ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 97290
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| Date: | Friday 25 February 1944 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress |
| Owner/operator: | United States Army Air Force (USAAF) |
| Registration: | 42-37855 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 10 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Starve Crow wood horns lodge/trench farm boundy line, Tonbridge, Kent -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
Crash-landed due to fuel exhaustion. dear sirs i was told about this bomber when i was about 14/15 years old, working on hawden farm during my school holidays
as one of the farm workers was the fisrt one to the crash site, as he was working in the fields near by,
he got talking to the crew and they said that the plane got hit by ack ack, and lost a engine
the pilot was trying to make it to penshurt emergency airfield about 3-4 miles west of tonbridge
the pilot seeing that he was not going to make it ordered the crew to bale out
but sadly the pilot left it to late because of the bomber was getting to low and his parachute did not have time to open
________________________________
Between February 20–25, 1944, as part of the European strategic bombing campaign, the United States Strategic Air Forces launched Operation Argument, a series of missions against the Third Reich that became known as Big Week. The planners intended to lure the Luftwaffe into a decisive battle by launching massive attacks on the German aircraft industry. By defeating the Luftwaffe, the Allies would achieve air superiority and the invasion of Europe could proceed. The daylight bombing campaign was also supported by RAF Bomber Command, operating against the same targets at night.
On 25 February 1944, in the final "Big Week" mission of the Eighth Air Force, Mission 235, 4 targets in Germany were hit; 31 bombers and 3 fighters were lost.
1. 268 B-17s were dispatched to aviation industry targets at Augsburg and the industrial area at Stuttgart; 196 hit Augsburg and targets of opportunity and 50 hit Stuttgart; they claimed 8-4-4 Luftwaffe aircraft; 13 B-17s were lost and 172 damaged; casualties were 12 WIA and 130 MIA.
2. 267 of 290 B-17s hit aviation industry targets at Regensburg and targets of opportunity; they claimed 13-1-7 Luftwaffe aircraft; 12 B-17s were lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 82 damaged; casualties were 4 KIA, 12 WIA and 110 MIA.
3. 172 of 196 B-24s hit aviation industry targets at Furth and targets of opportunity; they claimed 2-2-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 6 B-24s were lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 44 damaged; casualties were 2 WIA and 61 MIA.
Escort was provided by 73 P-38s, 687 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s and 139 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; the P-38s claimed 1-2-0 Luftwaffe aircraft, 1 P-38 was damaged beyond repair; the P-47s claimed 13-2-10 Luftwaffe aircraft, 1 P-47 was lost and 6 damaged, 1 pilot was MIA; the P-51s claimed 12-0-3 Luftwaffe aircraft, 2 P-51s were lost and 1 damaged beyond repair, 2 pilots were MIA.
The 15th Air Force continued to coordinate attacks with the Eighth Air Force. On this day B-17s with fighter escorts pounded Regensburg aircraft factory; enemy fighter opposition was heavy. Other B-17s hit the air depot at Klagenfurt, Austria and the dock area at Pola, Italy. B-24s attacked Fiume, Italy marshalling yard and port and hit Zell-am-See, Austria railroad and Graz airfield and the port area at Zara, Yugoslavia; 30+ US aircraft were lost during these missions; they claimed 90+ fighters shot down.
Luftwaffe units from Luftflotte Reich, 2 and 3 intercepted the two attacks and claimed 55 B-17s, 36 B-24s, 2 P-38s and 1 P-51 shot down, and 17 B-17s and 1 B-24 separated from their formations, while losing 48 fighters destroyed or damaged beyond repair, 33 other damaged, 19 pilots and crew killed and 20 wounded.
____________________________
Briefing for 447th BG was at 0630 hrs. The target of the group was an aircraft plant deep into southern Germany at Regensburg. Take off started at 0845 hours with the last plane being airborne at 0902 hours. The bombers carried fragmentary clusters. As the bombing altitude of 17,500 feet was reached, Luftwaffe opposition was encountered. Flak was heavy at the target. One bomber was shot down by Flak in the target area.
Another aircraft of the group, the B-17G-15-DL 42-37855 "Rosemary III" flown by 2nd Lt Clarence A Aaberg, on his third mission, and his crew of 711st BS, lost #3 engine went out 10 minutes after target. The crew saw a lot of German fighters around, a few shooting rockets at them, but they never came in close. The bomber made it back to the French coast on 3 engines but was then hit by Flak and the engines #1 and #4 went out right after they left French coast. Aalberg managed to cross the Channel on one engine and once over southern England ordered his crew to bail out over England. All do this safely but Aaberg was the last to leave the plane, bailed out too low and was killed when his parachute failed to open. The B-17 crash landed in woods at Starvecrow Hill, a mile north of Tonbridge, Kent. It was a total loss.
Crew:
2nd Lt Clarence A Aaberg (pilot) KIA
Lt Thomas F Moriarty (co-pilot) safe
Lt Ellis B Colvin (navigator) safe
Lt Irving Danzig (bombardier) safe
S/Sgt Richard Pitt, Jr. (flight engineer/top turret gunner) safe
S/Sgt William D. Ernest (radio operator) safe
S/Sgt William F. Powell (ball turret gunner) safe
S/Sgt Fernan DuHadway (waist gunner) safe
S/Sgt Cleveland Lamb (waist gunner) safe
S/Sgt Gilbert S. Foster (tail gunner) safe
The crew continued to fly together after losing their pilot. Aalberg ’s place was taken by Lt George C Hoffmeister, co-pilot from the original Keller crew, for many of the missions to follow.
Sources:
http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/6778
http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/31840
http://www.447bg.com/Aaberg%20moriarty.htm
https://www.findagrave.com/page=pv&GRid=133328061
http://www.447bg.com/February%201944.htm
http://www.447bg.com/Richard%20Pitt.pdf
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/AARmonthly/Feb1944O.htm
http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_2.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Week
http://paul.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/wwii/usaf/html/Feb.44.html
Luftwaffe claim lists by Tony Wood and Jim Perry (http://lesbutler.co.uk/claims/tonywood.htm)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonbridge
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=fr&lat=51.225556&lon=0.289167&z=11&m=b
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 18-Mar-2011 17:46 | richard | Updated [Location, Phase, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 01-Mar-2016 18:01 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Aircraft type, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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