TRAGIC accident over Berlin on 19 May 1944 | B-17 s/n 42-31540 "Miss Donna Mae"
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- Опубликовано: 18 май 2024
- B-17 „Miss Donna Mae“ , 331st Bomb Squadron, 94th Bomb Group went lost, when it was hit by a 1000 lbs bomb over Berlin, Germany on 19 May 1944.
The B-17 „Miss Donna Mae“ came under the B-17 „Trudy“ s/n 42-97791, 332nd Bomb Squadron, same Bomb Group, while on the bomb run over Berlin. One of 1,000lb. bombs tore the left horizontal stabilizer off and the B-17 went down.
Trapped the crew inside and no one escaped.
The crew of „Miss Donna Mae“ (s/n 42-31540) on its final mission - 19 May 1944:
1Lt. Marion U. Reid - Pilot (KIA)
2Lt. Lewis T. Carter - Copilot (KIA)
2Lt. Roger F. Tessier - Navigator (KIA)
2Lt. Stanley D. Duffield - Bombardier (KIA)
T/Sgt. Lee Z. Kieffer - Engineer/Top Turret Gunner (KIA)
SSgt. John F. Boone - Radio Operator (KIA)
T/Sgt. John B. Davis - Photographer (KIA)
S/Sgt. Ludwig H. Huth - Ball Turret Gunner (KIA)
S/Sgt. Richard E. Brennan - Right Waist Gunner (KIA)
S/Sgt. James A. Kalahar - Left Waist Gunner (KIA)
S/Sgt. Willard M. Christensen - Tail Gunner (KIA)
Coordinates Overlay:
52°30'56.5"N 13°24'15.2"E
Coordinates Prisoner of War Cemetery Däberitz-Elsgrund:
52°32'09.6"N 13°01'24.8"E
„Miss Donna Mae“ (s/n 42-31540) was actually „Miss Donna Mae" II in the 94th Bomb Group.
=== NOTE ===
I am not a native English Speaker. So, sorry my pronunciation isn’t accurate. You can active the subtitle with the transcript.
=== Sources ===
Pictures: US NARA
MACR 4946
=== Musik/Music ===
None
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I am interested to the history of the B-17 Flying Fortress since 2000 and doing research since 2017. It's still my hobby beside my full time job. I want to be accurate as possible with the information in my videos. However, if you find any mistakes or have additional information, please correct me and let me know :)
#b17, #b17bomber, #WarStories
My Uncle was S/Sgt Richard E. Brennan... one of the waist gunners on 'Miss Donna Mae'.
As I was the first male born into the family after WW2... I was immediately named 'Richard' in his honor.
I'm fortunate to have a copy the official notification to his family, dated March 11, 1946, detailing his burial by the Germans in Doberitz. His remains were later moved to the American cemetery at Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium.
We should never forget the ideals that these brave men were fighting for...
@richardbrennan8910 thanks for your comment and information. I am sorry for your family's loss and I really hope, I did it right in my video.
I have fixed your comment at the top of the comment section.
@B-17 Flying Fortress, I want to apologize for the jerks who’ve made critical and even unkind comments about your accent as a narrator. You are doing an excellent, committed, and thoughtful service. The fact that you’ve chosen to spend so much of your time in such a noble and informative pursuit touches my heart and soul. If you don’t mind me asking, what is your nationality?
Thank you very much for your kind words. It is in the nature of things that there are critics. I have to expect and live with that.
I know that my English should be better. But it's a slow learning process. But I don't teach English in the video. So if you want to learn English, don't watch my videos. ;)
But I won't let it stop me from telling and presenting the stories that need to be told.
I was born in China and live in Germany. I have to say that German is my native language. I can also speak Chinese.
I do so appreciate the way you honor these young men made of steel. Your work ensures they are not forgotten.
Wars are not fought by units which are pins on a map, but by flesh and blood young men. We must never lose sight of that.
Thank you for watching! There are young men inside of these planes. Should not be forgotten. I try my best to create informative videos about their story.
@@B17FlyingFortress And you do a marvelous job.
I am only sorry for the poor children and civilians on the ground which had suffered so much because of this terror bombings!
