Date:	Friday 1 October 1943
Time:	11:55
Type:	Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress
Owner/operator:	USAAF
Registration:	42-30053
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 9
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North of Pisa -   Italy
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	airfield Oudna 2 (Tunisia)
Destination airport:

Narrative:
On route to Augsburg a B-17F belonging to 301st BG was shot down between Lucca and Pisa by JG 77 Bf-109G's based in Metato. 5 US crew members bailed out then becoming POW, 4 KIA. Although German Flak fire was reported locally, the shoot down was claimed by Luftwaffe ace Kurt Ubben. In the same circumstance one of the attacking Bf-109Gs was declared MIA, pilot Uffz. Walter Linkmann.

MACR 760 The commander of the B17 lieu Colonel Adolph E Zimmer bailed out and landed in a flat terrain close to the lake of Messaciuccoli, he walked toward the only house in the distance, when he got there member of the family hided Zimmer in a cane thicket because the Germans were looking for him and asked about the american, at risk of death, they denied to know anything, when the German left, they went to rescue Zimmer still in the water and with traps still on, they brought him into the house, feed him and change his clothing into civilian, they arranged a place in a hay loft. He remained with them for five months, working in the fields and be part of the family, When the German start to retreat, things got dangerous there were killing and deportation of civilians, so Zimmer decided to leave and try to connect with the Americans advancing from the South, they were in Rome, but before Zimmer reached the front, he got caught, torture and shipped to Germany in one concentration camp were he found some of his buddies. Got liberated by the Russians in 1945 and returned to California. He kept in touch with the Agostini family, then he came back to Italy to reunite with the rescuers. I have a booklet with several photos of him and the family and a panoramic diagram showing both crash sites of the B17, and the Me Bf 109 of Walter Linkmann, the Metato Airfield and the Agostini's house, that it's still there, you can see it on Google map, it's on Strada di Radicata, # 38 at the base of the mountain overlooking the lake.
The booklet is in Italian, it was printed August 2016 for the occasion of the presentation of te Medal of Honor by the Italian Authorities to the surviving member of the Agostini family and in the presence of the children of Adolph Zimmer.
The tile is" Perseo Agostini Un atto di coraggiosa umanità`" Carmignani Editrice, via Galileo Galilei 15, Cascina, (PISA) Tel. (from the USA) 011-39-320-8955185 www.carmignanieditrice.it
From Renato Moncini, 5 Timber Lane, Greenville,SC 29609 (864) 232-2975

Massaciuccoli / Balbano, 28 October 2013

Massaciuccoli, 28 October 2013

Wreckage of B-17F 42-30053 found at the crash site Spring 2015

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
06-Jun-2012 13:42	marseiile	Added
07-Jun-2012 04:50	marseille	Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Location, Damage, Narrative]
07-Jun-2012 05:52	marseiile	Updated [Damage, Narrative]
30-Oct-2013 11:22	Anon.	Updated [Photo, ]
30-Oct-2013 11:23	Anon.	Updated [Photo, ]
03-Sep-2015 09:32	jollyroger	Updated [Photo, ]
18-May-2017 18:28	Renato Moncini	Updated [Source]
19-Mar-2020 09:27	DG333	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator]