More Stateside B-17 prangs ...

[Mark Allen M]

Boeing B-17E Fortress 41-9096
delivered to Boise 303rd BG Apr 10, 1942; transferred to Wendover May 13, 1942;
transferred to Ogden Jun 17, 1942;
transferred to Westover Aug 11, 1942; transferred to Sebring Sep 3, 1942; assigned to 2137 BU at Hendricks Apr 17, 1943;
transferred to Tarrent Jul 8, 1943; assigned to Materiel Command at Wright Jul 17, 1943.
WO Jul 25, 1944.
(J Baugher)



Boeing B-17E Fortress 41-2495
delivered to Portland Jan 14, 1942;
transferred to McDill Jan 22, 1942;
transferred to Palm Beach Apr 26, 1942;
transferred to Sebring Sep 13, 1942;
transferred to 2137 BU at Hendricks May 14, 1942.
Force landed Aug 16, 1943.
WO Jul 5, 1944.
(J Baugher)



This one below was not a stateside prang. More like a busted up Irish mess.

Douglas-Long Beach B-17G-20-DL Fortress
37895 Delivered Denver Oct 8, 1943;
Las Vegas Oct 30, 1943; assigned to 91BG at Bassingbourn, but enroute UK crash landed at Cliffory, Northern Ireland Dec 9, 1943;
WO May 20, 1944. (FORTLOG)

[Duggy009]

The bottom two are in Florida, not Ireland

[Mark Allen M]

Correct! Yet ultimately crashed in Ireland according to J Baugher.

[Chris Brame]

Yeah, Dave Gansz and I (among others) were going over that on the Aero Vintage forum - let's just say Fortlog has some errors and we'll leave it at that.

[JohnTerrell]

A family member pointed me to this St. Paul "Star Tribune" article a while back, from November 23, 1944, of a Sioux City-based B-17 that came down in northern Minnesota, a whole five hours after its crew had all bailed out while on a training flight. I was able to find that the aircraft was B-17F 42-3377.

https://startribune.newspapers.com/clip ... Z5mNmX0304
https://startribune.newspapers.com/clip ... 98pXQdBOkk

(I especially like the insert about the U of M inventor of the B-17's autopilot, which even lists his personal address at the time - certainly a different time period!)

[Chris Brame]

Thanks for that story - wonder if there's anything left at that crash site? Let me quote this over at the Wreckchasing board and find out.

[Mark Allen M]

Come on Chris!!! If anyone can find the true history on all these old stateside B-17 bust-ups, it's you! lol