@@B17FlyingFortressI am only sorry for all the children and civilians who had to suffer all this crazy bombing terror! I still know old people who had still horrible tellings from this times. We will never forgive nor forget! Greetings from Linz Austria 🇦🇹 Europe!
Someone should telling their story as well. Do you want to do it? I never said "yeah! great to bomb the citys and civilians". I never did that and I never will doing that.
What about the 6.000.000 Jewish? Don't forget that as well.
It was the most terrible war in the history of mankind.
I am only telling history. Not judging.
Your research is first rate and truly well done
thank you for watching and kind of words :)
As an American living in Berlin, I do appreciate your efforts bringing faces and names to a tragic event. My father landed in Normandy and my German father in law was a tank officer on the eastern front. Happy we are living peacefully together. You have a new subscriber! There are so many individual stories concerning the war, and am thankful for people like you giving the history a voice. Greetings from Berlin, Jim, Dankeschön!
Thanks for sharing background information about yourself. I was born in China (no joke). And living in Germany and researching for American bomber and crew. 🤪 thanks for subscribing 🙂
thank you for all your hard work in honoring the lives of all the lost B17 crew members. I look forward to these videos
thank you for watching and kind of words. I have quite a lot of story to tell.
Thank you. 80 years later, its still a tragedy.
It was 80 years ago on March 16 that my father in law’s B-17 was shot down. Unbelievable.
@@karoleenascottage Did he survive?
Marvel at your research...well done!
thank you for watching :)
Thank you for another excellent video. Your passion for this is evident in your presentations and those of us who are family members of B-17 crew members appreciate you honoring them. Your accent adds a bit of nostalgia and the photo overlays and old documents are very impactful. 💔🙏
Well done, sir. Well done.👏
Thank you for what you have done.
I have seen the two "before and after" photos in books. In fact, the "after" photo of the lost stabilizer was in my high school history book. I always wondered what was "the rest of the story."
Thank you! :)
FANTASTIC!.... Always wondered about this plane in these photos thank you for going through all of the effort. I watch many Combat videos this video is easily amongst The BEST! 👌
Thanks for all your efforts in bringing this to us. I have seen that picture many times and wondered if the crew survived.
Thank you for watching! I glad information was interesting to you :)
I had seen those pictures before, but did not know any details. Thank you for researching so thoroughly.
Thanks for watching and for the praise. 😀
Thanks for all of your hard work. I know you have spent many hours reading charts, looking at stacks of photographs, and reading AAr's. I have seen this photograph many times and due to your hard work, everyone knows the story.
yes, spend a lot of time in researching and double checking information. I like it what I am doing for history. Thank you for your kind of words :)
I first saw those remarkable photos in Jablonski's Flying Fortress book in the 70's. I remember the caption said the plane crashed in the center of Berlin. With no survivors. I always wondered what plane it was and who were the crew. Excellent research and video!
Pleased to see the fantastic growth in viewers for this excellent channel.
Thank you. I am glad that even 80 years after the war, there is still interest in "What happened during the war".
I'll doing my best to tell and show interesting content. :)
So well done, the best of this type of research on the web!
thank you! I am trying my best and spend a lot of time for research. I like it :)
Excellent research.
Thank you very much for your feedback 🙂
A first rate presentation. A honourable tribute to such a tragic end for these fine men
Thank you very much 🙂
@@B17FlyingFortress I have subbed....
My Grandfather used to meet these airmen when he got back from Italy in 1944..they all used to head for the "Franklin" pub near Charing Cross Station in London. He said he would have some great times with these airmen (even though he himself was in the British infantry..The Rifle Brigade). Some would play on the piano and they would sing and get pissed together...
The next evening Grandad (John) would ask...
"..where is Harry..?"
Answer..
"..he never came back..."
Tragic...HOWEVER....
The party would start again....
My Grandfather would sometimes cry when he told me these stories as he could remember their faces and everything.
(I myself joined the British Army..having been told these stories.."warts 'an all")
thank you for sub and sharing your grandfather's story. I like this kind of story because, you will not find and read these in history book. You only can listen it from veterans.
Cheers to Harry, to all Harrys!
