| Pilot signatures for this aircraft |
| Name | Info |
2nd Lt Brunson Bolin | Co-pilot of B-17 Flying Fortress "Lazy Baby". |
| Captain James A Pete Mullinax | Pilot James Mullinax flew B 17 Flying Fortresses with the 332nd BS, 94th Bomb Group undertaking his first combat mission in September 1943. He had completed ei operations before his aircraft was attacked and shot down during the 14 Octobe. Schweinfurt mission. Bailing out, he was taken POW by the Germans.
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Captain Rolland H Whited | The Captain and pilot of the 34th Bomb Group B-17 Flying Fortress Queenie, Rolland Whited arrived in England with the 391st Bomb Squadron, 34th Bomb Group in April 1944. He flew his first combat mission on June 20th. A veteran of many heavy bombardment missions he flew on operations against Luftwaffe airfields, VI rocket sites, chemical plants and the railroad marshalling yards at Cologne and Ludwigshafen. After completing 26 missions on B24s, the 34th re-equipped with B17 Flying Fortresses. Rolland flew a further 8 missions on the B17, flying his final mission in January 1945. He holds the Air Medal with three Oak clusters in addition to the Distinguished Flying Cross. |
Captain Turner G Brashear | Joining up on June 1st 1943, Turner Brashear arrived at Ridgewell in time to fly his first combat mission on 24th November 1944m with the 535th Bomb Squadron, 381st Bomb Group. He flew as aircraft commander on 27 missions right up to VE-Day. On the 11th April 1945 returning from a mission to Munich, his B17 suffered a mid air collision over the Rhine, as another aircraft descended into his, shearing off the right horizontal stabilizer. The bomber spun downwards for 8000ft before Turner managed to regain some control, coaxing his aircraft home with great skill. |
| Captain Vernon L Grim | After joining the service in 1942, Vernon's operational squadron in England was the 407 Sqn, 92nd Bomb Group, based at Poddington, the oldest group in the ETO. Flying the B17 he participated in many of the major raids over Germany, including 4 missions to Berlin, and in the D-Day operations in occupied Europe. Later, losing an engine over Hamburg, he was glad of the help from two P38s who escorted him all the way back to England. |
| Chief Master Sergeant Roy C McGinnis | Joining up in November 1940, Roy McGinnis was the right waist gunner on a B 17 o the 339th BS, 96th Bomb Group. His first mission was in October 1943 to Erriden and after a couple of other major raids, he was shot down during the 14 October Schweinfart mission and taken prisoner by the Germans.
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| Col Edward M Jacquet | 19th Bomb Group, 93rd Sqn. Clark Field B-17 copilot, 47 combat missions with the 19th Bomb Group. |
| Col John A Wallach | 19th Bomb Group, 14th Sqn. Clark Field B-17 and later part of "Swoose" crew and fighter pilot.
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Colonel Bob Morgan (deceased) | The 24 year old Captain and pilot Bob Morgan skippered the Memphis Belle on every one of her 25 combat missions over the skies of occupied Europe and Nazi Germany. His renowned skill as a B-17 pilot, his courage under fire, and his leadership welded his crew into one of the best fighting units in the 8th Air Force. Bob Morgan later commanded a squadron of B-29s in the Pacific and led the first B-29 raid on Tokyo. He completed a total of 26 missions against Japan, and became the most celebrated American bomber pilot of WWII. He died 15th May 2004. |
| Colonel Ed Millson | Flying with the 379th Bomb Group, Ed flew 47 missions on B 17s, most as lead bombardier. He went on the 14 Oct raid, and in Feb 1945 led the 8th Air Force to Berlin.
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| Colonel Edward A Dingivan DFC | Edward Dingivan was pilot of 'Brass Wagon', flying his first combat mission to Neuminster , Germany in September 1944. He completed a tour of 30 combat missions in the B-17. after the war, Director of Traffic during the Berlin Airlift and Commander of the 35th Air Transport Squadron. Later Military Executive to the Assistant Secretary of the US Air Force, he retired in 1969. |
| Colonel William Lawley (deceased) | Flying a 305th Bomb Group B-17 on 20th February, 1944, Bill Lawley’s co-pilot was killed in a head-on fighter attack. Injured in the face, weak and in shock, with 7 of his crew injured, Bill Lawley flew his crew home, crash landing with only one engine. He was awarded the Medal of Honor. Lawley died in his home town of Montgomery, Alabama on June 1st 1999, at the age of 78. |
| First Lieutenant Don Nielsen | A pilot with the 457th Bomb Group, Don Nielson had joined up in February 1943, originally training for combat flying on B24 Liberators. In November 1944 he was posted to England, joining the 751st Squadron, 457th Bomb Group at Glatton flying B17 Fortresses - first as co-pilot and then as First Pilot, undertaking the first combat mission of his tour on 12 December 1944. On 3 February 1945 he took part in the big raid on Berlin, which was the heaviest concentration on the German capital so far in the war, encountering some of the most intense and accurate flak ever experienced by the Eighth. During his tour Don took part in a total of 34 raids, all on B17s. |
| First Lieutenant Frederick J Bird | Navigator with the 326th BS, 92nd Bomb Group, Fred Bird flew 14 combat missions on B 17 Fortresses, his first being on 26 August 1943. Following the second raid on Schweinfitirt he was later shot down and taken prisoner of war. He remained captive until liberated on 29 April 1945.
