ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 97439
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| Date: | Sunday 11 April 1943 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress 'GUNGA DIN'. |
| Owner/operator: | 368th BS / 360th BG USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-29505 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 9 |
| Other fatalities: | 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Foel Cwm-Cerwyn. Preseli range. Pembrokeshire. -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | West Palm Beach Florida |
| St Eval Cornwall |
Squadron: 306th BG, 368th BS, 8th AF.
From: West Palm Beach Florida.
Mission: Ferry/Transfer.
Details:
B-17F
These variants were the primary versions of the Flying Fortress, flying for the Eighth Air Force to face the Nazis in 1943. This model had standardized the manned Sperry ball turret for ventral defence, along with an enlarged, nearly frameless Plexiglas bombardier's nose enclosure for much improved forward vision. However, the B-17F lacked adequate defence against a head-on attack. By September 1943, the Flying Fortress showed its final shape during firepower tests on the XB-40, a modified B-17F with the advantage of a "chin" turret. The success of the chin turret, led to the delivery of the B-17G.
368th BS
The squadron was established as a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomb group in early 1942. Trained under the 2nd Air Force before deploying to England in September 1942, it became one of the first heavy bomber squadrons of the 8th Bomber Command 1st Bombardment Division. It was a highly decorated squadron during the air offensive over Nazi Germany and occupied Europe.
306th BG
The 306th moved to England in August-September 1942 to join the Eighth Air Force. The Group's entry into combat late in 1942 was adversely affected by the efforts needed to create the Twelfth Air Force in North Africa. The new organisation absorbed thousands of trained men and a large amount of equipment and reducing the pace of Eighth Air Force operations. Despite these problems the group was able to enter combat in October 1942 and took part in the early raids that established a pattern for Eighth Air Force operations. Its first combat mission was an attack on railway works at Lille on the 9th of October.
42-29505 arrived at Cheyenne on the 31st of December 1942. Cheyenne was chosen for a new modification centre. Designated, Modification Centre No. 10, which would equip B-17's with the latest technology to fight the war in a variety of environments. Cheyenne Modification Center No. 10 was responsible for the modification of 47 percent of all B-17 aircraft during World War II, 5,736 total aircraft. 42-29505 came to Salina Airfield on the 10th of January 1943. Construction of military airfields after the attack on Pearl Harbour that caused the entry of the United States into World War II resulted in the construction of the Smoky Hill Army Airfield on 2,600 acres, southwest of Salina, Kansas and came under the command of the 2nd AF. Smoky Hill AAF was a Second Phase Heavy Bomber Operational Training Unit (OTU). By now ‘Gunga Din’ had her crew and had been put through their paces. It was the staff at USAF that provided the final training , ready to advance in preparation at the USAAF station Brookley in readiness of their deployment, arriving here on the 8th of March 1943. She was assigned to 368 Bomber Squadron within 306 Bomb Group.
The following I have extracted from the chapter within ‘Rocks in the Clouds’
(I have added some of my own text!)
“On 6 March 1943, B-17F 42-29505 took off from West Palm Beach airfield, Florida. The crew of nine and a Terrier mascot called Booger, flew to Marrakesh in Morocco via Brazil, Ascension Island, Monrovia and Dakar. Aircraft leaving for Britain had been flying north on the 10th Meridian. But German fighters operating from French airfields had been shot down. The decision was taken to fly up the 12th Meridian, 200 miles further west. The destination Airfield was St Eval in Cornwall. At 23:00 hours on the 10th of April 1943, the Fortress took off into a pitch-black night and headed north-west over the Atlantic. The gunners were wrapped in blankets and sleeping in the radio compartment. Lt Art Titus was busy navigating with Lt W. J. Smith (Smitty), the engineer, looking over his shoulder. Din and his co-pilot Lt Emil Rasmussen were keeping their eyes open for enemy aircraft.
