349th Sqdn. This crew was on it's first mission and must have joined the 100th in August 1943

W. J. Harrison replaced C. J. Baum as NAV in Casper.

Eyewitness report:
A/C #002, on our right wing hit by enemy A/C at Nuernburg, dropped wheels. Four chutes seen. Big strip out of vertical stabilizer. Three enemy aircraft last seen attacking. -- Lt. J. K. Justice

Sgt Compton, on his first mission, was probably severely wounded or killed by fighter attack. Germans told Capdeville that Compton's body was found in the plane wreckage..

Email to Ron Leigh from Glen Van Noy regarding A/C 42-30002 WAAC Hunter (Oct. 2000 mpf)
From: Glen Van Noy gvannoy@risecom.net
To: Ron Leigh go4B17@leigh24.freeserve.co.uk
Sent: 29 10 2000 05:24
Subject: WAAC HUNTER 230002

Ron:
230002 was the number of the B-17 I flew to England in June of 1943, landing at Thorpe Abbotts. I was one of the first pilots in the 349th Squadron. I didn't have a name on the airplane. I flew seven missions ( the first seven the 100th made) and on my eighth, 002 was out of commission, so I flew another. We had three engines shot out over Regensburg on August 17, 1943, lost a lot of fuel, and ran out of gas about 70 miles north of Sicily trying to make it to Africa. The Mediterranean is a not recommended for landing B-17s. They sink. So somebody else inherited 002 and gave it the WAAC HUNTER name. I have no idea who. Since all the other original 349th pilots except one named Sammy Barr and the squadron commander went down before the Regensburg mission, I hardly knew the new replacement crews . I appreciate your interest in things of that era.
Sincerely,
Glen S. Van Noy

Aug. 17, 1943 Lt Charles Thompsen’s recollections (1/10/2005)
Re: John Justice's report, I have no idea where we were at this time when we were hit by enemy fire, it could well been in the vicinity of Nurnburg, I know that while I was in the cockpit we were too busy trying to keep control of the plane to do such a stupid thing as lower the landing gear. I don't believe that the gear was ever lowered or the gear was ever down. I had a clear view of the underside of the plane as I was falling until it exploded in a big ball of fire. Until I read Justice’s report I was going by what Lloyd Fields, our flight engineer and top turret gunner reported, shouting from his position that the vertical tail was shot off, I again met him in the Obermassfeld P O W hospital, and he again said that it was shot off. I wish that I had been more specific about the details since reading Justice’s report that " a big strip out of the vertical stabilizer" Shotland and I were busy fighting to recover from a peel off to the right and being knocked out of our formation position by a Me 109 cannon shell that hit this tail position. We did recover and by the use of throttles were able to keep the plane level and get back in position when we were hit again, the top turret elevating mechanism was jammed, smoke filled the cockpit and bomb bay and in # 2 engine, interphone and radios out, we tried to salvo our bombs but couldn’t open the bomb bay doors or release the bombs, it was time to get out. Shotland held the plane while I notified the crew to bail out, We were just approaching the Rhine River south of Manheim, the men in the rear of the plane went out through the right gunners window and landed west of the river while the four of us in the front section bailed out through the front hatch and landed east of the Rhine river.

After about a week of getting acquainted with new maps and procedures at Bovingdon our crew arrived at Diss by train and then trucked to the 100th Bomb Group on July 24th 1943, the same day the 100th bombed Trondheim in Norway.

1/11/2005
Aug. 17, 1943 Lt Charles Thompsen’s recollections
I would like you to know more about the situation of Interphone and what I remember, On this mission Lt. Shotland was on interphone and for crew control and coordination I was to stay on the radio in case we were recalled or any other message, we wore our head phones with the ear toward each other uncovered so we could talk to each other. Except for talking to Shotland and Fields I never heard a word of what went on during this mission. I heard Shotland try to get Lt. Harrison to open the bomb bay doors and get rid of our incendiary bombs as we had a fire some where and wanted to dump our fire bombs, he couldn't make contact or drop the bombs any other way, so we decided to bail out, I gave Shotland his chute and he snapped it on and told me to inform the crew since he had no contact. I alerted Sgt Fields and we threw a hand full of shells back through the bomb bay hitting Sgt Kussmann on the leg and when he looked our way I motioned to dive, he gave me the OK sign then he calmly stowed his gun and started back, then I crawled through the tunnel to the nose section and interrupted their shooting to tell them to bail out. I well remember the jolt we took when Sgt. Fields shouted down to us that the vertical tail was shot off. I have described it like driving down the highway then running off the road and through a ditch.

About Capdeville claim to having shot down a fighter, either you, Roy, or Sgt Fields told me about it, and I remember Fields shouting to me that he had shot down one and wanted me to confirm his claim, I did see the plane fall and nearly go through our group formation, but I can't say I saw his firing hit the plane and I am sure others were also shooting at it but I would back his claim. Then later in the POW hospital He told me about some twin-engine planes following our group and shooting rockets at us and he was convinced that it was a rocket that hit our plane and got the tail. I never seen any evidence of rocket firing but from my seat I couldn't see anything to the rear.

Aug. 17, 1943 S/Sgt Roy Butler, Waist Gunner recollections (1/10/2005)
There are things we will never know, but I think our plane was hit by something bigger than a twenty mm shell because I was jolted almost off my feet. I don't know if the tail moved up, then down violently, or down and then up. I remember hearing Field say he thought it may have been a rocket shell from one of the twin fighters. By the way, Charles, did you know that Capdeville claimed a fighter? He said that he was firing as the pilot bailed out and he might have killed him before he could stop firing.
Roy Butler