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| First Lieutenant John P Noack | Joining the service in March 1942, John trained as a pilot before being posted to England joining the 369th Bomb Squadron, 306th Bomb Group flying B17s from their base at Thurleigh in Bedfordshire. He undertook his first mission in anger on 12 August 1943, and on 14 October went on the second mission to Schweinfurt. On 11 December 1943, after completing 15 combat missions, his B 17 was shot down over Europe and he was forced to ditch, and taken prisoner by the Germans, remaining in captivity until liberated on 30 April 1945.
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First Lieutenant Vincent J Peters | Vincent Peters flew his first combat mission in October 1944 flying B17s with the 535th Bomb Squadron, 381st Bomb Group out of Ridgewell. He flew missions to attack the Nazi capital Berlin, to Cologne and Dresden, as well as targets in the Ruhr valley. On 1st January 1945, during a mission supporting the Battle of the Bulge, his aircraft was hit and he and his crew were forced to bail out. |
| First Lieutenant Wilbur 'Bud' Klint | 'Bud' Klint joined the service in 1942, and after qualifying as a pilot was posted to England in July 1943. He flew the first of his tour of 25 combat missions in B 1 7s on 16 August 1943. The following day he went on the first mission to Schweinflart, and then to Stuttgart on 6 September when he was forced to safely ditch his aircraft. On 14 October he went to Schweinffirt again - this time on the fateful second mission, but again brought his aircraft safely home. He finished his tour in Europe and after a period instructing on B 17s left the service in November 1945.
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| First Lt Frank Frision | Frank Frision was Bombardier on the Fortress 'Bouncin Baby' flying his first mission on 2nd November 1944 when the Luftwaffe mounted one of their largest fighter operations of the war. He flew the last of his 35 combat missions on 22nd March 1945, supporting the Rhine Crossings. |
Gen. Charles R. Bond (deceased) | Bond was born in 1915 in Dallas, Texas. His military career began in the Texas National Guard, and he was commissioned in 1939 at Randolph Field, Texas. His first assignment was flying B-17s based at Langley Field, Virginia. During this period, he participated in one of the first good-will flights to South America in 1939. After joining the AVG, he was assigned to the Adam & Eves, and recalls being the first to introduce the painted shark mouth motif on AVG P-40s. One of the Tigers great aces, he was credited with shooting down three Japanese aircraft in one mission in the defense of Rangoon. While serving with the AVG, Bond was shot down twice, and was ultimately credited with 8.77 victories. In 1942, Barld rejoined the U.S. Army Air Corps and began teaching combat skills to new pilots. A year later he served as an Ambassadors aide in the U.S. Military Mission to the U.S.S.R. in Moscow. In 1949, Bond graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Management Engineering. He then completed nearly 20 years in military leadersnip positions throughout the United States, Europe and Far East. After serving as Commander 12th Air Force, USAF, he retired with at the rank of Maj. General in 1968. Sadly, Charles Bond passed away on 18th August 2009. |
| Gene Platek | Co-pilot of B-17 Flying Fortress Yankee Queen |
| General J Kemp Mclaughlin | As a Second Lieutenant in October 1942, Kemp McLaughlin had already brought a heavily damaged and burning B 17 safely home whilst under heavy attack from German aircraft. It was a suitable prelude to the dangers that would face him and his crew a year later when on 14 Oct 1943, he was the pilot of the 92nd Bomb Group's B 17 Equipose, the mission command plane during the second mission to attack the ball-bearing factory at Schweinfurt. Under constant attack from German fighters for almost six hours, he again brought the crew safely home. The following month he was deputy air commander on a bombing raid in Norway, when his aircraft lost oil pressure due to one engine overheating. The crew carried on to the target, but on the return to England were attacked by fighters. Unable to return fire because all guns had been thrown overboard to lighten the aircraft, he skilfully coaxed his plane safely back to base. His 'luck' continued when in December 1944 he was air commander on a raid during the Battle of the Bulge when shrapnel pierced his scat a few inches from him, he was uninjured. |
