Warbird Information Exchange

... "That was the (captured German) name of this B-17F (41-24585) bomber which belonged to the 303rd Bomber Group. It had the dubious honor of becoming the first US bomber captured intact by the Luftwaffe. It provided a wealth of invaluable information on the capabilities and vulnerability of the "Terror bomber", as Nazi propaganda labeled the B-17.

In the early morning of December 12, 1942 the Eight Air Force dispatched 78 B-17s against the Luftwaffe servicing base at Romilly sur Seine, some 60 miles east of París. Due to awful weather conditions, just 17 planes reached their goal. Above Beauvais they were attacked by 30 German fighters, who punished them along all the way. Upon reaching the target the B-17's dropped 40 tons of bombs and returned home.

Lt Paul Flickinger's "Wolf Hound" sustained major damage and dropped out of the formation. Alone and disoriented it was intercepted by a Bf 110 of NJG 1 over the Lower Rhine, the Netherlands. As surrender was the only way to avoid destruction, the crew lowered the landing gear and the fighter guided them to the Leeuwaarden airfield (Netherland).

As soon as they captured it, its American stars were replaced by the German national insignias and the Stammkennzeichenn (side code) DL+XC. Temporary repairs were over by December 12th and, escorted by two Bf 110, the B-17 flew to the Experimental Center at Rechlin. Luftwaffe fighter bases and flak units along the path of the flight route were informed of the flight. Nevertheless, the Fortress was fired upon and received some minor damage.

For the next three months German engineers studied carefully every system on the plane and a number of Luftwaffe pilots began studying the aircraft in preparation for a test program to seek for its weaknesses. The first test trial takes place on March 13th, 1943, under the control of Fluzeugführer Bottcher. The testing goes on and on all along April, while the German fighter units learnt how to attack the B-17s and develop new tactics.

From June to August it's used to tow a DFS 230 glider and sent, for a brief spell in July, to Department E 3 at Rechlin. By the month of September the German air force has gathered thousands of pages of technical information upon the Wolf Hound. Those reports are used to improve their air-to-air tactics and their own designs of bombers.

On September 11th it was transferred to KG 200, were it is given a new camouflage and a code which began with A3+. From this point onwards it's track is lost. It is possible that it was used by KG 200, along with another 3 B-17's, for training and clandestine missions between May and June 1943.

From May 1942 onwards the crews of the Allied bombers reported several encounters with unknown B-17's over France. It is was due that any flyable B-17 captured by the Germans was send to the Versuchsverband Ob. der L, the future KG200, and used. The Allied HQ's were afraid that the airplanes were used to attack the B-17 formations."

Quoted from Geoff Thomas: KG 200 - The Luftwaffe's Most Secret Unit, Hikoki, 2003".

Joe Baughers Site states:

24585 assigned to 360th BS, 303rd BG at Bandor Oct 14, 1942. To Molesworth Oct 16, 1943.
(360th BS, 303rd BG, *Wolf Hound*) force-landed in France on Dec 12, 1942, after
attacking Rouen Sotteville marshalling yards, while in service with 303rd Bomb Group,
Molesworth. Recovered by Luftwaffe. After flight testing at Rechlin,
it was used for demonstration visits to Luftwaffe Jagdgruppen as DL+XC (also quoted as DL+XS),
before being assigned to I./KG200 in Sep 1943 as A3+AE. Destroyed in bombing raid on Oranienburg Apr 10, 1945.
Parts of wreckage found at Oranienburg.

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[Thread title is ridiculous btw]

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remember the Oogahonk!
old school enthusiast of Civiltary Warbirds and Air Racers

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Just part of the team keeping them going
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No ball turret ???

"A wheels-up landing was made in a hayfield near Melun, France (60 miles S.E. of Paris) with ball turret guns pointing downward. Germans were able to transport the B-17 to the nearby Leeuwarden airfield in the Netherlands where repairs made and put in flyable condition. The damaged Ball Turret was never replaced."

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[Thread title is ridiculous btw]

Paul Flickenger flew a TBM tanker out of Goleta for TBM Inc. either Tanker 67 or 68. I worked summers as a kid loading retardant from 1963 through 1967. I think that "Flick" flew the TBM in 1965 or 1966. He told me that he always felt guilty when he saw a picture of Wulfe Hund in Luftwaffe markings as it was the first flyable B-17 that was captured and he'd been the pilot.

He said that following the emergency landing the crew chief had just finished stuffing a parachute into a fuel tank filler hole and was almost ready to shoot it with a very pistol when German soldiers arrived and convinced him to stop. I got the impression that "Flick" was involved in more than one escape attempts as a POW, but he finished the war in a POW camp.

He treated me as more of an equal than just a teenage kid. When I started flying Twin Beeches hauling explosives around the country in 1973, I tried to contact him when I spent the night at Luke AFB as the last address that I had for him was in Mesa. Unfortunately, he had died a year or two earlier. He was a fine gentleman.

Mark, thanks for another cool post

Larry, thank you for sharing that amazing bit of first hand connection.

Stuff like this is hugely fascinating and only made better by the wealth of knowledge and experience that logs on to this site.

Cheers guys

Andy Scott

As an endpoint to the story of this bird...the sad remains of 41-24585 were dug up in 2008 at the exact German airfield where it was based out of.









Story can be read here: http://www.303rdbg.com/pp-wulfehound.html. I have also seen the remains of the pilot control panel in a picture elsewhere on the net with radio call sign/serial number still attached.

Fascinating!

It would be interesting to know where they sourced un-bent props for it. How was this B-17 (and later others) in KG200 sustained? Did the Reich have an inventory of captured R-1820's? Most of these aircraft eat through parts when flown in wartime conditions, especially if they're damaged.

It would be interesting to know where they sourced un-bent props for it. How was this B-17 (and later others) in KG200 sustained? Did the Reich have an inventory of captured R-1820's? Most of these aircraft eat through parts when flown in wartime conditions, especially if they're damaged.

Strangers in a Strange Land, vol 1&2 from Squadron. Volume 2 has some insight into the German salvage efforts of allied aircraft, both to keep captured examples flying and reclamation of raw materials.

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Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

Larry Kraus, thanks for the tidbit about pilot Paul Flickenger. I am just barely old enough to recall watching TBM and F7F tankers flying out of Goleta. Fascinating all these years later to learn one of the pilots I may have seen had such a historical connection - whether he thought it was a negative or not.

Basically, yes. Special battalions of about 15 men were sent to a crash site to evaluate, salvage, and transport wreckage for sorting. Wreckage was sorted at special salvage yards called Beuteparks where useful items were evaluated for repair while the rest was sent for scrap. Fuel, weapons, tires, engines were sorted. Engines were repaired for use in captured aircraft or sent to technical training schools, etc...

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"They done it, they done it, damned if they ain't flew." December 17, 1903