@@B17FlyingFortress ..and yes..Cheers to all the Harry's, Daves and the like...and those whose names are lost not just in history..but those who have no known grave
Tragic things happen on the ground, below of a bomber.
Have the unidentified crew members been identified or are they still listed as MIA?
Great research.
Good question, but I am not sure if they have been identified after the war. The bombardier is listed on Tablets of Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial. Ball turret gunner has a grave at Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial.
So, no definitive info known to me.
Tragic, they could have come home to a good life in postwar america.
Thank you.
I have always wondered about the fate of the B24 bomber that got a bomb through it's port wing root as shown in the WW2 Series - "The World at War".
Did any of it's crew survive?
Well, I watched so many, I can't remember which one you mean. Maybe that B-24 in the pacific? ruclips.net/video/lioRCye2Dug/видео.htmlsi=CesuSgDEQa5JQvSX
@@B17FlyingFortress Thank you. That is similar to the one I was thinking of. But the footage I remember seeing is there is definitely a bomb from above striking the wing root. It was also shown once in a documentary about the raid on the Ploesti oil fields,
Any chances of parachuting out of falling aircraft in such a case?
👍👍👍
the question is was it donna mea or the upper aircraft that was out of formation?
i suspect the dive was started when the crew warned the pilots of the aircraft above. and since the controls were already set for a dive and the tailplane didnt detach i suspect the pilots could not bring her out of the dive. why none got out is anyones guess.
Hearsay information I have, Miss Donna Mae drifted out of position. Some sources said it was a rookie crew. In my opinion, Lt. Reid, the pilot, wasn't a rookie pilot with 10 missions. He received the Air Medal after completing 5 missions.
I guess they fight at controls until it was to late to jump because of the g force.
But no one would really know "why".
Thanks your watching and commenting :)
Your suspicions are incorrect.
Donna Mae drifted+ slowed down a little. The controls werent 'set for a dive' - there is no setting of the controls for a dive. Also in a bomb run or over enemy territory diving or leaving formation was a death sentence.
What DID happen is the 1000lb bomb struck the left horizontal stab. This knocked it off, it caused the plane to lose control and enter a wild spin. In turn this ripped a wing off, and the wild spin also trapped the men inside by the centrifugal force.
All the men were KIA, the plane struck by Odenbergerstrasse in Berlin
@@B17FlyingFortress According to reports the stab was hit by a bomb, this caused the plane to totally lose control and enter a wild spin. The spin trapped the men inside because centrifugal force. During this spin a wing ripped off.
All men were KIA and the plane crashed at Odenbergerstrasse.
yeah, it's what I guess. Lost control of the aircraft and crew trapped by centrifugal force.
@@jefclark by "set for a dive" i mean the pilot was engaging in a dive to deconflict. i said nothing about any sort of automatic setting. and ive seen nor heard any info determining it was donna mae out of position or the plane above. either could still be the case.
so you were in the plane to confirm the centrufigal force trapped ALL the crew huhh? good to know.
I see you were on reddit yesterday
I don’t have a Reddit account. It was someone else. Can you give me the url to the post on Reddit?
They theorize a similar thing happened with glen millers plane over the channel
yes, that what I read. Everything went wrong with Glen Millers aircraft. Wrong place, wrong time. Miller's aircraft was a much smaller plane than a B-17 and hundredth or thousands feet below the RAF Lancaster's.
The Miss Donna Mae Incident.
I'll tell you the information about shutter bug in the comments because its easier to tell than a email
ok. I am collection the information from your comments and do some research. But please be patient :)
@@B17FlyingFortress alright here
@@B17FlyingFortress B-17F s/n 41-24340 nicknamed shutter bug it was built on may 30 1942 at Boeing field it was delivered to the 11th air force on June 20 1942 it was assigned to the 28th bomb group 36th bomb squadron at Ladd field stationed in anchorage it was used in the cold weather high altitude camera testing it was used to bomb the Aleutian Islands like Kiska Adak Attu and others its unknown how many combat missions shutterbug flew and who the crew was in September of 1944 a photo of shutterbug appear in a issue of National Geographic magazine in October of 1944 it appeared in a comic book nose diving in a comic book called ''camera comics'' it survived the war and was later scrapped shortly after.
