B-17G "Mon Tet Rogue II" s/n 42-97069 452nd BG 1944
http://www.emolachance.com/42-97069.html
2LT
LAWRENCE DOWNEY
PILOT
KIA
24 MISSIONS
2LT
CHARLES F GILLETTE
CO-PILOT
POW
22 MISSIONS
2LT
EDWARD J O'NEIL
NAVIGATOR
POW
24 MISSIONS
2LT
JACK B SHORT
BOMBARDIER
POW
24 MISSIONS
TSGT
RAYMOND G GRESSON
RADIOMAN
POW
25 MISSIONS
SSGT
WILLIAM H VIDLILICH
BT GUNNER
POW
24 MISSIONS
TSGT
STANLEY NONDKITES
ENGINEER
KIA
24 MISSIONS
SSGT
DONALD N WOODWICK
TAIL GUNNER
KIA
20 MISSIONS
SSGT
CLIFFORD O HASE
W GUNNER
POW
24 MISSIONS
This was the second time this crew was shot down. The first time they landed safely in Brussels,
Belgium. This time they were not as lucky. Nondkites and Woodwick may have been shot,
because their chutes never opened. 2LT Downey may have stayed with the plane all the way
down. The surviving crew members were picked up by the Germans within minutes of landing.
They were taken to the city jail in Bitburg and remained POWs for the duration of the war.
The plane crashed at 16:00 hours on a railroad track near Messerich and broke into two parts.
The front part caught fire and burned for the entire night with a steady sound of exploding
shells. The rear part of the plane was not damaged and intact. It was laying on the eastern side
of the track. The front part, the wings, and the engines were laying on the western side of the
railroad track and were totally destroyed by the crash and ensuing fire. The pilot's body was
found in a creek in 1951 near the crash site and buried at the cemetery in the Ardennes. The
plane was shot down by the German 3rd Platoon, light flak battalion 977, commanded by LT
Wetzel.
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