Seeking information on 473rd Bomber Group 773rd Squadron

Question

Looking for information on the fate of this aircraft and crew. 
 463rd Bombardment Group 773rd Squadron B-17G Serial number 
 42-31775. I found a translated article: 
 (by Svatopluk Vacul&iacute;k, published LETECTV&Iacute; A KOSMONAUTIKA magazine, no. 7/2006) 
 I&rsquo;m trying to find out who the author was and how he got so much information on the last mission of this plane.

DanielMcKone · Answer

Hello, 
 it is likely he had access to Missing Aircrew Report (MACR) 6566. I have included some of it below, which can be found on FOLD3. 
 Also, if you scroll down on this linked site, you&rsquo;ll find a YouTube video, possibly related to the crash, as well as some discussion (though dated) that may be of interest. 
 https://rascal2.discussion.community/post/macr-1616936 
 Dan

Textual Reference Branch, Archives II · Answer

whilesl673 
 Thank you for posting your question to History Hub! 
 We began our search in the series Missing Air Crew Reports within the Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General (Record Group 92). Utilizing the OCR capabilities on Fold3, we were able to locate the Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) for the B-17G with the serial number 42-31775. MACR 6566 is digitized and available on the National Archives Catalog here: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/91002984 . The crew, who were with the 773rd Bomb Squadron of the 463rd Bomb Group, were shot down on a bombing mission over Blechhammer, Germany. The members of the crew all appear to be marked as Killed in Action (KIA). 
 
 Additional information about the mission may be located in the series World War II Combat Operations Reports, 1941&ndash;1946 (entry NM-6 7-A) within the Records of the Army Air Forces (Record Group 18). This series consists of mission reports, operations and field orders, statistical summaries, and narrative and intelligence reports of Army Air Forces combat units during World War II. We were unable to locate records for the 773rd Bomb Squadron but located records for the 463rd Bomb Group. Specifically, we located a mission report for the date located on MACR 6566: 463rd Bomb Group: Mission Report July 7, 1944 . 
 
 We will be happy to make the records and their finding aids available to you or your representative in the Textual Research Room (Room 2000) here at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland. Please visit our website for information about visiting the National Archives in College Park, MD , including how to schedule a research visit. 
 
 Should you want more information on the crew, we recommend requesting the Individual Deceased Personnel Files, or IDPF, for the crew members listed in MACR 6566. Individual Deceased Personnel Files (IDPF) may have additional information about the circumstances of his death and burial. These files were NOT affected by the 1973 fire. Individual Deceased Personnel Files (IDPF) from 1940-1976 for U.S. Army personnel with surnames that begin with A-L are in the custody of the National Archives at St. Louis. Surnames M-Z are in the legal custody of the Department of the Army. Requests may be submitted via email to: usarmy.knox.hrc.mbx.foia@army.mil or mailed to: Department of the Army, US Army Human Resources Command, ATTN: AHRC-FOIA, 1600 Spearhead Division Avenue, Department 107, Fort Knox KY 40122. Please include the following information in your request: 
 1. State that you are requesting access to the file under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 2. Provide the full name of the individual, their date of death, and service number if available. 3. State your willingness to pay applicable fees. 
 
 We invite you to continue the conversation with community members on History Hub, but should you have follow up questions for the staff at Archives II, please email us at archives2reference@nara.gov so that we can assist you further. We hope this assists you with your research! Sincerely, Textual Reference Archives II Branch (RR2RR) [RR2RR 25-14013 -LN]

Seeking information on 473rd Bomber Group 773rd Squadron

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