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B-17 (42-32097) 'Slipstream' Crash Marker -99th Bomber Group

<< Back to Bystrovany - Bystrice River (West)

Details:

About 350 meters west of the crash memorial alongside the southside of the river.

Marker

A concrete marker with an inscribed plaque. 

The memorial marks the location of the crash of B-17 (42-32097) 'Slipstream' of the 347th Bomber Squadron, 99th Bomber Group, 15th Air Force; a memorial nearby provides more information (See site Bystrovany - Bystrice River (East ). On December 18, 1944 the 15th Air Force targeted for the second day in a row the Odental Refineries. Planes of the 99th Bomber Group flew from the Tortella Air Base in Italy to the target.  After the mission B-17 (42-32097) 'Slipstream' piloted by 2LT Sherwood Porter was shot down; three of the crew were taken as POWs; 7 were killed in action. The crew included:

Pilot: 2LT Sherwood Porter Ruster POW 
Co-Pilot:  2LT Robert A. Brown KIA 
Navigator: 2LT Ward S. Randolph POW 
Bombadier: SGT Vincent C. Manzella KIA 
Engineer/Top Turret: SGT Wilbur T. Massey POW 
Radio Operator: S/SGT Walter G. Person KIA 
Bottom Turret: SGT Byron C. Anton KIA 
Waist Gunner: SGT Roland D. Bergman KIA 
Waist Gunner: SGT Edward E. Davis KIA 
TAil Gunner: SGT Robert E. Lary KIA 

Several planes from the December 17 mission were shot down and memorials are located to them at other locations:

Site Olomouc-Neredin, Memorial: B-24 (42-52025) 'Arsenic and Lace Crash Memorial -461th Bomber Group

Site Palacov Memorial: B-24 (42-50953) "The Flying Finger" Crash Memorial -461st Bomber Group.

Site Troubky Hbitov (Cemetery) Memorial: B-24 (44-41046) Crash Memorial -461st Bomber Group
 

In Slovakia: 
Site Trencianske-Teplice  Memorial: B-24 Tenmenbak (42-51324) Crash Memorial -461st Bomber Group
 
Sources:
www.Mapy.com
www. Vets.cz
www.leteckabadatelna.cz
 

Monument Text:

The text on the plaque is in Czech and reads:

 

Nesmíme zapomenout!


Dne 18.12.1944 poblí tohoto místa zahynulo
7 amerických letc nmci sesteleného bombardéru
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Svaz bombardér se
vracel na základnu v jiní Itálii z operaního letu, kde
v Horním Slezsku bombardoval rafinerie na výrobu
syntetického benzínu.
Za svazem se nechránn opooval, pravdpodobn
byl pokozen palbou "flak" chránících rafinérie.
Letoun byl souástí 99 skupiny, 347 perut 15 letecké
armády, jeho kapitánem byl Sherwood P. Ruster. Pi
vzduném souboji sestelili palubní letci 3 nmecké
stíhaky Focke Wulf 190. lo o jednu z velkých
leteckých bitev nad Olomoucí.

 

Translation:

We must not forget!


On December 18, 1944, 7 American pilots died near this place in a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber shot down by the Germans. The bomber squadron was returning to a base in southern Italy from an operational flight, where it bombed refineries for the production of synthetic gasoline in Upper Silesia.
It lagged behind the squadron unprotected, probably damaged by flak fire protecting the refineries.
The aircraft was part of the 99th Bomber Group, 347th Squadron of the 15th Air Army, its captain was Sherwood P. Ruster. During the air battle, the pilots on board shot down 3 German Focke Wulf 190 fighters. It was one of the great air battles over Olomouc.

Commemorates:

Units:

15th Air Force

347th Bomber Squadron, 99th Bomber Group, Heavy

99th Bomber Group

Wars:

WWII

Other images :