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Operation: Solingen (Mission #145), Germany
Date: 1st December 1943 (Wednesday)
Unit No: 360th Bombardment Squadron (H), 303rd Bombardment Group (H), 1st Air Division, 8th Air Force
Type: B-17G
Serial No: 42-39781
Code: PU:D
Location: West of Lille, France
Base: Molesworth (Station #107), Huntingdonshire, England
Pilot: 2nd Lt. George Winston Luke Jr. O-679083 AAF Age 22. PoW * (1)
Co-Pilot: 2nd Lt. Frank Mitchell O-681691 AAF Age 19. Evader (2)
Navigator: 2nd Lt. Gordon Adair Ballagh O-671085 AAF Age 21. PoW *
Bombardier: 2nd Lt. Leonard Levere Dahnke O-679377 AAF Age 21. PoW *
Engineer: S/Sgt. Millard Alhugh Boren 37232879 AAF Age 20. PoW **
Radio Operator: S/Sgt. Ben Thomas Day 18217123 AAF Age 21. PoW ***
Ball Turret Gnr: Sgt. Robert Hugh Clarkson Washburn 11105113 AAF Age 20. KiA (3)
Right Waist Gnr: Sgt. Sherman Grant Wright 36707114 AAF Age 23. PoW No 999. ****
Left Waist Gnr: Sgt. Elwood David Yeakel 12051051 AAF Age 24. PoW ***
Tail Gnr: Sgt. Ira Jerome Walter 35741259 AAF Age 21. PoW *** (4)
* Stalag Luft 1 Barth-Vogelsang, today situated in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
** Dulag Luft 12 Groß-Tychow Pomerania, Prussia now Tychowo, Poland.
*** Stalag 17b Krems-Gneixendorf near Krems, Austria.
**** Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland. (Moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser, Bavaria).
Note: 2nd Lt. Ballagh recalled that their B-17 was named Career Girl. However this name is not listed in the comprehensive B-17 Nose Art Name Directory by Wallace R. Forman nor in any other publication.
The George W. Luke crew at Molesworth, 21st November 1943.
Standing, left to right: 2nd Lt. Leonard L. Dahnke, 2nd Lt. Gordon A. Ballagh, 2nd Lt. Frank Mitchell, 2nd Lt. George W. Luke Jr.;
Front, from left to right: Sgt. Elwood D. Yaekel, Sgt. Robert H. Washburn, S/Sgt. Millard A. Boren, Sgt. Sherman G. Wright, Sgt. Ira J. Walter, S/Sgt. Ben T. Day. (Official USAAF photo - NARA).
REASON FOR LOSS:
On the 1st December 1944 at approximately 07:45 hrs, B-17G 42-39781 took off from Molesworth to join a mixed force of 299 B-17s and B-24s on a mission to bomb Solingen in Germany.
After dropping their bombs the #2 engine ran away and the aircraft fell out of formation.
They turned for home and headed for home alone. At about 12:30 hrs the Tail Gunner reported fighters which turned out to be P-47s who flew past. At 13:15 hrs the Tail Gunner again reported fighters which turned out to be Spitfires who escorted them for about 15 mins.
The aircraft was then hit by flak which knocked out #3 and #4 engines. The order to bale out was given near Lille in France and all of the crew were reported to have baled out successfully.
The aircraft crashed at Radinghem-en-Weppes 10¾ km (6½ mls) west of Lille, France at 13:30 hrs.
(1) Extract from the obituary for George W. Luke Jr. published in The Evening Sun, dated 26th May 1987.
“As a bomber pilot, his B-17 was shot down over Germany in 1943. He evaded capture and joined the French underground in several sabotage missions before the Nazis caught him and condemned him to death as a spy.
While standing against a wall awaiting execution, he received a reprieve and was classified as a prisoner of war. The first prisoner [8th Air Force] to enter Stalag 1 near Barth, Germany, Mr. Luke later helped to dig tunnels in numerous escape attempts by some of the 9,000 PoWs. He was finally freed by Soviet troops just prior to the Battle of Berlin”.
(2) The following is a consolidated description of 2nd Lt. Mitchell’s escape and evasion:
“About four minutes after we dropped our bombs on the target number two engine ran away. We fell out of formation and started home alone. Flak knocked out three engines, and we had to bale out.
I jumped at about 15,000 feet and fell free for about 13,000 feet and really enjoyed it. I landed on a road and collapsed my chute. When I was almost out of my harness a man and a couple of women came up to me. I thought I was in Holland or Belgium and asked the man if he was Dutch. He replied that he was French and was overjoyed to find I was American. One of the women picked up my chute and dashed off with it. The man motioned me toward a swamp and in French said to be quick. I ran to the swamp, lay flat on my back and covered myself with swamp grass.
About five minutes later a car stopped on the road near the place where I landed. I was curious, raised my head just a bit and saw several soldiers with sub-machine guns looking around. After three or four minutes they drove off. Ten minutes later I heard someone walking through the grass. I lay perfectly still and a Frenchman walked right past me. After the man had passed I saw who he was. He whistled and I whistled back. He gave me civilian clothes and buried my military clothing. We got into a row boat and went to a place from which my journey was arranged.
When I reached southern France the people were helping me began to have trouble. They had had a lot before but now men were being picked up right and left. A man promised to take us out for some entertainment but he did not come back. A couple of days later we heard that he had been shot. People continued to disappear and we realised that something must be done. Another airman and myself asked to be given train tickets south and be allowed to continue on our own to Spain.
