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What happened to the B-17 bomber 42-3347 Charlene in WW2

David Banks

I am an individual author re writing mission 115 Schweinfurt 14/10/43 as I'm writing the truth their are conflicting reports of the said aircraftv42-3347 where it says it crashed to unbelievably a further 100 miles in it's damaged condition. So could you possibly tell me exactly where it did crash and who holds the records and can I have a copy to go in the book for the proof please.to validate my sincerely here is my email revealling information about me as well and my wall of testimonials
Yours sincerely
David Banks

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  • 0

    David,

    The idea that a B-17 could fly without a crew for a considerable distance is not as far-fetched as it seems.  The B-17, along with its stablemate, the B-24 Liberator to a limited extent, were designed to be fundamentally stable aircraft.  That means they could maintain level flight without input from the controls.  One example I can point to is in Edward Jablonski’s Flying Fortress (Doubleday, 1965, pp. 162-167).  On a 25 November 1944 mission, a Fortress with one engine and abandoned by its crew landed—with landing gear down—- near British positions in Belgium.

    Then there is the well-known story of the Lady Be Good (B-24D 41-24301) that flew a mission against Naples, Italy on 4 April 1943.  Upon returning to its base in Benghazi, Libya, the crew flew past the airfield and continued south into the Libyan desert.  When fuel began to run low, the crew abandoned the aircraft together.  The aircraft flew a further 16 miles south until fuel exhaustion brought the plane down.  The aircraft was fairly intact when found in 1958, but crew remains were not found until two years later.

    I hope you find this information useful.  Good luck with your book.

    A. J.

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  • 0

    David,

    The idea that a B-17 could fly without a crew for a considerable distance is not as far-fetched as it seems.  The B-17, along with its stablemate, the B-24 Liberator to a limited extent, were designed to be fundamentally stable aircraft.  That means they could maintain level flight without input from the controls.  One example I can point to is in Edward Jablonski’s Flying Fortress (Doubleday, 1965, pp. 162-167).  On a 25 November 1944 mission, a Fortress with one engine and abandoned by its crew landed—with landing gear down—- near British positions in Belgium.

    Then there is the well-known story of the Lady Be Good (B-24D 41-24301) that flew a mission against Naples, Italy on 4 April 1943.  Upon returning to its base in Benghazi, Libya, the crew flew past the airfield and continued south into the Libyan desert.  When fuel began to run low, the crew abandoned the aircraft together.  The aircraft flew a further 16 miles south until fuel exhaustion brought the plane down.  The aircraft was fairly intact when found in 1958, but crew remains were not found until two years later.

    I hope you find this information useful.  Good luck with your book.

    A. J.

Children
  • 0 in reply to Alex Daverede

    Hi AJ thank you for this but I find it hard to believe a damaged B-17 can fly low and crash land in a field way away from Norfolk and how can Livingston sound like Rowlington. I believe that 42 3347 crash landed at bovington out of fuel and the reports are in the finished book which isn't on sale at Amazon as it's a proper collectors book on quality paper something Amazon can't do. What makes the other researcher incredible how can a damaged B-17 fly in the dark hoping over rooftops and electrical pylons to come down in a field undamaged when it was damaged and yet when question what was the number he couldn't give it and it's painted on the tail of each A/c the police don't know not does lapwort yet this guy thinks it's Charlene.

  • 0 in reply to Alex Daverede

    Hi Alex, we have now conclusive evidence of a 1943 B17F crash landing in Rowington Warwickshire on the 14th /15th October  43 after the crew bailed out, the pilot has mentioned the bail out in documents I have,,the waist gunner who was still alive at the time I contacted him ,mentioned they all bailed out ,so 42-3347 couldn't have crash landed at Bovingdon (airfield!) out of gas like it was listed  ..I have other  records that support  the crew bailed. out. I think the confusion with this aircraft was a simple spelling mistake  Rowington and Bovingdon ,and there are many that I have encountered over the years of research..

    This has been a very interesting account of a B17F with lots of controversy along the way but I feel finally we have the answers and recent evidence I've been looking for.on this aircraft.

    regards

    Steve