384th Bombardment Group (Heavy) in World War II

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243.jpg 2428917836_4eaa14f49c_oThumbnailsMichael POPPY Novak Tail gunner 545 Sq 384 BG2428917836_4eaa14f49c_oThumbnailsMichael POPPY Novak Tail gunner 545 Sq 384 BG2428917836_4eaa14f49c_oThumbnailsMichael POPPY Novak Tail gunner 545 Sq 384 BG2428917836_4eaa14f49c_oThumbnailsMichael POPPY Novak Tail gunner 545 Sq 384 BG2428917836_4eaa14f49c_oThumbnailsMichael POPPY Novak Tail gunner 545 Sq 384 BG2428917836_4eaa14f49c_oThumbnailsMichael POPPY Novak Tail gunner 545 Sq 384 BG2428917836_4eaa14f49c_oThumbnailsMichael POPPY Novak Tail gunner 545 Sq 384 BG

Battle damage sustained on 30 January 1944 mission to Braunschweig (Industry).

Aircraft: B-17G 545th BS 42-31415 JD*R Ham on Rye

Fioretti (pilot) jettisoned bombs at some point and turned back at the IP b/c ship was on fire due to e/a attacks and all of the enlisted men except top turret gunner, due to a misunderstanding between the radio operator and bombardier after ship caught fire, bailed out at the IP; c/l base; 1st Lt. Edward Fioretti (P) and 2nd Lt. Scott Briley (CP) both awarded Silver Stars, Owens p. 199; "Ham-On-Rye made it back to GU with only five of its crew, charred by fire and with only one elevator control cable left; no brakes; chin turret shot up; tail assembly a sieve; instruments were haywire; tire blew out on landing. Initial fighter attack hit Fioretti in the thigh so 2nd Lt. Scott Briley took over (both received Silver Stars for their actions that followed). In top turret, TSgt Walter Stuhl was blinded by glass fragment when his turret was hit by an FW 190. Fire broke out in the pilot’s compartment, and then in the radio room and nose. Bombs were dropped, fires extinguished, and first aid given to bombardier by pilot. During the fires, the radio operator came in to the bomb bay where the bombardier was working and made a downward gesture. Bombardier thought he was asking if bombardier needed help, so he nodded yes. What the radio operator (TSgt. Joseph Sylvia, badly wounded in the face) apparently was asking was if they should bail out. The enlisted men, except Stuhl, jumped. Fioretti, Lt. Samuel Merlo (navigator), and Lt. Leonard Griffith (bombardier) were wounded." As Briefed

Source: Robert Bletscher, 2011.

Bletscher: "I had sent someone to copy the records, but unfortunately they were too big to be copied on a regular scanner. The Agency Chief at the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell AFB, in Alabama, decided that they were records that should be preserved, and as a result had his department take care of them."

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