B-17 42-5251 Capt.Smiley "Bodacious Critter"

Re:B-17 42-5251 Capt.Smiley "Bodacious Critter" (xl500doktor)

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 08:03:34 GMT

Hello Jaap,
Unfortunately I have to speak to you again. Capt. Smiley did not fly the 42-3034! This was the B-17 of Jankowski. Please look in the "Missing Loading Lists".I am also in possession of these lists.
I have all the documentation of the 306 Bomb Group. In all lists, as well as the departure time of departure card Smiley is listed on 42-5251. Departure time 09:47.
Jankowski departure time 09:49 on 42-3034.
The B-17 42-3034 from Jankowski crashed at Strackholt.Sgts Bell and Chinlund were first buried in Garrison Cemetry at Wittmund, Grave 73 and 71. See Casualty Report.There is also listed the Nr. 42-3034 Pilot Jankowski.
Look in the MACR Smiley 42-5251!
Terveurn writes:
Pilot: Capt William N Smiley) - 3 KIA, 7 POW (MACR 15518) - SOC.
(Thats wrong! Smileys Crew is completely missing)

Regards
Volker Urbansky
v.urbansky@t-online.de

Re:B-17 42-5251 Capt.Smiley "Bodacious Critter" (Terveurn)

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:54:59 GMT

More info on 42-5251

42-5251 (c/n: 3790). Accepted: October 1942 - Boeing Aircraft Co, Seattle, Washington
                                Taxi accident (class 4): Sunday, 25 October 1942 - Boeing Field, Washington
                                                (aircraft was parked) - repaired
                                                                Struck by B-17F 42-5261
                Delivered: 18 November 1942 - United Airlines / Boeing Modification Center #10 - (Cheyenne Municipal Airport)
                Assigned: 12 December 1942 - ATC / Caribbean Wing / 52nd HQABSQ / 15th Ferry Group - (Morrison AAF)
                Assigned: 1 January 1943 - 8^th AF / 1st BW / 101st CBW (P) / 306^th BG / 368^th BS - (RAF Thurleigh)
                                (BO * Z / Pride of the Karians)
                                Ground accident: 1 March 1943
                                                Collision with B-17F 42-24476 - repaired
                                Assigned: 3 March 1943 - 9 April 1943 - VIII Service Command / 1 BAD
                                (BO * Z / Bodacious Critter)
                                MIA: Saturday, 17 April 1943 (Fighters) - North Sea
                                                (Pilot: Capt William N Smiley) - 3 KIA, 7 POW (MACR 15518) - SOC.
                                                                8th AF mission / 306th BG mission (Bremen, Germany)

Re:B-17 42-5251 Capt.Smiley "Bodacious Critter" (airwar)

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:51:00 GMT

B-17F-45-BO,42-5251 "Bodacious Critter" MACR 15519

1/Lt.Theodore A.Jankowski             P
2/Lt.William H.Scheil                        CP
2/Lt.Reginald E.Wigham                  N
S/Sgt.Thomas P.McDonnell              B/NG
T/Sgt.James B.Stelzer                      E
Sgt.Benedetto Benigno                   G
S/Sgt.Charles E.Wylie                      G
S/Sgt.William G.Gelnett                    G
S/Sgt.Charles R.Bell                         G
S/Sgt.John E.Chinlund                      G

Target Bremen.The bale out order was given in the Emden area,the seven suirvivors landing in the Mullberg/Westerstede area.Aircraft crashed at Aurich-Oldendorf,near Strackholt,Germany. 3 KIA, 7 POW

Captain Walter N.Smiley, MACR 15456

Re:B-17 42-5251 Capt.Smiley "Bodacious Critter" (airwar)

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 02:03:42 GMT

Captain Walter N.Smiley flew B-17F-15-DL, 42-3034
B-17F, 42-5251 " Bodacious Critter" with pilot 1/Lt.Theodore A.Jankowski.