After flying for approximately 750 miles, they entered the Bay of Biscay. At this point they flew into the edge of bad weather which was supposed to be further north. At an altitude of 10,000 feet they ran into thick cloud and it was here they were buffeted by bad turbulence for nearly 300 miles. They also encountered lightning and St Elmo’s fire. Titus could only use the compass for headings and to make things worse, the radio operator was not allowed to use his equipment because of the threat to security. At 09:00 they spotted the southern tip of Ireland and set a new bearing of 88 degrees. Midway over St George’s Channel, they entered a long break in the weather. The pilot dropped down to 1,000 feet and flying eastwards until the clouds met the sea, here they climbed to 6,000 feet. Here, Sgt May made contact with the ground and asked for a compass heading for St Ival, he received the new bearing of 268 degrees!!! This was almost west! Art stated that the bearing was completely wrong! (They found out later that this bearing was in fact originating from a German transmission. Had they turned without question, they would have flown back out to sea until running out of fuel without any chance of rescue). They continued east!
Believing they were near their destination, they began flying a 2-minute triangular pattern above the cloud, transmitting for a set of landing bearings. They received no such reply and now were running low on fuel and blind. Soon the lights warning of low fuel, did illuminate, meaning they had no more than an hour of fuel left. Din explained their options to the crew; bail out or stay!
They all decided to ride it in, Art provided a westerly heading, thinking they would let down to the sea and try again to come again and land below the clouds or make a water ditching. Art said that there is a high probability they were near the mountains of Wales. Din elected wheels up and the flaps set at half, then descended at 500 feet per minute at 120 MPH. At 1200 feet, Smitty suddenly screamed into the intercom,
‘PULL UP! PULL UP! Both Din and Ras’ pulled back on the yolks with all their strength when they saw a black shadow dead ahead.
There was a huge, loud CRASH along with a severe jolt and a bounce! All flying controls were lost, then there was another crash followed with a horrible grinding noise as the wrecked B17 carried on across the hill top, breaking up before coming to a sudden stop! The silence was deafening with the hissing of punctured Oxygen tanks, rain and wind breaking the silence. Earth nearly filling the forward portion of the fuselage caused the pilots to climb out of the side windows of the cockpit. Thankfully there was no fire. Although in a state of shock, the Captain counted all present only to find Smitty was missing (he was in the nose at the time of the crash)! Art then said how Smitty was catapulted out through the plexiglass nose on the first impact. The crew assessed the situation and searched for the missing Smitty. From nose to the rear of the radio compartment was fairly intact, although badly bent and twisted. The tail section lay about 200-300 feet away with equipment, rubber life rafts, paperwork of sorts and their personal belongings scattered between. They got to the tail which they saw was near the edge of a high cliff, sheer in places and significant scars of their first impact. Here they realised just how lucky they were. Alas it was near here they found Smitty in wet ground an barely alive.
They brought him back to the main wreck and wrapped him up in blankets to keep him warm at least inside the remains of the Fortress, but even they could see he was in a bad way. Four of the fittest left to get some help, venturing into the rain and fog.
At around 16:00 we could hear voices in the fog and soon Sgt Nabors appeared with six RCAF groundcrew. They had been tasked in the morning to search this area for a known missing plane, their plane! Their radio message was heard but obviously a response was not received by May. Nabors said how he had met them coming up a mountain trail when they confirmed they were in Wales and not far from Fishguard.
Later the crew were taken to the small hospital at Picton Castle near Haverfordwest.
Din Fuhrmeister.
‘ After giving us dinner, the doctor asked me to accompany him to the vault. There lay Smitty, Dead! The doctor said many of his bones were badly broken and his insides lost their grip to his body from the terrific jolt he had encountered when he was thrown out of the plane at 120 MPH.’
Of the remaining crew, Sgt Thousand was in a body cast. He had a crushed Vertebrae! Sgt Wilson cheek was sown up and Art had his arm in a sling for his broken hand.
It is believed Art, Ray and Emil returned to the site to collect the personal belongings of the crew, and their mascot ‘Booger’ was buried on the mountain.”
