I am looking for information on what happened to the crew of the B-17 serial # 42-3298 that was shot down on July 26, 1943. (over Hannover, I believe.)  My second cousin, William E. Weir, was captured and was at Luft III. The pilot was Leroy A. Massey.
I am also interested in the name of the plane, any nose art, etc.  Any help wil be greatly appreciated!

Kind Regards,
Peggy

B-17F-45-DL      42-3298                  95BG 412BS
 
2lt Leroy A Massey                  P           KIA
2lt Albert Leonard                   CP
2lt Charles Goldschmid            N
2lt William E Weir                    B
t/sgt John W Stafford              E
t/sgt Irving B Warshauer         RO       KIA
s/sgt Daniel W Waters            BTG
s/sgt Tharon B Smith               LWG
s/sgt Melvin K Butler               RWG
s/sgt Charles R Rolle               TG
 
plane left formation just before bombrun with no 3 and 4 on fire
lt Massey was shot down trying to escaped
believed that the plane crashed at Dehsen near Hammeln

ron
http://www.mary-ruth.ontheweb.nl/

Hi Peggy,
 
There were two KIA and the 8 remaining crew members all became POWs. MACR 195 might give you some information that you don't already have. This report is available free of charge by contacting Lynn.Gamma@MAXWELL.AF.MIL. Expect a wait of several weeks.
 
Vic

Thanks to the both of you for your help....very much appreciated!  

Kind Regards,
Peggy

Hi, Peggy.  I've looked through several sources and can find no nickname associated with B-17 #42-3298.  My dad was a radio operator and was involved in many of the same missions as your second cousin.  He left two journals detailing his 25 missions.  I thought that (perhaps) you might be interested in his personal account of the trip to Hannover on 7/26/43.  It was his 9th mission, the Massey crew's 10th.
 
"Well, just to keep in the swing of things, we made our third successive trip today.  Right now I am plenty tired and have good reason to be.  In the past three days, we have put in 26 hours of combat flying, to say nothing of the many hours spent in preparation before and after each trip.  That's a lot of time coming the way it has.
 
Our target for today was a synthetic rubber plant in Hannover, Germany.  I do wish that they would send us to some other country for a change.  That Germany is plenty rough.  This plant and one other. also a target for today, produce 71% of Germany's tires or about 80,000 a month.  It is a damned important target in every respect. 
 
Things looked pretty rugged even before we started.  There were supposed to be 220 fighters within 130 miles and 99 flak guns in the target area.  Our bomb load, for the first time, was to be incendiaries.  Rubber makes for good burning.  For a change we were due back at a decent hour of the day, 3 p.m.  All we had to worry about was getting back!
 
About 30 minutes before we hit Germany we saw our first fighters, but they didn't seem ready for a scrap.  Instead, they passed us up.  That looked fairly hopeful, but not for long.  Within a short time, fighters started coming up again.  It was by no means a small group.  We could see them for quite a while climbing up to our altitude.  It's a funny feeling, watching and waiting. Finally they came in, and a royal battle started.  They fought us all the way to the target, over the target and back to the coast.  I don't know how many fighters went down, but we did lose four planes out of our group, one from our squadron.
 
The flak was pretty stiff again, accurate as to course and altitude.  As usual, we came home with a number of holes in our ship.  A couple were very close to our tail gunner.  His guns, by the way, were out all the time, and all but two of our attacks were from the tail.  It kept the rest of us darn busy.
 
It's a little too early to know the bombing results.  Here's hoping they're good!"
 
Regards from the proud daughter of Warren A. Irving,
Judy
 
 

Thank you, Judy, for sharing your Dad's journal entry for that day. It really makes people realize what the crews went through on their missions. May God Bless all of them.

Does anyone know why some planes were named and others not?

Kind Regards,
Peggy

Hello my Grandfather Alfred B. Nabholz was a right wing gunner on the yankee queen from the 95th bomb group squadron 336 his pilot was oneill. I am looking for any information about him or his missions that anyone might be able to give me.  I have seen several of your posts and from what i did find i have put together that your father and my grandfather were on the same plane. Again I would appreciate any information you or anyone else could give me.
Thank you,
Paula

Hi, Paula.  I can tell you just about anything you might want to know about the crew of the Yankee Queen.  My father was the radio operator.  Email me:  judyw@wt.net  

Peggy -
B - 17 # 42 - 3283 ET E  " Yankee Queen "
95th BG , 336th Sq.
Crash Landed England 10/4/43
Note - Crews did not always fly the same B - 17.
# 42 - 3298 QW Q was a 412th Sq. B - 17
B - 17s were often " Borrowed " by another Sq.
to fill out a Formation.
Mike