Operation: Siracourt (Mission #515 Aphrodite), France

Date: 4th August 1944 (Friday)

Unit No: 562nd Bombardment Squadron (H)(Detachment), 388th Bombardment Group (H), 8th Air Force

Type: B-17F

Serial No: 42-39835

Code: TU:N

Location: Wood near Sudbourne, Suffolk, England

Base: Fersfield (Station #554), Norfolk, England

Pilot: 1st Lt. John Wesley Fisher Jr., Silver Star, DFC O-695247 USAAF Age 21. KiA

Bombsight Mech: T/Sgt. Elmer Most DFC 12034363 USAAF Age 23. Safe (1)

Above: 1st Lt. John Wesley Fisher Jr., Silver Star, DFC. US Official photo, shared across from the American Air Museum and from 388th Bomb Group Association website (Courtesy of Lucy May - Curator at the Imperial War Museum (IWM) in London).

Note: B-17F #42-39835 finished its bombing service with the 351st Bombardment Group (H) as the "Wantta Spa".

REASON FOR LOSS:

This was the first ‘Aphrodite’ operation with B-17F #42-39835 as one of the 4 war-weary bombers tasked with attacking the V-1 flying bomb ‘Noball’ sites at Mimoyecques, Siracourt, Watten and Wizernes in France

The ‘mother ship’ for this mission was B-17G #43-37637 piloted by 2nd Lt. Foster Falkenstine O-812561 and drone controller Maj. Rand (No further information found).

Operation Aphrodite

‘Aphrodite’ was the USAAF WWII code name to use old and taken out of service B-17E/Fs and PB4Y (US Navy Liberators), as radio-controlled flying bombs. The selected war-weary B-17s were stripped of all unessential equipment. The nose hatch was enlarged to facilitate bale-out and a wind deflector fitted. Double-Azon radio-control units were installed and linked to the flight controls to over-ride the auto-pilot and a radio altimeter was fitted to maintain altitude at 250 feet.

The radio-control units were adapted from the Azon (Azimuth only) control system devised for guiding bombs.

A mission comprised a B-17 (BQ-7) ‘Drone’ which was the explosives carrier and one B-17G (CQ-4) ‘Mother’ as the controller.

The loading of explosives onto the ‘Drone’ aircraft varied and was performed at the operational base. The approximately 20,000lb load, twice the normal bomb load, was boxed in 55lb units and positioned between the flight deck, radio room and bomb-bay. The British Torpex (Torpedo Explosive) was used as it was 50% more powerful than TNT alone.

The Double-Azon system was not capable of a performing a safe take-off so the ‘Drone’ was flown off by a volunteer pilot and Bombsight Mechanic. At an altitude of 2000 ft the control was to be handed off to the CQ-4 operators in the following ‘Mother’ B-17. After confirming that control was transferred the two-man crew would arm the payload and parachute from the ‘Drone’. The CQ-4 operators aboard the ‘Mother’ would then guide the ‘Drone’ to the target.

Initially there were ten ‘Drones’ and four ‘Mother’ controllers, three B-24s and B-17G #43-37637. When the Double-Azon phase of the project was discontinued in August 1944 the remaining ‘Drones’ were withdrawn from service.

There has been a lot of speculation about what actually occurred, however, it appears that when it came to handing control over to the ‘Mother’ B-17 the autopilot dropped out. 1st Lt. Fisher tried to re-engaged the autopilot twice more and each time it dropped out.

It is believed that at this time T/Sgt. Most waw ordered to bale out but his parachute caught in the escape hatch. It is thought that 1st Lt. Fisher pushed him out before returning to the cockpit to try to engage the autopilot for a third time which apparently was successful.

However, the aircraft had by this time entered into an unrecoverable spin. It is not known if 1st Lt. Fisher was prevented from baling out because of the spinning aircraft or if he baled out too late. There was an uncorroborated claim by an eye-witness who saw the pilot still in the cockpit as aircraft fell out of the sky. The bomber exploded on impact in a wood near Sudbourne in Suffolk and scattered aircraft wreckage over a wide area. No trace of 1st Lt. John Wesley Fisher Jr. was found.

A team from the Cotswold Archaeology have been commissioned by the US Defense/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) to find evidence of the tragedy and hopefully definitively identify the crash site as 1st Lt. Fisher’s final resting place.

(1) T/Sgt. Most was awarded the Distinguish Flying Cross (DFC) on the 13th August 1944. He was awarded the Purple Heart (PH) on the 20th August 1944, perhaps due to injuries received during baling out of the stricken aircraft.

Above, left to right: Jim Potts, Elmer Most and Jim Schollard all of whom served at Thorpe Abbots (Station #139) in Norfolk, with the bomb site maintenance group. (Courtesy of Eileen, daughter of the late Jim Potts)

He enlisted in the USAAF on the 15th December 1941 and was discharged from the service on the 21st September 1945.

Elmer Most was born on the 28th December 1920 in Trenton, New Jersey and passed away on the 11th May 2002 in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA. He is buried at the Arlington National Cemetery, Section 54, Site 3669.

Burial details:

Above: The Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge American Cemetery (Courtesy of the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC))

1st Lt. John Wesley Fisher Jr. Silver Star, DFC, Air Medal (4 Oak Leaf Clusters). Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge American Cemetery. Born on the 10th September 1922 in Peekskill, New York. Son of John W. and Minnie C. Fisher of Peekskill, Westchester, New York. Husband to Jane Hamil (née Thurston) Fisher and father to Peter John Fisher of Texas, USA.

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this crew (Jul 2024). Many thanks to Eileen for the photograph of Elmer Most and his fellow airmen (Jul 2024).

Other sources listed below:

Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them. Franklin Delano Roosevelt