ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 51038
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| Date: | Tuesday 11 January 1944 |
| Time: | 13:30 |
| Type: |  Boeing B-17F(SH) Flying Fortress |
| Owner/operator: | 482th BGp /812th BSqn USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-3486 |
| MSN: | 8422 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 11 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | IJsselmeer 3 km north of Harderwijk, Gelderland -
 Netherlands
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Alconbury, Cambridgeshire |
On 11 January 1944, during Eighth Air Force Mission 182 663 bombers and 592 escort fighters were dispatched against three aviation industry targets in Germany (Oschersleben, Halberstadt and Brunswick).
While the aircraft were airborne, the weather started closing in over English bases and a recall signal was issued. B/Gen. Robert F. Travis, 1st BD Air Commander of the 1st Bomber Division (who targeted Oschersleben and Halberstadt with 291 B-17s), continued on to the target. He later claimed he had never received the recall order. Most of the 2nd BD and 3nd BD aircraft, whose target was Brunswick, elected to return to England and seek targets of opportunity. Only one wing of 3rd BD continued to the target. This left the 1st BD with greater exposure to enemy fighter attacks, which were the most numerous in the air since the 14 October 1943 mission to Schweinfurt. It was estimated that 500 Luftwaffe fighters opposed the raid.
Good fighter support was provided by P-47s on the penetration and by P-51s over the target. P-47s were airborne to provide withdrawal support, but they obeyed the recall order to return to England and left the bombers to fend for themselves on their return trip.
American losses were 58 B-17s, 2 B-24s, 4 P-47s and 1 P-38 lost, 4 B-17s, 1 B-24 and 3 P-47s damaged beyond repair and 172 B-17s, 7 B-24s, 5 P-47s and 1 P-51 damaged. Human losses were 12 KIA, 34 WIA and 609 MIA German fighter claimed 104 B-17s, 9 B-24s, 5 P-47s, 2 P-51s and one Spitfire during this battle. 42 of the lost bombers belonged to the 1st BD, and 34 to the 177 B-17s dispatched to Oschersleben. US bomber gunners claimed 228-60-98 Luftwaffe aircraft and the escort 31-12-16. The Luftwaffe units involved in this battle lost 53 fighters shot down or damaged beyond repair, 31 more damaged, 38 KIA and 22 WIA.
One of the American losses was the B-17G 42-3486 MI-D "INVICTUS" of 812th BS, 482nd BG. It was the first loss of this group.
42-3486 was built as a B-17F-70-DL (F model, modification status block 70, built by Douglas Long Beach) and received by the Army Air Force on July 7th 1943. It was built at the grand total cost of 330.297 US dollars! After finishing it, it was flown to Rome Air Depot (NY state) via Tulsa (OK), Denver (Co) and Gore Field (MT). At Rome, it was modified to a B-17G status which included the addition of a twin MG chin turret and was re-designated as such. During the period at Rome, it was also modified to carry the H2X "Mickey" airborne radar.
After the modification and initial training, 12 radar equipped aircraft were flown to England in September 1943 and based with the newly formed 482 Bomb Group (Pathfinders), consisting of 812th, 813th and 814th Bomb Squadrons on USAAF station 102 (Alconbury). 482nd BG was part of the 1st Air Division of the 8th Army Air Force. 42-3486 was assigned to the 812th Bomb Squadron (callsign "Lasthouse") which was led by Major Fred Rabo. In England, the airplane received the code MI-D and the name Invictus.
On January 11th 1944, the airplane started its last mission from USAAF station 111 (Thurleigh) on a Pathfinder mission, leading the 40th Composite Combat Wing (together with another PFF plane, likely to have been 42-3491, commanded by Major Fred A. Rabo, 812 BS commander) to Halberstadt. From here on, the story gets difficult to reconstruct.
