Date:	Wednesday 10 January 1945
Time:
Type:	Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress
Owner/operator:	862nd BSqn /493rd BGp USAAF
Registration:	44-8304
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 9
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Rookery Farm, Monewden, Suffolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Debach
Destination airport:

Narrative:
On 10 January 1945, during Eighth Air Force Mission 789, 1,119 bombers and 362 fighters were dispatched to attack airfields, rail targets and bridges in Germany; most attacks were made using PFF methods. Few Luftwaffe aircraft were met and the only claims were 1 aircraft shot down and two destroyed on the ground by the escort. 10 B-17s, 7 P-51s and 1 P-47 did not return and 16 more B-17s, 5 P-51s and 2 B-24s were wrecked in crashes, forced landing and accidents in Allied territory.

One of these losses was the B-17G-50-VE 44-8304 of 862nd BS, 493rd BG that crashed on take off from Debach airfield. It had been snowing for several days and on this day at least six inches of snow lay on the ground at Debach. It was still snowing when bombers took off for this raid. Fully loaded with 2700 gallons of fuel, four 1000-lb bombs and several hundred pounds of chaff, 44-8304, pilots by 1st Lt William H Butler, struggled to a height of 300 ft but then refused to climb any further and finally crashed into a large tree at Rookery Farm, Monewden, about two miles north of the airfield.

The bomber caught fire and slithered some distance before coming to rest in a ploughed field. About five minutes later two of the four 1000-lb bombs exploded and the other two were hurled more than 30 ft, but failed to exploded. Butler, 2nd Lt Sidney B Jones, Jr (co-pilot), and S/SGt Ray H Beeles (engineer-top turret gunner) were all killed. The tail gunner, Sgt August B Muenzer, died on the way to hospital.

On this day three men from Lt Adlai S. Munday’s crew had replaced three sick men in Butler’s crew. All survived the crash. Bill ’Snuffy’ Stepp, radio operator, returned to duty after a few days in a rest home, went back to Munday’s crew and flew 19 more missions, "scared all the way but able to perform (his) duties and wishing all the time this thing had never happened." Lt Robert E ’Gus’ Gausted (navigator) and 2nd Lt Carlyle E Bradbury, the two other crewmen from Munday’s crew, were both hurt. Gausted was badly burned but also resumed flying after recovery, while Bradbury suffered major injuries and amnesia following the crash.

“Osprey Combat Aircraft 36: B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the Eighth Air Force, Part 2” by Martin Bowman, ISBN 1-84176-434-5
http://paul.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/wwii/usaf/html/Jan.45.html
"Helton’s Hellcats: A Pictorial History of the 493rd Bomb Group", by Martin W. Bowman, ISBN 1-56311-418-6
http://www.usaafdata.com/search
https://www.findagrave.com/page=gr&GRid=14457638
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monewden

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Jan-2017 09:54	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Source, Narrative]
22-Mar-2020 19:09	DG333	Updated [Operator, Operator]
29-Jan-2022 07:27	Anon.	Updated [Departure airport]