regards Jaap

B-17 42-5251 Capt.Smiley "Bodacious Critter" (xl500doktor)

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:25:15 GMT

Hello,
I work for over 3 years with the clarification of the losses Bombers B-17 on the raid on Bremen on the 17th of April 1943. Here I have found a small story about Capt. Smiley's 42-5251. "Bodacious Critter" 306BG/368BS (BO-Z)
v.urbansky@t-online.de

[Among] the missing crews are: Capt. Walter N. Smiley, 2nd Lt. Avery L. Ewan,
1st Lt. Wilbur N. Breunig, 1st Lt. Martin M. Strauss, T/Sgt. Donald B. Hepler, T/Sgt. Raymond C. Clifton, S/Sgt. Roderick C. Clark, S/Sgt. William R. Payne, S/Sgt. Lawrence J. Sliff, S/Sgt. Roy E. Staff
The official version of how Bodacious Critter was lost was described in Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) 15518, which states, "This aircraft is believed to have turned back toward the enemy coast at 54 deg 10 min N-06 deg 40 min E, and is believed to have crashed into the sea." MACR 15518 most likely is based on a post-mission debriefing of the sole surviv-ing 368th aircrew, that of Lt. Maxwell Judas. Handwritten notes of this debrief-ing state, "14:05 Lt. (sic) Smiley—turned back toward coast of Germany [at] 540 10' N— 60 46' E—possibly 4 chutes out be-fore Smiley must have hit water (1 B-17 blew up on hitting water—was this Smiley?—it sank immediately) This air-craft [was] at 1000 feet then—apparently [it was] Smiley"
Russell E. Strong in his book on the 306th accepts this version when he wrote that Capt. Smiley's aircraft made it to the target to drop his bombs after being hit in the first FW190 attack. The aircraft then turned back toward the North Sea some 60 miles away. After flying out over the wa-ter, Capt. Smiley apparently decided that the aircraft would not make it back to England and attempted to return to the German coast only to crash at sea with no survivors.
This version, however, raises two ques-tions. First, it fails to account for the pos-sibility there were four survivors from the aircraft. While it is possible that the four chutes reported by Judas's crew were for crew members who failed to survive the jump, a more likely explanation is that this crew saw another aircraft in distress. It is relevant that nearly all remaining B-17s lost that day had at least one survivor and many had multiple survivors. This version also raises the question of why the crew was unable to bail out of the aircraft given the 20 minutes or so it flew under control after the FW-190 attack. A possible explanation is that the aircraft commander initially thought his aircraft was sufficiently flight worthy to return to England only to change his mind once over the North Sea. Once over water, the crew might have chosen not to bail out in favor of a ditch-ing at sea because of the low probability of being picked up before cold North Sea water and the resulting hypothermia took its toll. The aircraft, then, either exploded as it neared the surface of the water or suffered a non-survivable crash on ditch-ing.
But, there is some support for a different version. Robert Seelos, a good friend of Smiley's who also flew with the 368th, told that he had heard that Smiley's aircraft was severely damaged in the initial FW-190 attack and that all crewmembers in the front of the aircraft (including Raymond C. Clifton) most certainly perished in this initial attack. The aircraft then imme-diately went into a terminal dive from which it did not recover. Seelos, who had been shot down and captured during the 5 April mission against Antwerp, wrote that he had been told this by a fellow 368th pilot when they were reunited in a German
POW camp in the summer of 1943. This individual had been shot down on 17 April as well and had witnessed Smiley's crash.
This version, if it were accurate, would suggest that Smiley's aircraft crashed on land or possibly the Weser River and not in the North Sea as we all had been led to believe. While this version seems more consistent with the facts as reported by American observers, it is not supported by German records that normally recorded the serial numbers of aircraft found on German territory.
In sum, we probably will never know the real story.

Regards
Volker Urbansky
v.urbansky@t-online.de