Great story for WWII Aviation Enthusiasts!!!!

[BOSS351]

A fellow WWII plane nut sent this to me and it is worth the watch!! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=ie3SrjLlcUY&sns=em

 

[tallwalker]

Wow, enjoyed seeing that. It is timely for me because I have been trying to put the pieces together about my uncle who was the pilot of a B-17 called "Holy Mackeral". He was killed Dec 16, 1943 following a daytime raid over Bremen Germany. Turns out that many of the MACS documents have been declassified and are available online. I found a lot of info at www.fold3.com. Great source for military records, but interpreting the documents gets a little tough given the confusion of the times. I was able to contact two of the crewmen that survived the crash and spent the rest of the war in a Stalag camp. Also, if anyone is interested in this kind of WWII history, www.armyairforces.com has a research forum and lots of info and pictures posted by the vets and their families. We are loosing these guys fast as time goes by. It's important to get their stories. Incredible the things you might run across.

 

[mdr]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Gerberman]

Great story, thanks!

 

[Emperor]

Awesome! I love WWII footage.

Just a few years more and all of them (WWII vets), will be gone! I hope their kids keep their memories alive.

I would like to see a group of entrepreneurs make a massive campaign to try to collect as much old war footage as they can. Can you imagine the trunks of stuff that is out there somewhere?

 

[I_FLY_LOW]

Very cool!
Thanks for sharing!

 

[BOSS351]

Tallwalker thanks for those links. They will be helpful in looking up some of my parents' uncles who served in that war. And you guys are right in saying we are losing them daily and they ALL had a story of some kind, whether revealed to the family or not. It amazes me when I watch these guys later in life and they all seem to be successful in whatever they did. I believe that the war and its horrors made them strive to be the best that they can be and to cherish what life had to offer because they had seen so much death and dealt plenty of it while seeing it. Any who actually saw combat will tell you they were the lucky ones and survived because God granted it. Maybe thats why so many are involved in community and church functions. They are/were indeed the greatest generation as far as I am concerned.

 

[dantheman]

tallwalker , where was your Uncle stationed ?

 

[tallwalker]

tallwalker , where was your Uncle stationed ?

Snetterton Heath England. 96th Bomb group. www.96bg.org

 

[dantheman]

I was just curious . My Dad was in the 457th Bomb Group at Glatton Station .

 

[jimdana1942]

Very nice.

 

[tallwalker]

I was just curious . My Dad was in the 457th Bomb Group at Glatton Station .

Dan, check out www.457thbombgroup.org

 

[radney]

Great stuff. I love WWII aviation material (even have an autographed picture of Erich Hartmann)

 

[dantheman]

Dan, check out www.457thbombgroup.org

Oh yeah . Been there , done that . I attended a couple of his reunions . Awesome experience hanging out with those guys .

 

[TomTerrific]

I received this from a friend on the WW2 list who can access just about everything the Air Corps did during the war:

Tom,

*Holy Mackeral,* B-17F-40-DL, s/n 42-3265, was built by the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California. She was delivered to the Denver modification center on 18 May 1943 and then flown to Dow Field, Bangor, Maine on 28 May 1943 assigned to the 337th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 96th Bombardment Group (Heavy). She was flown to Andrews Field, Essex, England on 30 May and assigned aircraft code AW-Z. The group moved to Snetterton Heath, Norfolk on 12 June.

The mission flown on 16 December was VIII Bomber Command Mission 156. A total of 631 aircraft, 490 B-17 Flying Fortresses and 141 B-24 Liberators, were dispatched to bomb the port area at Bremen; 402 B-17s and 133 B-24s actually bombed the target. There were 201 fighters, 31 P-38 Lightnings, 131 P-47 Thunderbolts and 39 P-51 Mustangs, dispatched as escorts. The P-38s did not make the rendezvous because the bombers were late.

Thirty six of the B-17s were dispatched by the 96th Bomb Group; 33 of them bombed the target. There were a total of ten aircraft lost on this mission; seven of them were from the 96th.

This aircraft was shot down by anti-aircraft and crashed at Kimswerd, the Netherlands. Eight of the crewmen were killed and two taken prisoner.

 

[tallwalker]

Thanks Tom, that all matches the info I have as well. I have been digging through some eyewitness accounts from locals on the beach believe it or not, as well as one of the survivors who was sent to Stalag Luft II as a POW. The more I find out about that period of daytime raids, the more incredible crew stories I find out about in general. Just amazing men.

 

[TomTerrific]

It's one of those situations where the more you find, the more you want to know.