Date:	Tuesday 4 January 1944
Time:	13:30 LT
Type:	Boeing B-17G-20-BO Flying Fortress
Owner/operator:	303th BGp /427th BSqn USAAF
Registration:	42-31526
MSN:	6640
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 10 / Occupants: 10
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, off Heligoland -   Germany
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Molesworth /AAF Sta.107 Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
On 4 January 1944, Eighth Air Force Mission 174 was scheduled for an early hour, with a pre-dawn take off and assembly. Take-off was accomplished with a small amount of trouble, which was usual in pre-dawn take offs, and the assembly was carried out under the most trying circumstances. In their anxiety to assemble in correct Groups, Combat Wings and Divisions, the planes began shooting an excess number of flares to identify themselves, and with the large number involved in the flight the whole assembly area was very confusing.

569 bombers (439 B-17s and 130 B-24s) were dispatched to the port area at Kiel. After assembly cloud formations made necessary the use of PFF to aid in navigation. Results of bombing were unobserved due to the heavy cloud cover but 452 crew (371 B-17s and 81 B-24s) claimed to have bomber the target, and 7 B-17s and 34 B-24s hit targets of opportunity. En-route to the target, over it and on the way home the enemy fighter opposition was slight with about twenty fighters encountered on total. 11 B-17s and 6 B-24s were lost and 111 B-17s and 16 B-24s were damaged. Additional losses were 4 bombers crashed in England (one B-24 was lost in a take-off accident, one B-17 crashed during the assembly without survivors and one bomber of each type crashed on return of the raid). Bomber crew casualties were 22 KIA, 53 WIA and 170 MIA. Air gunners claimed 4-12-4 Luftwaffe aircraft.

Fighter escort was provided by 70 P-38s of 20th and 55th FG and 42 P-51s from IXth Air Force’s 354th FG. They claimed 1-1-4 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-38 and 1 P-51 were lost and 1 P-38 was damaged beyond repair in a take-off accident; casualties were 1 WIA and 2 MIA.

Two groups of the 3rd Bomb Division, the 96th and 388th BG, despatched 75 B-17s to Munster as a separate operation. The only losses on this operation were the result of a mid-air collision between two B-17s of the 96th BG near the IP, both crashing in Germany. 36 other bombers were damaged and casualties were 1 WIA and 20 MIA (17 KIA and 3 POW). Escort for this operation was provided by 430 P-47s from nine Fighter Groups. They claimed 7-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-47 was damaged. They were several ’firsts’ during this mission.

The bombers dropped 985 tons of High Explosive and Incendiary Bombs on Kiel, 192 tons on Munster and 84 tons on the targets of opportunity.

German pilots claimed 15 US bombers shot down, 14 of these victories being claimed by night-fighters of NJG 3 and 5 and the lost one by a JG 1 pilot.
_________________________________________________

Thirty-eight B-17s were dispatched by 303rd BG flying in two groups of aircraft in the 41st CW-B formation. One B-17 failed to take off. Two others aborted after take-off. 1st Lt McClellan, flying as second element leader of high 427th BS, was unable to find the Group formation. The four aircraft of his element returned to Molesworth.

The lead Group arrived over the target and found 7/10 cloud cover. They located a cloud break and bombed visually when the PFF equipment failed, releasing 138 M-43 500-lb. G.P. bombs. The bombing results were poor, photos revealed hits in the water. The lead Group made sharp turns to set up their bomb run and the low 303rd BG(H) formation of 14 B-17s could not keep up with the Wing formation. They jettisoned their 126 M47A1 65-lb. incendiary bombs.

Flak at the target was moderate, but very accurate and of heavy caliber. Twenty-one Group aircraft sustained flak damage. Ten to fifteen enemy fighters were seen and three aircraft sustained fighter battle damage. Gunners listed two enemy aircraft as destroyed and three as probable. One complete crew was missing in action. Returning aircraft contained seven casualties–two minor flak wounds and five frostbite cases. Twenty-four aircraft sustained damage, twenty-two by flak and two by enemy fighters. One brand-new aircraft was missing: the B-17G-20-BO 42-31526 "Sweet Anna" of 427th BS, piloted by 1st Lt Fred C. Humphreys, was heard giving a distress signal after it was hit by enemy fighters and left the formation. The B-17 was on its first combat mission. The aircraft ditched in the North Sea with the loss of all crewmen. According to a report of the German Luftwaffe command XI (Hamburg) this bomber was shot down west of Helgoland by Kriegsmarine Flak.

Crew (all lost):
1st Lt Fred C. Humphreys (pilot)
2nd Lt James H. Clemons (copilot)
2nd Lt Harry Hladun (navigator)
2nd Lt Burnie N. Mire (bombardier)
T/Sgt Ferdinand J. Janisch (engineer)
T/Sgt Arthur H. Woods (radio operator)
S/Sgt Madison H. Ross (ball turret gunner)
S/Sgt Melvin M. Dare (left waist gunner)
S/Sgt Edward P. Madak (right waist gunner)
S/Sgt William C. Sparks (tail gunner)

On 4 October 1944, the body of S/Sgt Madak was recovered on Ameland Island, Holland, and buried at Nes. After the war he was transferred to Netherlands War cemetery, and finally to Ohio. All other crew were never recovered and are commemorated on the Wall of Missing of the Netherlands or Cambridge Cemeteries.

"Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Volume 2. ETO Area - January 1944 - March 1944", by Stanley D Bishop and John A Hey MBE. ISBN 0-9547685-2-3
http://www.303rdbg.com/missionreports/095.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)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helgoland
http://www.maplandia.com/germany/helgoland/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Dec-2008 11:45	ASN archive	Added
07-Apr-2009 03:20	Harmy	Updated
01-Sep-2011 10:31	Uli Elch	Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
15-Oct-2011 03:28	angels one five	Updated [Operator, Location, Source]
16-Feb-2012 04:46	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Phase, Source]
06-Jan-2016 10:27	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Phase, Source, Narrative]
02-Jan-2019 17:55	TigerTimon	Updated [Time, Departure airport]
24-Feb-2020 17:56	Xindel XL	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Operator]