. The A/C caught fire and made a sharp left hand turn before disappearing in clouds. Is it possible that " Hung Bombs " or Bombs salvoed  hit the Field? When Crew bailed  - the A/c was probably on Auto Pilot and may have stayed in the air awhile before crashing ?
Have you read MACR ? Tom Wallace was going to send for it , maybe has info.
Mike

Hi Mike and Hans, first, I just sent the request in for the MACR. Second, while I sure do not want to stir pots that are over 60 years old I do have a little bit of information from the 447th BG website.
 
Combat mission 64 had a target of Onsnabruck. 21 aircraft were airborne, dispatched, and attacked. There are 0s in all 5 columns under broad heading of A/C failing to attack. There was only one aircraft lost. All 10 crew are shown as missing. No returned aircraft had major damage but 8 did have minor damage.
 
My dad was never one to keep his POW experience to himself and told us many times over the years his stories. One point he consistently made was they expected a milk run but ran into heavy flack right after bombs away.  His diary also says Osnabruck was the target & they were shot down at 12:45 right after bombs away.
 
On the 447th BG website there is a USAAF Chronology. For Saturday 13 May 1944, European Theater of Operations:
2. 199 B-17s are dispatched to hit the marshalling yard at Osnabruck; 178 hit the primary and 1 bomb a target of opportunity; 1 B-17 is lost (guess who) and 61 damaged; 2 airmen are WIA and 10 MIA
 
I am certainly no expert on any of this but am an avid genealogiest. Doing genealogy reasarch almost daily I run across conflicts all the time especially in census records. What I do, and tell others to do, is analyze all of the available data and apply any or all of it based on your own judgement. I generally do not throw things away even when I do not use it. One never knows when future findings might support that which you previously did not think was correct.
 
Tom Wallace

Here is some follow-up from the MACR 4772 I received yesterday. In section 12 on the second page it says:
"ACRFT HIT BY FLACK OVER TARGET AND #3 ENGINE CAUGHT FIR. ACRFT PEELED OF TO LEFT AND SUCCEDED IN EXTINGUISHING FLAMES BUT DID NOT REJOIN FORMATION. ACRFT LAST SEEN IN VICINITY OF RP WITH #3ENGINE FEATHERED AND DROPPING STEADILY BEHIND FORMATION. ONE MAN SEEN TO BAIL OUT BUT CHUTE DID NOT OPEN."
 
The bulk of the other information relates to the crew members capture, where taken, their rank, serial number, position on the crew etc.  A name and address is given for family member notified (or to be notified maybe) of incident. Further in the report are interviews after liberation primarily regarding the death of Co Pilot Robert M Dalby and Ssg Aubrey E Teague.
 
As far as anything on the aircraft diverting, every single refernce to the crash says it was hit by flack over the target (which is always refers to Onsabruck). What  I presume is information from German documents (but are in English) says plane was shot down by German fighter. All information about the crash says the plane exploded in the air, was about 90% destroyed, and what was left crashed in town of Greffen, County Warendorf, Westfalen (Germany). That is very near Onsabruck.
 
I want to add this information in case a family member might be looking for Robert M Dalby.
He was buried at Prisoner of War cemetery in Achner near Onsabruck Germany in Row 1, Grave 78 on 14 May 1944 at 0830. Members of the crew verified seeing his body on a German truck the day they were shot down. I have not determined whether his remains were ever brought back to the US.
 
This is all the additional light I can shed on this topic. Tom

Robert Dalby is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery at Margraten...


Robert M. Dalby

Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Service # O-699796
711th Bomber Squadron, 447th Bomber Group, Heavy

Entered the Service from: Minnesota
Died: 13-May-44
Buried at: Plot H Row 12 Grave 6
Netherlands American Cemetery
Margraten, Netherlands

Awards: Purple Heart

Associate member of the Awon
http://www.awon.org/
__________________

Fighters for Victory (357th FG)

Thank you for posting this. I checked genealogy resources and found similar, but not as detailed, information. It is also on a Minnisota cemetery inscription listing so his family must have been aware of this as well. Robert Dalby had one brother who died in 1993 and another who I cannot determine whether he is living. I do not know of any other siblings so I cannot try to pass this along other than through this forum.
 
The MACR notes a wooden cross was placed on the grave of Aubrey E Teague who died in Luft Stalag 4. A map I located on the internet of that camp shows the relative location of the grave yard outside of the compound and this is also noted in the MACR. I have never found any indication that such burials were removed to another location. It may be lost to the ages. Tom

Hello Mike and Keith,

It took some considerable time after my initial post, but I've found an Interpretation Report of a B-17 of 447th BG dropping its bombs on Bergen/Alkmaar airfield.

As the report was made up with the aid of the strike photo, it must concern one of the returned B-17's and rules out the possibility that the lost #42-102638 may have been responsible.

Unfortunatley this report doesn't reveil the identity of the B-17. I can't upload this report, so if it's of any interest please contact me at hnautaATquicknetDOTnl. Replace AT and DOT for the obvious symbols.

Hope you're reading this post anyway as it's more than 2 years ago after my initial post!
Best regards,
Hans Nauta