The Boeing B-17G-20-BO Flying Fortress bomber (its own name – Miss Donna Mae II), fell under a 1000-pound (453.6 kg) bomb from another B-17 bomber in a air raid on Berlin. Friendly Bombs broke the left horizontal stabilizer, the plane moved into uncontrolled rotation, at an altitude of 4 km due to overloads, its wings broke off and it crashed to the ground. The whole crew died.
This is the first photo from the series of 4 pictures – the bombs are flying to the whole stabilizer of the doomed aircraft.
The plane from which the photo was taken is also B-17 (Lockheed-Vega B-17G-30-VE serial number 42-97791, name “Trudy”). Both planes are from 332nd Bomb Squadron, 94th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force.
List of crew members of the deceased B-17 bomber:
1st Lt. Marion U. Reid – commander;
2nd Lt. Lewis T. Carter – co-pilot;
2nd Lt. Roger F. Tessier – navigator;
2nd Lt. Stanley D. Duffield – scorer;
T/Sgt. Lee Z. Kieffer – engineer / shooter of the upper machine gun;
T/Sgt. John F. Boone – radio;
T/Sgt. John B. Davis is the radar operator;
S/Sgt. Ludwig H. Huth is the shooter of a ball machine gun;
S/Sgt. Richard E. Brennan – starboard gunner;
S/Sgt. James A. Kalahar is a machine gunner;
S/Sgt. Willard M. Christensen – tail shooter.
Location: Germany, Berlin
Date: May 19, 1944