ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 97851
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| Date: | Friday 4 February 1944 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress |
| Owner/operator: | 423rd BSqn /306th BGp USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-31715 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Field next to RAF Drem, East Lothian, Scotland -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Drem |
| RAF Thurleigh |
At the end of January 1944 2nd Lt. Michael Roskovitch joined the 306th BG in England for the second time. He was once known as the Mad Russian and became the first enlisted man in the 8th AF to complete the 25-mission tour. Roskovitch, the radio operator with the abundant nerve and sharp scissors who dared cut neckties from high ranking officers about to embark on combat missions in his plane, was greeted by one and all. This time he was a gunnery officer assigned to the 423rd BS. But his second tour was sadly very short.
On 3 February, he was one of the four crew that took off from Thurleigh airfield, the 306th BG's base, for a navigational training flight to RAF Drem, East Lothian, Scotland. They were flying the B-17G 42-31715, a brand new bomber delivered to the USAAF at Cheyenne on 9 December 1943 and that was assigned to the 306th BG on 29 January.
The next day, two British service members embarked as authorised passengers before the B-17 took off for the return leg to Thurleigh. Before the take-off #1 engine failed and the pilot decided to take off on three engines. During the take off the bomber struck an aircraft shelter pen and then crashed in a field just beyond runway. The B-17 was destroyed and all six men aboard were killed.
Crew and passengers (all killed):
1st Lt Arthur G. Moseley (pilot)
2nd Lt Edward D. O’Malley (co-pilot)
1st Lt Woodrow S. Ellerton (navigator)
2nd Lt. Michael Roskovitch (radio operator)
Leading Radio Mechanic Wilfrid (or Wilfred) Leslie Lowe (Fleet Air Arm, HMS Merlin, passenger)
AC2 Edward Sydney Hodgkins RAF Dirleton Radio Station, passenger)
The American airmen were all veterans, although none seems to have flown any great number of missions except Roskovitch. Ellerton had joined the 306th BG in August, Moseley in October and O'Malley in November. Hodgkins was based at RAF Dirleton Radio Station, just north of Drem, not far from Edinburgh. The aircraft destination, Thurleigh, was not far from his hometown of Rushden and he was going on leave.
Sources:
“First Over Germany: A History of the 306th Bombardment Group”, by Russell A. Strong. No ISBN, published by Hunter Pub. Co., 1982
http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/5838
http://www.armyairforces.com/B17G-4231715-crashed-Drem-airfield-Scotland-Feb-4th-1944-m230492.aspx (no more online)
http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1944-02FEB.htm
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2812506/rowe,-wilfrid-leslie/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Merlin
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2949628/hodgkins,-edward-sydney/
http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?15731-440204-Unaccounted-Airwoman-amp-Airmen-4-2-1944
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Drem
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=56.022000&lon=-2.794000&z=15&m=w
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 12-Jan-2015 20:07 | angels one five | Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 16-Sep-2017 12:42 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 04-Nov-2019 07:33 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 24-Feb-2020 17:09 | Xindel XL | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 21-Mar-2021 14:41 | Anon. | Updated [Narrative] |
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