16 September 1943
Boeing B-17F-25-VE "Hell's Belles II" (s/n 42-5849 code SO-N)
Champeaux "Les Mériais" (35)
(contributors : Daniel Dahiot, J.P. Favrais, Pierre Mahé, France Crashes 39-45)
Crew (384th BG, 547th BS)
- (Pilot) 1st Lt Jonhny A. BUTLER (service number O-663844), born 09/09/1917 in Alamo, Texas. Escaped.
Enlisted in the army in Dallas. Lived in Hidalgo, Texas.
- (Copilot) 2nd Lt Herman WOLLENWEBER (service number O-672010), born in 1920, POW.
Enlisted in the army in Fort Hayes, Columbus, Ohio. Lived in Ross county, Ohio.
Luft III Sagan, Lower-Silesia then Stalag XIII-D Nürnberg Langwasser.
- (Navigator) 2nd Lt Edward J. KNOWLING (service number O-736868), born in 1920, POW.
Enlisted in the army in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. Lived in Knox county, Tenessee.
Stalag VII-A Moosburg Bavaria.
- (Bombardier) S/Sgt Burnia MARTIN (service number 38310285), born in 1921, POW.
Enlisted in the army in New-Orleans. Lived in Washington.
Stalag XVII-B Braunau Gneikendorf, near Krems in Austria.
- (Radio operator) T/Sgt Preston A. DAVIS (service number 18136189), born in 1925, POW.
Enlisted in the army in Richmond in Virginia.
Stalag XVII-B Braunau Gneikendorf, near Krems in Austria
- (Engineer - Top turret gunner) S/Sgt Howard J. TURLINGTON (service number 39089440), born 13/05/1919 in Dunn, North Carolina.
Enlisted in the army in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Lived in Harnett, South Carolina.
Escaped by the Pyrenees, Spain and Gibraltar. Returned to England on June 30, 1944.
- (Bowl turret gunner) Sgt Herbert E. MAY (service number 39089440), born in 1917, 26 years old, KIA.
Enlisted in the army in Presidio of Monterey, California. Lived in Los Angeles, California.
Buried in St. James American Military Cemetery (50) Plot I, Row 17, Grave 7.
- (Right waist gunner) Sgt Walter H. SWORD (service number 33205619), born 20/09/1921, 22 years old, KIA.
Son of Edward I. and Augusta (Cowan) Sword.
Enlisted in the army in Baltimore, Maryland. Lived in Prince George conty, Maryland.
Buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
-(Left waist gunner) S/Sgt Marion C. ROGERS (service number 34276719), 26 years old, born 11/07/1917, KIA.
Buried in Pine Grove Cemetery, Dumas, Mississippi (USA).
- (Tail gunner) Sgt Clarence B. BARNES (service number 6277281), Kansas, POW.
Standing from left to right : 2nd Lt Herman WOLLENWEBER, 1st Lt Edward J. KNOWLING, Joseph BAGGS, 1st Lt Johnny A. BUTLER
Crouching from left to right : 2nd S/Sgt Marion C. ROGERS, 4th Howard J. TURLINGTON, WOREN, T/Sgt Preston A. DAVIS
Photo collection Pierre Mahé
Crew of B-17 s/n 42-5849 shot down on 16 September 1943 in Champeaux
Photo given by Mrs Betty Adams (niece of S/Sgt Marion C. ROGERS) to J.P. Favrais
Howard Turlington, Burnia Martin, Edward Knowling, Herman Wollenweber, Johnny Butler and Preston Davis en 1993.
Photo collection Pierre Mahé
THE STORY
On September 16, 1943, B-17 s/n 42-5849 took off from RAF Grafton Underwood (station 106), in Northamptonshire (England) at 11:45 a.m. for a bombing mission over Nantes. He was hit by flak near Rennes then shot down by a fighter. Part of the crew bailed out before the aircraft crashed 'Les Mériais'. A wing and an engine were found near 'Le Fougeray'.
SOME PARTS OF B-17 S/N 42-5849 (Photos private collection)
IN MEMORIAM
♦ On the exterior wall of the Champeaux cemetery
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