LOOKING FOR B-17 44-8237 /MACR14555 94BG

Cully -
Lt. Anderwald on Wall of Missing , Cambridge Cemetery
Go to www.abmc.gov
MACRs are online at www.footnote.com
Check to see if they have # 14555
Mike

Cully,

Just to close the loop here is the first page of the Missing Air Crew Report which includes the names of the crewmen.  DNB on the left side of the names means Died Non Battle.  Interestingly DNB is scratched out next to Anderwald's name and NO written next to it.  No idea what, if anything that means.  Also note on line 4 the date seems to have been erased and changed, appears to say '31', but on page two it clearly says '30'.

Hal

       Hal, I have run accross quite a few discrepencies on dates when the A/C took off late at night (22:50 hours). By the time they were reported missing and Sea Search was sent out, it would have been 31 May and the paper work would have been filled out on the 31st. That would be my guess, regards, Marc

Hi again,

Hi Cully

I will be happy to get the photographs for you when i next go to the Cemetery at Madingley.

With regards to Aberdeen, this is in Scotland and on the east coast. It would appear from the MACR that the crew were supposed to fly from Bury St. Edmunds, which is where the 94th BG were based with their four Bomb Squadrons, the 331st BS, 332nd BS, 333rd BS and the 410th BS, up to Cromer, which is on the north Norfolk coast and up towards Aberdeen. Then on the return from Aberdeen come down the east coast to Flamborough Head which is on the east Yorkshire coastline. Next it mentions a place called Wills, i think this is a spelling error and could possibly mean Wells, which is Wells-next-the-Sea, which is on the north Norfolk coast, and then back to Bury St. Edmunds.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Chris.

Hi Hal

I would think that because there were no radio messages sent from the aircraft, they were on their way out into the North Sea to begin their flight to Aberdeen, in Scotland. I would also think that whatever the problem was it hit them very quickly as no SOS was sent out. Maybe mist or fog may have played a part and caused a problem? No doubt there were other aircraft in the area, so could a collision have happened? My guess is that the lights may have been on in the towns and villages, but most of these in that area of the north Norfolk coast are only small villages, so there wouldn't have been a great deal of lightning on the actual coast. Cromer, where they were due to fly over is one of the areas where you would have thought there would have been more lights, but at that time of night would they have been on? At the moment there are certainly a lot more questions than answers surrounding this loss.

Regards

Chris.

Hal,

Hi Chris,

Based on the coordinates given in the MACR and the scale of the Mapquest map the location where the wreckage was spotted is about 50 miles north of Bury St. Edmunds and about 20 miles offshore.  If they were flying at the briefed altitude of 8000 feet a person standing on the shore MIGHT have seen a brief flash if there was an explosion or a mid air collision ... if they were looking in the right direction.  In theory an object at 8000 feet would be visible to a person on the ground for a distance of 120 miles.  If a person heard an explosion it would have been so long after the event, about a minute and a half at 20 miles, that they probably would not have been able to see where it came from.  Also I would guess that given the extent of the search there might have been a notation in the MACR if another aircraft was missing in the same area on the same night.  There have been several other threads regarding aircraft lost on training flights at night over water, always a mystery, always a heartbreak to be unable to find an answer.

Regards,
Hal

Chris

I found this information about B17 44-8237 on a 34th bomb group website.
 
I states that it was sent to 333sqdn / 94bg. The original name of the plane was "Dallas Dollie" don't know if that was changed when it was handed over.
 
http://valortovictory.tripod.com/b17s/44-8237.htm