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Archive Report: US Forces
1941 - 1945
Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.

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1944-09-27 Flak-Battered Fortress B-17 42-98004 YB-H Capt. Jerome Geiger

Operation: Cologne (Köln) Industrial Area (Mission #650), Germany

Date: 27th September 1944 (Wednesday)

Unit: 508th Bombardment Squadron (H), 351st Bombardment Group (H), 1st Air Division, 8th Air Force

Type: B-17G

Serial No: 42-98004

Code: YH:B

Location: Polebrook (Station #110), Northamptonshire

Base: Polebrook (Station #110), Northamptonshire

Pilot: Capt. Jerome Henry Geiger DFC O-731854 AAF Age 23. Returned

Co-Pilot: 1st Lt. Winfield Felton Muffett DFC O-760895 AAF Age 22. Returned

Navigator: 2nd Lt. Charles Hugh Hubbell DFC O-713616 AAF Age 22. Returned

Bombardier: 2nd Lt. Frank Herman Reising O-762804 AAF Age 28. Returned

Engineer/Top Turret Gnr: S/Sgt Leroy Henry Chaplow 15070182 AAF Age 26. Returned

Radio Operator: S/Sgt. Walter Frank Goodman 36480907 AAF Age 23. Returned

Specialist Radio Operator: S/Sgt. John Joseph Kurtz 36827478 AAF Age 19. PoW, Stalag Luft 4

Ball Turret Gnr: Sgt. Kenneth David Divil 35765539 AAF Age 19 KIA

Waist Gnr: S/Sgt. James Mack Pierce 37677168 AAF Age 25. Returned

Tail Gnr: Sgt. Walter Charles Ingison 36597221 AAF Age 19. Returned

Mission

Attack on marshalling yards Köln. Bomb run 09:37.

The Fortress, part of 351st Bomb Group, though hit by flak in the waist which caused the death of the Ball Turret Gunner and the loss (MIA) of the specialist Y Operator (Y-Operator – Intercepted enemy radio and electronics communications) returned safely to England.

The eyewitness account from Jerome H. Geiger reads: “I, Jerome H. Geiger, O-731854, was flying as pilot of Aircraft No. 42-98004 which was flying in Lead Position of the Low Squadron on a mission to Cologne, Germany on 27 September 1944. About a second after bombs away 150 mm. Flak hit my plane, knocking out the Ball Turret, denting the tail and destroying the superchargers and radios. The Ball Turret gunner was killed instantly and the Y-Operator (a German-speaking voice interceptor from 511st Bomber Sqn) fell out without his parachute (see note below). The rest of the crew and the plane returned to England without further incident.”

Navigator 1Lt Charles H. Hubbell and Bombardier 1Lt Frank H. Reising survey the damage back in England.

1Lt. John C. Talbott, the Navigator on Fortress 42-97843, saw a man fall from Capt. Geiger’s plane with his hand on his chest as though he might have been preparing to pull a rip cord. This officer states, however, that he cannot be sure the man was wearing a chute; what appeared to be a chute pack may have been part of flak suit. The observation was made from approximately 1500 yards (sic.. probably 150 yards).

In fact. S/Sgt. Kurtz had managed to open his chute. He was taken PoW on landing.

Original on YouTube

Kenneth David Divil

Air Medal (2 Oak Leaf Clusters), Purple Heart. Ardennes American Cemetery, Belgium, Plot I-5-124 in April 1946. Final resting place in Plot D-10-53. Born on the 2nd May 1925 in Smithfield, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Son of Lewis Robert and Jessie Mae (née Davis) Divil of Akron, Summit County, Ohio, USA

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