ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 303086
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| Date: | Wednesday 1 December 1943 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Boeing B-17G-10-BO Flying Fortress |
| Owner/operator: | 303rd BGp /427th BSqn USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-31243 |
| MSN: | 6357 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 10 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Sandwich Flats, Sandwich Bay, Sandwich, Kent, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Molesworth /AAF Sta.107, Huntingdonshire |
| RAF Manston, Kent |
Boeing B-17G-10-BO Flying Fortress 42-31243: Delivered to United Air Lines, Modification Center #10, Cheyenne Municipal Airport, Wyoming 8 October 1943. To Operational Training Unit, 17th Bomber Operational Training Wing, Grand Island Field, Nebraska 19 October 1943. To New Castle AAB, Wilmington, Delware 27 October 1943. To 94th Bomb Group. 427th Bomb Squadron [as 'GN*Z']. To 303rd Bomb Group, 427th Bomb squadron, RAF Molesworth (USAAF Sta.107), Huntingdonshire 18 November 1943.
Failed to return from a mission to bomb the I.G. Farben chemical works at Leverkusen, Germany 1 December 1943 (All 10 crew survived and Returned To Duty). Clouds obscured the target so the formation diverted to the secondary target, a non-ferrous metals works at Solingen, Germany. With fuel tanks damaged by flak causing fuel exhaustion, the plane ditched in Sandwich Flats, Sandwich Bay, Sandwich, Kent, attempting a landing at RAF Manston, Kent.
Crew of B-17G 42-31243:
Allan Eckhart, Co-pilot:
Elton Jenkins, Navigator:
George Arvanites, Bombardier:
Bob Meagher, Flight engineer/top turret gunner:
Francis Nevner, Radio Operator:
Fred Kuehl, Ball turret gunner:
Angelo Tambe, Waist gunner:
Mike Musashe, Waist gunner:
Ed Madak, Tail gunner:
Nyle Smith
The crew was rescued by British Air-Sea Rescue launch and taken to Manston. The remains of the B-17 Flying Fortress lie on the Sandwich Flats. The crash site lay undisturbed until 1999 when two incidents took place that left the Flying Fortress looking like a demolished wreck.
A British recovery team discovered the ditched B-17 in the 1990s in the marsh land at Sandwich Flats near Pegwell Bay and were able to collect wreckage that was turned over to the Brenzett Aeronautical Museum, Romney Marsh, Kent. Other relics are on display at the RAF Manston History Museum.
This was followed by an excavation that removed more items leaving just the wings, two engines and part of the frame in the fuselage area. Since 1999 the site has been covered and uncovered by sand on many occasions, often with just a lone propeller sticking out of the sand. During the winter of 2015/2016 the site was uncovered yet again but this time wreckage appeared on the foreshore as it was evident the wings were breaking up. It was exposed on an extremely low tide 13 February 2016.
Both wings were present and the second engine nacelle was intact with a damaged propeller, a ‘Tokyo’ fuel tank visible in a wing and in excellent condition. There is also a field of debris around the wreck site. The fuselage has gone.
Additional: A letter to the 'Isle of Thanet Gazette' issued dated Friday 28 May 1999 (see link #1)
"War crew found
AS A follow-up to your article relating to the B17 Flying Fortress found in Pegwell Bay we, that is Mr. Elliott Smock, leader of the recovery team, and Mr Peter Smith, have located two surviving crew members.
Navigator George Arvanites now lives in Claremont, California, and Frank Neuner, engineer and top turret gunner, is alive and well and living in Pensacola, Florida. We also found that the pilot, Lt. Alan Eckart, was on his final mission before being posted to the States, having completed 25 operations.
Frank Neuner has asked that we keep an eye out for his watch and lighter, having left them on the doomed bomber.
Boeing B17G 42-31243 was based at Molesworth, Huntingdonshire, and formed part of the 303rd Bombardment Group (H), 427th Bomb Squadron. The aircraft had a fairly short operational career, being delivered to Cheyenne on 8 October, 1943, then on to Great Island on 19 October before moving on to Wilmington on the 27th prior to delivery to the 303rd Bomb Group. She finished the mission on 1 December, 1943, by ditching in Pegwell Bay, were she now lies with the remains of other wartime crash victims.
According to the 8th Army Air Force War Diary, the 1st Bomb Division, of which the 303rd Bomb Group was a participating unit, lost 19 aircraft on the 1 December mission (No.VIII BC 145).
JOHN WILLIAMS,
chairman,
Margate Historical Society."
The wreckage has attracted the attentions of "looters" or - depending on your point of view - "souvenir hunters" - see the Daily Mail Report dated 20 June 2021 (link #9) and Isle of Thanet Gazette report dated 31 May 2021 (see link #10)
Sources:
1. Isle of Thanet Gazette - Friday 28 May 1999
2. https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/aircraft/42-31243
3. https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=20820.0
4. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_2.html
5. http://www.303rdbg.com/427eckhart.html
6. https://b17flyingfortress.de/en/b17/42-31243/
7. https://en-gb.facebook.com/groups/1568122450174108/?mibextid=6NoCDW
8. https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/sandwich-bay-b-17.html?chrome=1
9. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9706445/Pictured-man-wanted-police-looter-stripped-WWII-Flying-Fortress.html
10. Isle of Thanet Gazette - 31 May 2021: https://theisleofthanetnews.com/2021/05/31/investigation-launched-into-suspected-looting-of-world-war-two-b17-bomber-wreck-at-sandwich-bay/
11. https://thanetcoastlife.blogspot.com/2016/03/sandwich-flats-b17-g-42-31243-303rd.html
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich_Bay,_Kent
Media:
#HeritageWatch good afternoon thank you to everyone who has expressed an interest in this report. As this is now a live investigation can we ask that any further information or intelligence is passed to the police on 101 or if you wish to remain anonymous to @CrimestoppersUK https://t.co/9Gh8CoukKD
— HE Heritage Crime (@HeritageCrime) May 30, 2021
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