8AAF B-17 "Hultcher's (or Hulcher's)Vultures"
 

Can anybody ID this B-17: Group, Squadron, Base, F or G Model, Missions, etc. Thanks for any help. Family crewmember involved.

Re: 8AAF B-17 "Hultcher's (or Hulcher's)Vultures"
 

From: Vintage Aircraft Nose Art by Gary M. Valant

Re: 8AAF B-17 "Hultcher's (or Hulcher's)Vultures"
 

B - 17 G # 42 - 39845 B " Hulcher's Vulchers "
388th BG , 563d Sq.
Shot Down 5/28/44
Pilot - 2Lt. Marquis Fjelsted
2 Evaded 8 POW
MACR # 5317
Book: The 388th At War by Edward Huntzinger
shows some Missions Flown and that they Flew
several different B - 17s. Looks like they started
Missions around 5/1/44.
Mission Report states they were hit by Flak just after
Bombs away - Lost #3 and #4 Engines and Crash landed
near Kassel.
www.388thbg.org
388th BG Historian: Dick Henggler - rlhengg@comcast.net
Mike

Re: 8AAF B-17 "Hultcher's (or Hulcher's)Vultures"
 

8AAFCW

According to the German LGK-report # 2040, this B-17 came down in the town limits of Wiera near the town Treysa, which is located about 57 km SSW of Kassel, Germany. All crew-members survived the landing and the pilot, 2nd Lt. Marquis A. Fjelsted along with the Navigator , 2nd Lt. Herbert J. Honlihan evaded capture and the rest of the crew went POW.

The story is fine, but there is no indication of a E&E-report of the Lt's Fjelsted and Honlihan in the "Heavy Bombers" book's of Andrews and Adams.

It must have been a damn long way in May 1944 from Treysa, crossing a large part of Germany to a LUX, Belgium or French place, to be hosted by a resistance group, in order to forward them home.

If they made it from Treysa to France in May 1944, best congratulations !.

Best regards !

Horst Weber

Re: 8AAF B-17 "Hultcher's (or Hulcher's)Vultures"
 

Thanks to all who replied. My cousin was a waist gunner on this ship. However, he did his 25 and was rotated home to become a gunnery instructor as a Tech Sgt and then a 2nd Lt, armament officer. No ship from his base had done 25 at the time. He was there when the first ship to do 25 came back to the field and morale soared. So he wasn't with the ship when she went down. He was posted to a B-29 base (Wendover Field) as a squadron armament officer to train for the 20th AAF, but luckily the war in Japan ended. I'm doing a Revell-Monogram 1/48 B-17G and want to do Hulcher's Vultures.
Thanks again.

Re: 8AAF B-17 "Hultcher's (or Hulcher's)Vultures"
 

Was he on the Hulcher Crew?
There is a Hulcher Crew Photo taken after
25th Mission in the Book - Page 96
Mike

Re: 8AAF B-17 "Hultcher's (or Hulcher's)Vultures"
 

I think he was on the first Hulcher crew that did its first 25. He told me his pilot's name was Hulcher. But he also flew on a few other ships. He had 25 or 26 total and was rotated home. One mission on another ship he was on was credited for a mission when they flew to the target, but was obscured by cloud and weather so they did a 180 and came home.

Re: 8AAF B-17 "Hultcher's (or Hulcher's)Vultures"
 

My uncle was the radio gunner on this aircraft when it was shot down by flak over Germany on May 28, 1944. I have information on the mission, crew and their ordeal if anyone wants further information. All the crew members were captured and survived the war. Only one member is still alive as of this date.

Re: 8AAF B-17 "Hultcher's (or Hulcher's)Vultures"
 

Hello from Germany, there is an older german book included the complete Story of this and a Crew Foto. Pilot M.G. Fjelsted - Crew of ten was captured - first 4 Men than 6 Men. Navigator Joseph Houlihan and his Wife Betty from Kentucky was at the 24 August 1989 at the Crashplace - 500 m from Wiera near Treysa. Over Kassel, Frankfurt, Wetzlar, Nürnberg and München - liberated at 8 May 1945.

Greetings peglar

Re: 8AAF B-17 "Hultcher's (or Hulcher's)Vultures"
 

The full story of that mission, and the loss of "Hulchers Vultures" is my book "Mission 376, battle over the Reich, 28 May 1944". It is still available, among others, through amazon.com
In it are photos of the belly landed aircraft, the crew, the nose art and, surprisingly enough, the German soldier who captured most of the crew.
Somewhere in my files I have a crewphoto of the original crew of Lt Hulcher as well.
Kind regards,
Ivo de Jong