Operation: Blechhammer, Germany

Date: 17th December 1944 (Sunday)

Unit No: 419th Bombardment Squadron (H), 301st Bombardment Group (H), 5th Bomb Wing, 15th Air Force

Type: B-17G

Serial No: 42-32104

Code: Allocated but not known

Location: Crashed near Wilmesau (Wilamowice) in the district of Bielitz (Bielsko), Poland

Base: Lucera airfield #8, Foggia, Italy

Pilot: 2nd Lt. Michael Joseph Kearns Jr. O-772401 AAF Age 28. PoW *

Co Pilot: 2nd Lt. David Morley Jones O-826991 AAF Age 22. Evader (1)

Navigator: FO. Robert Owen Fitzsimmons T-128730 AAF Age 19. PoW **

Togglier: T/Sgt. Leo John Dyga 16012079 AAF Age 26. PoW ***

Radio Operator: Sgt. Joe Douglas Chapman 37534106 AAF Age 21. PoW ****

Engineer: Sgt. Eugene Arthur Tinley 7074366 AAF Age 26. PoW *****

Ball Turret: Sgt. Charles Robert Mohollen Jr. 33798329 AAF Age 19. PoW ***

Right Waist Gunner: Sgt. Chester Joseph Janiak 39236136 AAF Age 28. PoW ***

Left Waist Gunner: Sgt. Ivan George Hughes 38421679 AAF Age 21. PoW **

Tail Gunner: Sgt. Alvin Jerome ‘Jerry’ Ellin 15364395 AAF Age 21. Murdered (2)

* Dulag Luft 12 Groß-Tychow Pomerania, Prussia now Tychowo, Poland

** Stalag Luft 1 Barth-Vogelsang, today part of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

*** Unknown PoW Camp.

**** Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland.

***** Stalag 3A and work camps (Also Oflag 3-6) Luckenwalde, Prussia.

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the 17th December 1944 the 15th Air Force was detailed to attack the Blechhammer North and South Synthetic Oil Plants (Nowadays Blachownia Śląska in Poland), with the 301st Bombardment Group joining the force of 155 B-17s.

The 2nd and 301st bombardment Groups each lost one Bomber and another from the 2nd crash-landed behind Russian lines.

The loss of B-17G 42-32104 was described by the pilot and tail gunner of B-17G f#44-6449 an adjacent bomber in the formation:

1st Lt. Bernard Dick Jr. O-557025:

“I was pilot of plane #44-6449, leading the low left squadron. After we left the IP I did not again see the missing plane. However my tail gunner called me over the interphone and told me that plane 104 had fallen back from the formation and disappeared. The coordinates at which he last saw it are as follows: 50 20N, 18 32 E. This is approximately twenty-one (21) miles southeast of Blechhammer”.

S/Sgt. John E. Clonts 34813578:

“The last I saw of plane #42-32104 was while we were on the bomb run. We came off the IP at the same time as the missing plane, but they dropped back almost immediately. The plane then started to catch up again with the formation, but then dropped back and out of sight. As far as I know this was the last anyone saw of it”.

After being hit by Flak over the target an attempt was made to reach Russian lines but the order was given to bale out. All of the crew baled out about 12¾ km (8 mls) north of Kozy in Poland and nine of the crew were immediately captured, but Sgt. Ellin was killed.

The aircraft crashed near Wilmesau (Wilamowice) in the district of Bielitz (Bielsko), Poland at about 12:30 hrs.

(1)2nd Lt. Jones has been recorded as being an evader, however, an Escape & Evasion report for him has not been found, so the circumstances of his evasion and his return to the UK are not known, other than he was aided by Polish citizens.

(2) The circumstances leading to the death of Sgt. Ellin was communicated to Berlin and also Dulag Luft, Oberursel which reported that he had been shot by Gendarmerie Wachtmeister (Police Sgt) Swittaj.

According to medical reports, he died of a gunshot wound to the stomach. However, uncorroborated rumours claimed that he had been shot several times, in the back and shoulder while resisting or attempting to escape, or that he was shot for refusing to dig his own grave.

After returning to the USA 2nd Lt. Jones was in correspondence with Sgt. Tinley who wrote that had seen Sgt. Ellin unconscious or dead still in his parachute harness with four (4) bullet wounds.

Sgt. Hughes also reported in his Individual Casualty Questionnaire (ICQ) that he had seen what he believed to be Sgt. Ellin’s ID Bracelet and his flying jacket with three or four bullet holes in the front.

No record of any investigation into the shooting of Sgt. Ellin has been found, so all that can be surmised is that he was shot for an unknown reason.

Sgt. Ellin was buried on the 20th December 1944 at 17:00 hrs in the cemetery at Jawischowitz (Jawiszowice). His grave was located between the mortuary tool shed and the adjacent hedge. His funeral was attended by a Polish grave digger and Gendarmerie Wachtmeister Thiele from the Gendarmerie Posten (Police Station) at Jawischowitz (Jawiszowice).

Burial details:

Above: Funeral Service for Sgt. Alvin J. Ellin (Courtesy of The Knoxville Journal, dated 14th July 1949)

Sgt. Alvin Jerome ‘Jerry’ Ellin. Air Medal, Purple Heart. Born on the 1st January 1925 in Virginia. Repatriated and laid to rest in the New Jewish Cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee. Son of Jacob and Lillian (née Lipshin) Ellin of Morten, Virginia, USA.

Researched by Ralph Snape and Traugott Vitz for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to our late colleague and friend Traugott Vitz (1950 -2024) for his work on the ‘VitzArchive’. (Nov 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