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B 17G-VE 42-97607 ditched in the sea of Smålandsfarvandet
off Glænø 19/5 1944.
The aircraft belonged to USAAF, 8 Air Force, 100 Bomb Group, 349 Bomb Squadron
and was coded XR-H.
T/O Thorpe Abbot. OP: Berlin.
After having dropped its bombs on the target 42-97607 was attacked by German Fw
190 fighters and was damaged. It headed north over the island of Lolland and
ditched about four miles off Glænø.
Before ditching the whole crew except Pilot 1st Lt Ralph D. Horne Jar. and
Co-pilot 1st Lt John M. McGrath gathered in the radio room.
Horne put the B 17 down nicely and the crew entered the dinghy’s and paddled to
the shore.
They split up in two groups of four and six men. Probably officers and
sergeants. On the morning of 20/5 the officers was arrested by the Wehrmacht in
Nyrup while the sergeants were arrested at Snedinge Hovedgaard farm.
They were all sent to Dulag Luft Oberursel near Frankfurt for interrogation.
After a while they were sent to Dulag Luft Wetzlar to await transportation to
the different POW camps.
Pilot 1st Lt Ralph D. Horne Jr., Co-pilot 1st Lt John M. McGrath, Navigator 2nd
Lt Douglas L. Hiley and Bombardier 2nd Lt Jack T. Ewans were sent to Stalag Luft
III Sagan while it is not clear where the sergeants were sent.
They were Radio operator T/Sgt Lawrence C. Wiley, Engineer T/Sgt Robert L.
Fosdick, Ball turret gunner S/Sgt Carlee E. Hunt, Right waist gunner S/Sgt
Shelly M. Hall, Left waist gunner S/Sgt Joseph Perinsky Jr. and Tail gunner
S/Sgt Joseph G. Staron Jr.
Horne states after the war that Engineer T/Sgt Robert L. Fosdick was seen in
Stalag XIIID Nürnberg-Langwasser and later in Stalag VII Moosburg.
Sources: MACR, LBUK.
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