Our helper took us to the station and gave us tickets. Everything went all right until we reached the next large town. There a German in civilian clothes came through checking identity papers. Ours were made out for us as deaf and dumb and we might have a little trouble. The man checked my comrade’s identity card, looked at it and him, and exclaimed in English that the identity papers were no good, asked who gave them to him, where were his comrades and that he was an English aviator. He there-upon pulled a pistol, backed my comrade up to the wall of the car and searched him. He found the road map which we had been given and that gave the situation away. I figured that there was no need for me to wait around just to be picked up and quietly wormed my way out of the railway car.
Note: 2nd Lt. Mitchell named his comrade Jack and that he was a Bombardier which indicated that he was probably an American.
However, the Escape & Evasion reports for a S/Sgt. Hobart T. Trigg and S/Sgt. Edward M. Daly suggest that his comrade may have been 2nd Lt. Charles A. Bronako O-744239 the bombardier from B-17F 42-29877 ‘Speed Ball’ (511BS, 351BG). The Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) for B-17F 42-29877 recorded that the aircraft ditched in the sea off Guernsey on the 31st December 1943 and nine of the survivors managed to get into their dinghies. 2nd Lt. Bronako was only one of two survivors who were washed up on Guernsey. No explanation for this discrepancy has been found.
S/Sgts. Trigg and Daly were from B-17F 42-3452 (350 BS, 100 BG) lost on the 15th September 1943. (1 KiA, 1 PoW, 8 Evd).
Germans were standing all around on the platform outside. I went out of the station the wrong way and had to return. In an underpass I waited trying to figure out whether I should risk turning in my ticket, which was for a different station. While I was wondering what to do a French woman passed me jabbering about the Gestapo. In my halting French I told her that I was an American and did not know how to get out of the station. I explained that it was my friend that had been captured. She exchanged tickets with me so that I could go up and leave the station. I got through on her ticket all right and was convince that God was leading me around by the hand. While I was walking away from the station the same woman caught up with me and asked me what I was going to do now and I said that I was going to Spain. She agreed that that was the best thing to do and left me. I thought that since one American had been caught in the town the Germans might tighten up and check things carefully, so I set out south by my little compass.
After I walked about 5 km I was hungry and thirsty and stopped at a farmhouse. I told the woman, who answered the door, that I was an American and asked for food. She refused me declaring that bread was rationed but gave me some wine. I tried to find help at a church but could not locate anyone. Later I stopped at a farmhouse, was directed to another place, and there was fed and spent the night in the woods and was not cold.
The next day I came to a village and asked a woman for food, but she refused to feed me even when I offered her money. I went to a bakery and was given bread and wine. The people there could hardly believe that I was an American but I soon convince them I was. A girl asked me whether I was afraid and I assured her that I was. She told him that there where lots of Germans there.
I left this place feeling considerably better, thanks to the food and spent the night in the woods. The next day I stopped at a village church for food. A woman came and I explained to her that was a hungry American. She brought a man who questioned me carefully. When he was satisfied with me, he had me fed and gave me some sandwiches to carry and told me the best route to Spain.
I asked about the zone interdite (Forbidden Zone) and my friend said that it was not too hard to get through. I walked quite a distance before dark and spent this night in the woods also.
Note: The zone interdite refers to two distinct territories established in German occupied France. Essentially the two were the Occupied Zone; or the Northern Zone which comprised a vast expanse of northern and eastern parts of occupied France, and the Free Zone comprised the remaining territory in the south east.
The next morning I reached a large town, I remembered from evades’ lectures that a cheap café was a good place to find help, and picked out a café which I entered. The proprietor asked me what I wanted. I motioned for him to come close and told him that I was an American aviator. He brought me some coffee and when the café was fairly empty he asked me who I was and what I wanted. I told him that I wanted food and a guide across the mountains because I realised that I would have trouble going through by myself. The man said he had a friend who spoke good English and when the friend came we could talk. When he arrived he questioned me carefully and satisfied himself that I was what I claimed to be.
I was taken to a place from which the rest of my journey was arranged. This time I reached Spain in good order”.
He was helped across the Pyrénées mountains and arrived in Spain on 20th April 1944. Guided to Gibraltar, which he reached on 29th May. He left Gibraltar by air on 1st June 1944, landing the same day in Bristol, UK.
The following note was appended to his Escape & Evasion report:
“This evader (the only one of his crew not captured) owes his ‘got away’ to his cool delayed jump, which gave him time to hide. His conduct after his first helpers got into trouble, and especially when his companion was picked up, shows a fine spirit and good briefings”.
(3) S/Sgt. Walter was sure that Sgt. Washburn followed him out of the aircraft from the waist door. It was known by his fellow crew members that Sgt. Washburn was adamant that he would not be taken prisoner. Sgt. Walter was sure that he would not have stopped had he been told to do so. He was informed during his interrogation at Dulag Luft that Sgt. Washburn had been shot.
French civilians told Sgt. Wright that German soldiers has shot Sgt. Washburn as he was running away after landing.
(4) Sgt. Walter evaded capture for an unspecified period of time and was aided by three families at Pont-à Marcq and Le Pont Thibault which are villages some 18 km (11 mls) SE of the crash site at Radinghem-en-Weppes.
Burial Details:
Above: Grave marker for Sgt. Robert Hugh Clarkson Washburn (Courtesy of Dwight ‘Andy’ Anderson – FindAGrave)
Sgt. Robert Hugh Clarkson Washburn. Purple Heart. Recovered and interred at the Ardennes American Cemetery, Plot B, Row 26, Grave 9. Born on the 14th October 1923 in McAdam, New Brunswick, Canada. Son of Robert Evert and Dora Mae (née Clarkson) Washburn of Bridgeport Connecticut, USA.
Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this crew
Other sources listed below:
RS 21.06.2023 - Initial Upload
RS 21.06.2023 - Initial Upload
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