5 April 1945 B-17 near Rochefort (Belgium)

[Luc Vervoort]

Hi,


The mission report for 5 April 1945 of 353rd Fighter group mentions :

Red tailed B17 (LG-V) made sweet wheels-down landing in corn field near Rochefort 1230 hrs. Personnel near A/C, apparently okay and dinghy spread on left wing.

Is any additional information regarding this aircraft and crew available ?

Many thanks in advance.

Best regards

Luc

[Leendert]

Luc,

Squadron Code "LG" points to 322nd BS/91st BG.
However, no mission recorded for that BS on 5 April 1945...See http://www.91stbombgroup.com/Dailies/322nd1945.html

Latest LG-V was 44-8852 according Dave Osborne's Fortlog. A #852 appears in some missions after 5 April, so a/c could perhaps take off again?

Please note there was a 15 April 1945 mission to Rochefort, France (Gironde River), but here no losses either.

Groet, Leendert

[Luc Vervoort]

Leendert,


Thanks for the reply.


The date of 5 April 1945 is mentioned in two different documents of 353 FG. It is of course possible that one document was used as source for the second one.


On the mission of 5/04/1945 353 FG made L/F in north of Oostende en L/F out at Schouwen, so it is doubtful that an aircraft would be spotted as crashed at Rochefort (France).


A red tail was used by aircraft of 1st Combat Wing. It happens that squadrons used aircraft from another squadron. It is a pity that the code on the tail was not noted/reported, so that we could be certain of the bomber group in question.


Best regards, m vr gr


Luc