05/01/1944 b-17 shot down Bordeaux, France info on Luftwaffe claims

[Lilbutch]

My father was shot down on January 5th, 1944 - b-17 from 410th of the 94th bomb group. Plane called li'l butch. He evaded capture with help from the French. My father passed away in April and I was doing some research my family.

[yaneck]

What's you father name?
I can have a look about it.

[Lilbutch]

Fathers name -Lt. Hugh Shields.
The area they were shot down was Cissac-Medoc, France.

Curious about fighters credited with shooting down b-17. There were multiple fighters engaged when they went down.

[gilles collaveri]

google "Li'l Butch" gives a picture with:

41-9085 "Li'l Butch" Photo date unknown Also known by the name "Jarrin' Jenny" The only B-17E to serve with the 447th, also flew with the 303rd, 92nd, and 97th. Declared war-weary, written off and salvaged in England during July, 1945"

so there was another one with the same name ?

GC

[Lilbutch]

There must have been. I do believe there is a reference to "l'il butch- 2" that I have seen. Funny, also after my fathers plane went down, someone wrote about being confused by seeing "l'il butch" at an airfield. There was also a fighter with the name "l'il butch" in the ETO.

His was a b-17 g. I have serial # at home. He was in the 410th. of the 94th BG. The plane blew up just after my father bailed out only one other survivor got out ahead of him.

Do you now the Luftwaffe fighter group designation for Merignac during that time?

[FrankieS]

MACR 1891 serial 42-30112 Lil Butch
94BG 410BS
callsign GL-Z
Shot down by german fighters. 7 KIA; 1 POW; 2 EVD 1891
Pilot 2nd lt Allan C. Powell
2nd lt. Robert O. Anderson (EVADED)
sgt. Donald N. Boyer
sgt. Wesley D. Geist
sgt. Goble Miracle
2nd lt. Thomas H. Hudson
2nd lt Hugh C. Shields (EVADED)
sgt. Delmar C. Broyles
s/sgt. Alton M. Brown
s/sgt Roland C. Sims

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi,

The only relevant Luftwaffe victory claims for B-17s that I could find were:

- B-17 shot down near Aubigné, north of Rennes, at 12:00 by the 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 2, flying FW 190s (370 km from Bordeaux)

- B-17 shot down shot down at Lac Hourtin at 11:07 by the 3. Staffel of Zerstörergeschwader 1, flying Ju 88s (50 km from Bordeaux)

So it seems that your father's aircraft was downed by 3./Z.G. 1.

Cheers,
Andrew A.

Air War Publications - www.airwarpublications.com

[Chris Goss]

I believe that Ofw Kurt Gaebler of 3/ZG 1 got 'Lucky Lady' of 337 BS-the German crew said it crashed on the Lac Hourtin whilst the American crew say they ditched on or by a lake

[Lilbutch]

I appreciate the assistance. It is a very impressive forum. Just to add to the mystery. I don't believe that it was the b-17 at lac hourtin. (maybe). But the plane definitely exploded prior to hitting the ground it did not ditch. Just as my father bailed. He landed in a farmers field where there were some ground troops. They shot at and pursued him. He hid in bushes til nightfall then walked northwest (he figured get away from coast where armament stations were). He ended up at the town of cissac-medoc. So it would be a pretty hefty walk at night 40km - could be. There was another b-17 shoot down nearby - my father described seeing it pull a full loop while he was on the ground.

Lastly there is a slight error in the report on "l'il butch" above. There were 8 KIA and 2 evaded - we came across this before - all the remains of the the KIA are accounted for. There were no POW's.

[udf_00]

Some info in french here :

http://francecrashes39-45.net/rech_avion.php

Recherche par Avion :

Date (jj/mm/aaaa) :
05/01/1944

Département :
Gironde

Type d'avion :
B-17 Fortress

Matricule :
Lieu du crash :
Macr (USA) :