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

[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) :

[CENTURION]

During the American 5-Jan-'44 mission against Bordeaux, a total of 11 B17 were lost (4 B17 of the 94th BG, 5 B17 of the 96th BG, 1 B17 of the 388th BG and finally 1 B17 of the 447th BG). Among these, at least 10 were probably shot down by German fighters. Therefore I think there should be more claims.

Best regards

Marco