B-17 Forced landing in Velzeke (Belgium)
 

Hello to all,
I am a junior member on "12 O'clock high!" and I am looking for infomation about:

A B-17 that made a belly landing in the vicinity of Velzeke (near the city of Zottegem) on 13 november 1944.
Five crewmembers bailed out and the pilot and his navigator made a forced landing in a pasture. One of the crewmembers was Ooren BROWN.
I have seen some indistinct photos of the plane..but they were not very readable.
However on the tailgate the two last numbers are . . . 24 , underneath there is the letter "F".
On the fuselage just behind the "star", a letter "G" is clearly visible. I'm interested in the Operation of that day, the squadron & the names of the crewmembers or any information about the warplane.
Thank you very much and greetings from Belgium

Re: B-17 Forced landing in Velzeke (Belgium)
 

RedCap, please pay attention to which forum you are posting in. This belongs in the "Allied" group where I will move it.

Re: B-17 Forced landing in Velzeke (Belgium)
 

Good evening RedCap !

There were no heavy-bomber missions on this November 13th, 1944 by USAAF. If the date is correct, it must have been a prior of this date landed B-17 under distress circumstances in Belgium. The a/c was probably repaired or fixed and had this day a test flight or it's ferry flight back to England. Then the second distress happened. A photo of the a/c would be helpful for identification matters. My (expected) guess of the event must not be the real one, but under the described circumstances you will not easily find any notes of the event in regular U.S. archives.

Best wishes !

Horst Weber

Re: B-17 Forced landing in Velzeke (Belgium)
 

Hello !

That region already liberated at that date.
And there is no fitting USAAF accident report.

These are the available accident reports for B-17
for Belgium spanning October 1944 to September 1945

441007 41-24480 87TpS 27ATG 162 Florennes/A-78
450105 44-8637 602BS 398BG 131 Melsbroek/B-58
450110 42-29888 324BS 91BG 121 Evere/B-58
450301 42-38035 550BS 385BG 155 Ostend/ nr
450301 43-38273 550BS 385BG 155 Ostend/ nr
450303 43-38675 327BS 92BG 109 Charleroi/ nr
450303 44-6584 327BS 92BG 109 Charleroi/ nr
450328 42-97934 750BS 457BG 130
450328 43-39087 749BS 457BG 130
450406 42-107204 335BS 95BG 119 Foret de Solgars
441126 44-6160 413BS 96BG 138 Chievres/A-84
450804 44-8842 366BS 305BG St Trond (A-92)/BEL St Trond (A-92)
450810 44-8649 365BS 305BG St Trond (A-92)/BEL St Trond (A-92)
450922 44-8477 366BS 305BG A92 Montenaeken


bye,
FrankieS

B-17 Forced landing in Velzeke (Belgium)
 

Hi RedCap,

B17G 43-38824 of 94 BG is possibly the plane you're looking for. The pilot was 1Lt. Edgar R.Prigmore. The crashdate was 9 or 10/11/1944.

Best regards from another part of Belgium

Luc

Re: B-17 Forced landing in Velzeke (Belgium)
 

This sounds good !

Best regards !

Horst Weber

Re: B-17 Forced landing in Velzeke (Belgium)
 

Hello John,Horst,FrankieS & Luc,
It is amazing the amount of information and help that you all posted.
It is correct that the region of Zottegem was 'liberated' on 1944 september the 03th. I'll try to contact a whitness and hope to confirm the real crashdate (9 or 10/11/1944). An old man told me that a few years ago he met one of the crewmembers :Ooren BROWN .Further on, he assured me that the warplane never returned to the USA or GB, but it was dismantled in the pasture were it made the belly landing!! I hope to obtain more info about the crewmembers and their mission.
For now have a great time and many thanks to you all
redcap50

Re: B-17 Forced landing in Velzeke (Belgium)
 

Redcap,

Lt Edgar R. Prigmore Jr. (1923-1996) was from Mississippi.

The other mentioned crew member may be identified as (Sgt) Oren C. Brown from Tennessee (1923-1986).

The 94th BG website says 10 Nov 1944 as date of crash landing. B-17 43-38824 was assigned to 410th BS according website.
94th BG bombed an airfield at Wiesbaden, Germany that day.

The B-17 was hit by flak over the target and co-pilot 1st Lt Jack W. Malahy (1924-1997, Illinois) got wounded. The landing went without further injuries and Malahy could be hospitalized in Brussels.

Beste groet,

Leendert

Re: B-17 Forced landing in Velzeke (Belgium)
 

Leendert,
I'm most greatfull for your information !

Due to the effort of several members on "12 O'Clock High", I'ill be able to inform the last whitnesses about the details of the crash in Velzeke.
Greetings from Belgium
redcap50

Re: B-17 Forced landing in Velzeke (Belgium)
 

Hello ,

The aircraft arrived in the UK on october 10 1944.

Regards
Alain57