Harry D Hink USAAF | Harry Hinks 28 year military career began during the height of World War Two. After completing training, in 1943 he flew his first of 28 combat missions in heavy bombers against Japan, attached to the 39th Bomb Group. He vividly recalls Iwo Jima, not only as a navigational checkpoint to and from bombing missions over the Japanese islands, but also found it to be a safe haven personally on three separate occasions, when he and his crew made emergency landings in their B29. In April 1945, he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant on Guam, and would later fly missions in both the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. He retired from the U S Air Force in 1970 as a Lieutenant Colonel, with decorations including the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with Seven Clusters, Distinguished Unit Citation and many others. After the military, he worked with the FAA for 17 years, holding various positions in Airport Safety. Harry resides today in the Washington DC area. |
| John Assmussen | Tail gunner, B-17 Flying Fortress Yankee Queen |
| John Davy Crockett | John Davy Crockett was trained as a navigator by Pan Am in mid-1941 because the USAAF did not have its navigator school in operation. Davy was assigned to the 36th Bomb Squadron of the 19th Bomb Group flying the new B-17C Flying Fortress. Davy found that most Air Corps pilots were used to doing their own navigating, so his job would be easy. Davy experienced a crash in a B-17 while training, but the crew walked away from the wreck. In late 1941 his crew was informed that they would be flying to Clark Field in the Philippines. On December they left Albuquerque and flew to Hamilton Field in California. They received a briefing on expected weather and left on the evening of December 6 for their first stop at Hickham Field, Oahu Hawaii. Flying into the darkness over the vast Pacific, the pilot for the first time in Crocketts career turned the navigation over to Davy. Realizing that the Hawaiian Islands were only small dots on the charts of the vast Pacific, and that his aircraft would have little fuel reserves left when it arrived, sent chills up Crocketts spine. As dawn broke Davy saw lots of islands where there were not suppose to be any. His panic subsided when he realized that they were only clouds. The pilot, Earl Cooper, came on the intercom at that moment to ask for an ETA. As Davy responded, the gunners in the back came on the intercom to report a large formation of aircraft about ten miles north of their position. They must be Navy aircraft. Minutes later they had descended to about 1200 feet when eight fighter aircraft came straight at them with their guns blazing. As the aircraft flew by the flight engineer, Jesse Broyls, yelled out, Rising Sun ! The zeros reformed behind the unarmed B-17, and as Cooper dove the lumbering giant towards the wave tops, Crockett could hear the thump of bullets hitting his plane. The No. 2 engine was hit and Cooper shut it down. Rounding Diamond Head at about 300-feet the crew saw smoke and fire everywhere, and Japanese planes all over the sky. They passed over Hickham Field at about 1000-feet, realizing that this was no time and place for a landing. They turned towards Ford Island and passed directly over the USS Arizona minutes after the ship had exploded. Crocketts B-17 now became a target for nervous anti-aircraft gunners on the ground, and the B-17 had its No. 4 engine shot out. Cooper prepared the crew to bail out, but he then saw an opportunity to bring the big bird into Wheeler Field. He came straight in and belly-landed the B-17 with almost no fuel left. The plane slid to a stop on the turf just short of a group of P-40s. The entire crew got out of the B-17 and ran for cover in a patch of nearby woods. The B-17s on the flight from the mainland were scattered all over the island, with most of them seriously damaged. Fortunately, there were only two casualties, a flight surgeon who was killed and a bombardier who was injured when they were strafed while running from their plane. Crockett would survive a third crash in another B-17 on December 25th when he would spend six days in a life raft. |
| John OConnell | Bombadier, B-17 Flying Fortress Yankee Queen |
| L G Creel | Navigator of B-17 Flying Fortress Yankee Queen |
Lieutenant Colonel Robert W Dees | 'Bob' Dees originally joined the Army Corps of Engineers in 1941 but transferred to the Air Corps for pilot training in Jan 1943. Assigned to the 4th and then 18th Squadron, 34th Bomb Group, Bob flew the South Atlantic route to Mendlesham, England, in early 1944 and was soon in the thick of the action on operations against military and industrial targets in Germany and occupied Europe. He flew the first of his 31 combat missions on 24th May 1944, flying the B24, before the 34th converted to B-17 Flying Fortresses on which he finished his tour. He had flown 31 combat missions, 14 of which were as lead crew pilot. Bob Dees was awarded the Air Medal with five Oak clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross. |
Lt Edward Dienhart | Pilot of B-17 Flying Fortress "Lazy Baby". |