Following the official reports (MACR, 812th BS diary entry for the 11th), after bomb release and on its way back home, it was attacked and hit in the tail, by (an) Anti Aircraft rocket(s) (fired by a German fighter?) (reported by one of the survivors). The tail was severely damaged and the tail gunner was either killed or badly wounded. There was no communication with him anymore before the final crash. This rocket attack happened before 1158 hrs. The plane was apparently not able to stay in the formation as it was last reported as being near the town of Hallendorf, about 6 miles South West of Braunschweig.
According to this surviving crew member, the plane was still heading West despite its serious damages and about 10 minutes from the (North Sea) coast, when the fatal attack occurred with either gun or cannon rounds killing/wounding the pilot and co-pilot. After this attack, the plane pitched up steeply, stalled and finally fell over into the final dive from which it did not recover.
Reading the story on the Caterpillar Club application form of Euian C. Mills, there is no mention of being hit before the final crash although it does refer to the bombers having been under constant attacks since crossing the mainland coast to the target and on the way back. "Near the Dutch coast, a mass of German fighters, consisting of Fw 190’s and Me 109’s, filed into rows of 6 to 8 planes in line, one above the other. They all seemed to start firing at once. We were hit in the first wave, we nosed up into a stall and fell nose forward." The form also mentions that "the plane was totally out of control with 2 engines on fire falling at about 45° attitude" when he bailed out.
Based on this last eyewitness report it seems that the MACR likely describes the last sighting of another plane being hit between Oschersleben/Halberstadt and Hallendorf. Confusing is that as a pathfinder usually leads a formation its difficult to understand how following crews did not give a more accurate description on either initial damage to the tail or the position/sighting of the aircraft during the final attack. Reading the story, it is certain that the crews were experiencing a high level of adrenaline during the flight possibly leading to incorrect reporting afterwards. Interrogation officers may also have made interpretation mistakes. Another fact that may have caused confusion is that the plane did not belong to the actual Combat Wing being led. It was therefore not a familiar plane within the wing it led. This also means that the story might not have been put together as first hand account by the 812th BS but through information from the BGroups in the accompanying Combat Wing. The exact sequence of the flight may be shrouded in uncertainty for ever.
Only four members of the crew were able to bail out before it finally hit the water of the IJsselmeer, approximately 330° and 4.5 N.M. off the harbour of Harderwijk at about 1330 hrs. It therefore crashed more than 1 hour and 30 minutes minutes after the last official sighting near Hallendorf. Local witnesses told that the plane fell in flames through the overcast sky into the IJsselmeer on that cold January Tuesday shortly after machine-gun fire had been heard coming from the clouds.
Of the four men who bailed out, only one, T/Sgt. William A. Glenn, the engineer, fell on land. He landed near the duck-farm with is on the Parallelweg, and he was quickly captured by the Germans. Glenn suffered a broken back in the crash and a piece of parachute was lodged in his spine until death. The other three jumped over the IJsselmeer. Two were rescued and captured (S/Sgt. Raymond H. Rajala and S/Sgt. Euian C. Mills), and one drowned (S/Sgt. Angelo J. Riccardi).
At least two German pilots have claimed this victory. Feldwebel Gerhard (Gerd) Wiegand of 4./JG 26, an ace surviving the war with 32 claims on his credit, and Oberleutenand Artur Beese of 1./JG 26, an ace who had 22 claims when he was killed in 1944. Both claimed to have shot down a B-17 at 1325 hrs and a height of 5500 m (18.000 ft). Wiegand also claimed to have shot down another fortress on this day (42-37719 of 381BG, 533BS) at 1328 hrs. Both attacks happened at a height of 5500 m. With so many fighter planes as reported by Mr Mills, is rather tricky to credit a certain claim to one pilot.