Crew:
2nd Lt Dinwiddle Fuhrmeister. Pilot. Safe.
1st Lt Emil Oluf Rasmussen Jr 24yo O-735450 USAAF. Co-Pilot. Safe. (Killed on the 14th of October 1943) 2
Son of Oluf and Olga Rasmussen of Portland Oregon.
2nd Lt Art Titus. Nav’. Injured/Safe.
1st Lt William J Smith ‘Smitty’ O-661675 USAAF. Bdr. Severely injured. Died later in hospital. 1
T/Sgt Odes Franklin Harvey Jr. Flt Engr/Top Gnr. Safe. Survived the war, died 1984, age 64. 3
Son of Odes Franklin Harvey Snr & Lola Irene Harvey. Husband of Beatrice nee Crane Harvey. Of Baylor County, Texas.
Sgt Amos Roy May. Radio Op’. Safe. Survived the war. Died 13th of May 2013. 4
Son of Edward L May & Catherine M May. Husband of Norma Jean May.
Sgt Keith Thousand. Ball Gnr. Injured/Safe.
Sgt Ray Young Wilson 27yo USAAF. Waist Gnr. Safe. Killed on the 22nd of December 1943. 5
Son of Richard A Wagner & Estelle M Wagner & Husband of Annis Matilda Groves Night, of Ohio.
Sgt Owen Nabors. Waist Gnr. Safe.
Booger. Border Terrier. Mascot. Killed.
Buried:
1 Cambridge American Cemetery & Memorial. Plot B. Row 7. Grave 25.
2 Fort McPherson National Cemetery Lincoln County Nebraska. Section F. Site 1226-E.
3 Highland Cemetery, Texas. Section 409-G7.
4 Fairplanes Cemetery Michigan. Block F. Lot 139. Space 2.
5 Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, Limburg Netherlands.
Wreckage:
Some small fragments remain including the Ball Turret Armoured plate. As found by Mr Steve Jones of Cwmafan.
Additional Information.
Who was Gunga Din? In Rudyard Kipling’s 1890 poem of the same name, an English soldier in India speaks of the regiment’s water bearer, called Gunga Din. It is far from a flattering portrayal of an Indian’s lot in the British Army: he is beaten; called names like “limping lump o’ brick-dust” and “squidgynosed old idol”; and eventually killed while tending to the wounded. For his bravery, though, the soldier confesses in the memorable last line “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!” It became a well-known phrase and, in 1939, a film named after the poem’s hero was made starring Cary Grant, but there never was a real Gunga Din.
Emil O. Rasmussen Jr. Born the 3rd of March1919 in California. A resident of Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, of Danish and Norwegian descent. He enlisted in the US Army "for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law" at the Portland Airbase, Multnomah, Oregon on March 12, 1942. He was listed as having completed two years of college, employed as a clerk in an office, single, without dependents, 5'8" tall weighing 157 lbs.
First Lieutenant Rasmussen, service number 735450, was shot down and killed October 14, 1943, on the 2nd Schweinfurt raid, his 24th mission. His plane was B-17 42-37720 which, according to news clippings at the time, was named the "Jackie Ellen". It was one of the first planes to go down on the mission. All were lost except the radio operator, TSgt Joseph C. Bocelli.
His remains were repatriated to the United States and interred on November 27, 1950.
Ray Young Wilson was Waist Gunner on B-17 42-3363 ‘Punchy’. Shot down by enemy fighter and crashed near Venne, 10 miles NE of Osnabruck, killing 7 and 3 being taken POW.
KIA Jim Winter, Bob Ashley, Ralph Pringle, Walt Rozanski, John Olsen, Ray Wilson, Henry Sall
POW Bob Jones, Dave Hovis, Otis Thomas.
Sgt’s Keith Thousand and Owen Nabors, both saw out the war and are still alive as time of writing.
Sources:
www.findagrave.com
www.americanairmuseum.com/archive
'Rocks in the Clouds' Edward Doylerush.
Revision history:
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