B-17f--#42-30203 Shot Down 6 Sept 1943

[kdkutt]

on 6 September 1943, B-17f #42-30203 Was Shot Down Near Courday, France. The Aircraft Was First Hit By Flack Comming Back From Stuttgart, Germany. They Did Not Drop Their Bombs On Stuttgart, The Target Was Covered By Clouds And Smoke. They Instead Bombed A Target Of Oppertunity At Strousburg. In Route Home, No. 2 Engine Was Damaged By Either Flack, Or Fire From German Fighters, And Windmilled. There Was Also A Big Hole In The Right Wing, Just Missing The Tokio Tanks. The Propeller Snapped Off And Damaged The Rear Stabilizer. Lt Roy Mohr Was The Pilot, He Tried To Keep Up With The Rest Of The Group, But Fell Behind. German Fighters Attacked The Group. One By One B-17's Were Shot Down. The Tailgunner Was Wounded Badly, And The Aircraft Was Shot Up. I Am Trying To Find Out If Possible, What German Pilot Took Claim For The Downing Of This B-17, And Where Did The Aircraft Crash. All Crewmembers Bailed Out Of The Crippled Aircraft. 6 Survived, 3 Escaped With The Help Of The French Resistance, And 3 Were Pow's. But 4 Never Came Home. I Have Tried To Get A Ku Report From The Archives In Maryland, But They Say There Isn't One For This Plane. OUT OF 21 AIRCRAFT THAT LEFT KNETTISHALL, ENGLAND, STATION #136- 388TH BOMB GROUP,(SQUARE H), ONLY 10 RETURNED. THE GROUP LOST 11 B-17'S ON THIS DAY.If Anyone Has Any Possible Information About This Incident, Please Email Me At kdkutt@aol.com Thank You... Keith

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Linking the downing of a B-17 to a given fighter claim is usually difficult as German claims are usually more than real losses and bombers may fall far away from the place of the actual attack (and claim).

I have 65 German claims for B-17 this day. 33 are on the way to target or in the target area, so irrelevant for your case.

On the way back over France, the bombers were attacked by Bf109s and Fw190s of JG 2, JG 26, SKG 10 (fighter bomber unit) and NAG 13 (recon unit using Bf109s). They scored 32 claims from 12h10 to 16h22 (maybe a typo for this one).

I can send you the claim list if you don't have them.

By the way the target of opportunity was not Strousburg, but Strasbourg, along the Rhine and currently in France but at the time annexated with Alsace in 1940 by Germany. The town was heavily bombed, so was probably used as an opportunity target by whole groups rather than isolated bombers. From memory 185 people were killed here but I will confirm it from my papers if you want.

Real B-17 losses for the day were 45 lost and 10 damaged beyong repair (the last number including crashes in UK), to all causes.

[Stephane Muret]

Hi,

"Mighthy Eighth Combat Chronology" gives Goudray (or Coudray) for crash place.

Hope this could helps.

Stéphane Muret

[NUPPOL]

MACR 3126 for B-17 42-30203 lost 43/09/06 1943 September 6 Pilot Mohr