[Edward]

I was initially perplexed that the loss of the B-17 piloted by 1st Lt. Bedford Russell was not listed in HMAW vol. 3.

A historian more knowledgeable than I informed me that the bomber was unassigned and being ferried to a U.S. B-17 base when it was shot down c. 3 January 1943.

B-17F "Nameless"
1st Lt. Bedford E. Russell - Pilot
2nd Lt. Donald M. Bryan - Co-Pilot
2nd Lt. Earle S. Millichamp - Navigator
2nd Lt. Rodman D. Burley - Bombardier
+ enlisted flight crew

Below is a description of the shootdown of the B-17 by Lt. Millichamp.

"Florida Pilot [Navigator] Tells of Escape From Italian Sub"
By Merrill Mueller (Newsweek's North Africa Correspondent)
The Miami News (Miami, Florida)
Sunday, February 21, 1943.
New York, Feb. 20 - Last Dec. 19 the Flying Fortress Nameless took off from a field somewhere in America and followed the compass course to war set by her navigator, Second Lieut. Earle Millichamp, 24 of Lake Wales, Fla. Within 25 days the Nameless was destroyed over enemy lines, her crew captured, and then in an almost unbelievable air-force saga, most of here officers were rescued from a sinking Italian submarine in mid-Mediterranean.

Earle Millicamp told me the story: "We'd just started for our base after a raid when Messerschmidts jumped us. It was dusk, and we had difficulty keeping in formation after the enemy's second attack had damaged Nameless. As the rest of the formation another Messerchmidt shot out one engine and the aileron and ripped up the wing so we crash landed. We all piled out and set the plane afire. I helped the bombardier break up and throw the pieces of the Norden bomb sight for miles around the desert.

"Suddenly 50 Italians supported by a light tank appeared and made us prisoners. We were driven immediately to Gabes where we were fed at one of the enemy's largest air bases. We continued to Tripoli, where we underwent a couple of terrific air raids. Those RAF boys surely lay it on. That port was a mess.

On the afternoon of Jan. 13 we were rushed to an Italian liner, but it sailed without us. At dusk, as another heavy air raid started, we were pushed into a 12-year old 600 ton submarine and were told that we were being taken to Taranto and to be prepared for an uncomfortable voyage which would last five days. . . . "