Crew (MACR 2522):
1st Lt. James John Maginnis, USAAF 0-793803 (pilot) KIA
1st Lt. Roy Peterson, USAAF 0-7354443 (co-pilot) MIA
1st Lt. Clarence E. Blevins, USAAF 0-800267 (navigator) KIA
F/O John Joseph O’Brien, USAAF T-190891 (2nd navigator) KIA
1st Lt. George Clifford Wylie, USAAF 0-734410 (bombardier) KIA
T/Sgt. William A. Glenn, USAAF 38099500 (engineer/top turret gunner) POW
S/Sgt. Raymond Rajala, USAAF 11040263 (radio operator) POW
S/Sgt. Euian C. Mills, USAAF 35442731 (ball turret gunner) POW
S/Sgt. Angelo J. Riccardi, USAAF 17076910 (right waist gunner) KIA
S/Sgt. Joseph P. Keane, USAAF 1288173 (left waist gunner) KIA
S/Sgt. Harry, C. Sutton, USAAF 18225931 (tail gunner) KIA
Most of the Maginnis crew flew with 509th BS, 351st BG until late October 1943 before being transferred to the newly formed 482nd BG. Lt. George Hornick and Sgt. Daniel Reader were not part of the final crew,
Maginnis, Blevins, O’Brien, Wylie, Riccardi, Keane and Sutton were washed ashore between January and May 1944 and buried in Harderwijk or Kampen. Maginnis and Blevins were reburied in the States after the war. The other rest at the Ardenne American cemetery and memorial, Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium.
The three survivors spend the rest of the war in Stalag luft IV until their liberation on April 29, 1945.
The aircraft came to rest at the bottom of the IJsselmeer, about 5 meters below the surface, where it rested until 1968/69. The last resting place of the airplane became dry land due to the land reclamation projects of the IJsselmeer. The dikes around what would become the Oostelijke Flevopolder were closed in 1956 and the polder fell dry in 1957. First farming started in 1962, but on limited area’s. It took to about 1968 until the area of the crash site was "domesticated". Due to the still swamp like terrain, and other priorities, it was not possible to execute all the excavation work in just one season, and it took several expeditions to remove the wreckage, both in 1968 and 1969.
There were some remarkable finds during the recovery. During 1968 a lump of mud was found containing a camera. Unfortunately the camera was opened and most of the film exposed. Only one picture could be saved. It shows another B-17 flying below 42-3486, likely taken above or near the target. During the 1969 recovery a fully equipped lifeboat was found, still containing all emergency rations. About three months after the wreckage was officially cleared (June 27th, 1969), the (remains of the) body of the only missing crew, co-pilot Roy Peterson, were found by a farmer, while ploughing the soil for the first time since prehistoric times, several hundred yards from the position of the wreckage.
The crashsite is in a field NE of the crossing of the Knardijk and Vogelweg in the present polder Oost Flevoland.
Sources:
http://www.303rdbg.com/missionreports/098.pdf
http://paul.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/wwii/usaf/html/Jan.44.html
Luftwaffe claim lists by Tony Wood and Jim Perry (http://lesbutler.co.uk/claims/tonywood.htm)
http://forum.armyairforces.com/JJMaginnes423486B17F-SH-m92053.aspx
http://www.wdnorton.nl/B-17GSH%2042-3468%20Invictus.htm
http://www.wdnorton.nl/B-17GSH%20what%20happened%20with%20the%20crew.htm
http://www.wdnorton.nl/B-17GSH%20Recovery.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IJsselmeer
http://www.openstreetmap.org/?box=yes&bbox=5.49738%2C52.41328%2C5.49738%2C52.41328
https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/rs.php?aircraft=&sglo=T3307&date=&location=&pn=&unit=&name=&cemetry=&airforce=&target=&area=&airfield=
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Dec-2008 11:45 | ASN archive | Added |
| 07-Apr-2009 12:03 | Harmy | Updated |
| 20-Jul-2009 21:21 | Gary Bullock | Updated |
| 17-Aug-2009 20:56 | Gary Bullock | Updated |
| 23-Mar-2010 01:09 | Anon. | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 01-Sep-2011 11:05 | Uli Elch | Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Phase, Source, Narrative] |
| 11-Jan-2017 12:52 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Source, Narrative] |
| 04-Jan-2019 19:47 | TigerTimon | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source] |
| 05-Jan-2019 07:33 | TigerTimon | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 04-Apr-2020 15:39 | Reno Raines | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator] |
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