Major Edward A Klein | Edward Klein joined the USAAF on 21st September 1941. As a bombardier he was posted to England, and became part of the 381st Bomb Group, based at Ridgewell, flying B-17s with the 534th Bomb Squadron. Ed Klein went on his first combat missions, to Germany, on 8th October, 1943, and the following day was under constant fighter attack for four and a half hours. On 31st October he went to Schweinfurt. On 6th March 1944 he flew on the first bombing of Berlin by American bombers. Finishing his 25 mission tour in March 1944 he had been Squadron Leader, and Group Leader. Ed Klein retired from the service in 1963. |
| Major Paul H Greer | After arriving in England, the first of Paul Greers 35 combat missions took place on a freezing cold New Years Day, 1945, as co-pilot on B-17s. Flying out of Thurleigh in Bedfordshire with the 368th Squadron, 306th Bomb Group (The Reich Wreckers), the oldest operational Bomb Group in the 8th Air Force, Paul flew a total of 31 missions on Fortresses as co-pilot, and a further 4 as lead pilot. Amongst other targets in Germany, he went on the big raids to Dresden and Schweinfurt, and led led missions to Berlin, on which he came under heavy attack from the Luftwaffes fast Me262 jet fighters. |
| Ralph Keele | Pilot of B-17 Flying Fortress Yankee Queen |
S/Sgt Christy Zullo | Waist Gunner of B-17 Flying Fortress "Lazy Baby". |
| S/Sgt Don Sherman | Don Sherman was the ball-turret Gunner on the B-17 'Buddy Buddy'. The first of his 31 combat missions was in December 1944 to Mainz in Germany. His final mission was flown in April 1945 against German targets holding out a Royan in France. |
| S/Sgt John H Osbahr | John Osbahr flew his first combat mission on 2nd November 1944, flying to Merseberg, Germany. He was Ball-Turret Gunner in the B-17 'Bouncin Baby'. John completed the last of his 32 missions in March 1945 on a mission to Dresden. |
| S/Sgt Orlando Pete Petrillo | Pete Petrillo was a Waist Gunner on the B-17 'Bit o' Lace'. He flew his first combat mission to Caen, France in August 1944, and the last of his 35 missions was in December 1944 to Mainz in Germany. One of his memorable trips was a supply drop to the French Maquis. |
S/Sgt Raymond Baus | Ball Turret Gunner of B-17 Flying Fortress "Lazy Baby". |
S/Sgt Robert Cinibulk | Waist Gunner of B-17 Flying Fortress "Lazy Baby". |
| Sgt Byron Schlag | Byron Schlag was the Tailgunner of B-17 'Ol Scrapiron', flying his first combat mission on 26th February 1945 to Berlin. On 23rd March his B-17 collided mid-air with another B-17, cutting the tail off. He managed to bail out at just 400ft; his ball-turret gunner fell in his turret from 23,000ft and survived. The rest of the crew died. Byron Schlag was taken PoW; he escaped and was recaptured four times. |
| Staff Sergeant Ben Roberts | Flying with the 364th BS, 305th Bomb Group, Ben Roberts was a B17 ball turre gunner. Flying his first mission on 5 October 1943, his fifth mission was the 14 Octobe raid to Schweinfurt, during which his aircraft was shot down. Bailing out he wa captured and taken to Stalag Luft 17B until the war's end.
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| Staff Sergeant Robert Rickel | Left waist gunner with the 379th Bomb Group, Robert flew a full tour of 25 missions on B 17s. Amongst many missions, he participated in both of the Schweinfurt raids.
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| T/Sgt John C Bitzer | John Bitzer joined the service in 1942 before tramsferring to England. On 30th December 1943 flying the B-17G Fortress 'Maid to Please', on his very first combat mission his aircraft was shot down and he had to bail out. John was taken prisoner by the Germans and remained in captivity until May 1945. |
| T/Sgt Norman Bussel | As Radio Operator on the B-17 'Mississippi Lady', Norman Bussel flew his first combat mission in March 1944 to Frankfurt. On 29th April 1944 his aircraft was shot down over Berlin, the worst day for losses for the 447th during the entire war. Bailing out with his clothes on fire, four of his crew died that day. Norman was taken PoW for the rest of the war. |
| Technical Sergeant Bill E Martin | Bill Martin was a Fortress waist gunner with the 384th Bomb Group, flying his firs combat operation in June 1943. He took part in many of the Groups main raids including the second Schweinfurt operation. After completing 21 missions his aircraft was shot down and he bailed out, escaping captivity via Switzerland.
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| Technical Sergeant Jack R Goetz | Jack Goetz served with the 544th BS, 384th Bomb Group, flying B 17s from Grafton Underwood. Top turret gunner, his full tour of 25 missions took in the second Schweinfurt raid, raids on Berlin, Bremen, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart, and included a crash landing at his home base, and a ditching in the North Sea.
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| William Gonyo | Gunner, B-17 Flying Fortress Yankee Queen |