We have our freedom today thanks to these brave men and all who took part in WW2 with allied forces.
So why the heck couldn’t they bail out? Also the fact that the Dona Mae’s enlisted were all killed yet the officers were POW, makes me wonder if they had in fact initially survived but were then executed?
Oh, you mean the "first" Miss Donna Mae with Lt. Vaughan's crew.
Top Turret Gunner's chute failed to open. He was found dead on the ground.
The rest of the enlisted men bailed out over the Baltic Sea and perished. Three of them never found.
Oh, you mean the Miss Donna Mae with Lt. Vaughan's crew.
Top Turret Gunner's chute failed to open. He was found dead on the ground.
The rest of the enlisted men bailed out over the Baltic Sea and perished. Three of them never found.
@@B17FlyingFortress holy crap that all sucked 🫤
Oh what a tragic accident, I'm soooooo sorry! Honestly are you kidding? That's war isn't it?
God bless our military
So, they wanted to hit civilians with bombs but ended up hitting them with themselves! How hell-bent on hitting!
Horrendous example of blue on blue .
why drop yours with a plane underneath? what a botch up!
From what I read this plane drifted out of formation and under the other plane just as bombs were being released. Not their fault.
the bombardier might not have noticed donna mea drifting below theirs before he hit the pickle switch. later on many bombers didnt fly with a bombardier, but a "toggiler" that watched the lead ship and simply toggled the switch when they saw the lead ship drop its bombs. the togglier may have been so intent on the lead ship he didnt see donna mea.
@@b3j8 bet the bomb aimer above was heart broke :((
I believe, you can't see much if you are looking through the bomb sight. Similar, when you looking through the scope of a sniper rifle or binocular.
I would say, you can't see the other plane, until it was too late.
@@B17FlyingFortress Exactly. The bombs had been dropped several seconds before the plane moved out of place.
... they looked for trouble and found some ...
I always thought Arlington is a Place for Heroes not for War criminals.
Please read the burial criteria: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlington_National_Cemetery#Burial_criteria
Please - let somebody else read the explanation. Thanks
hmm, I tried it with AI voices. But many viewers don't like the AI voices and prefer my German accent and my imperfect English narration. What should I do?
@@B17FlyingFortress
Your narration is just fine.
@@B17FlyingFortress Please, don't ever resort to the AI.
The more you read aloud, the better your reading will become. If you watch a lot of the movies from Hollywood made in the 40's through the 80's you will learn how to speak better English. Get a movie script and practice reading the same words the actors are saying. Any movies with Bogart, Eastwood, Heston, and Bronson will give you good practice. "On the Beach", "Sands of Iwo Jima", "Lawrence of Arabia", Dr. Zivago, "The Sound of Music", the "Dirty Harry series", and all movies by Hitchcock, Orson Welles to include comedies by the Three Stooges, "Laural and Hardy" will be excellent homework.
I study Latin and Hebrew and I shudder to think of what my accent from Alabama sounds like. I doubt that many people would be able to understand my butchering of Latin and especially Hebrew. I have spent many hours trying to roll my "R's" and failed miserably. The same goes for the Hebrew "ch" vocalization. The only time I can make the proper "ch" (the German Bach) is when I am choking to death on a big wad of phlegm lodged in the back of my throat.
You may never lose your Germanic accent but don't let that discourage you. I am positive you speak grammatically correct and better English than 99% of the crybabies criticizing you.
I, despite being 40% deaf, have no problem understanding everything you say. And on another note, I was raised by parents that were absolute terrors about mispronouncing and misspelling words. It didn't matter where we were or who was present, if I did not pronounce my words correctly, I would be instantly chastised.
For me I would use AI voices only in very fews cases. Like you said, I want to narrate my videos by myself. I can learn to speak English and increase my English knowledge (re-recording voice over is sometimes frustrating :D).
If I need voice over, I am asking professional voice over artists and paying them.
I am enjoying speaking English.
I have watched "Memphis Belle" (1990) movie very often in English. And I will watching "Masters of the Air" a second time with original English audio. German audio has some error (said ball turret instead of top turret in the German audio)
I need the feedback of viewers to know, what I am doing right and what's wrong in my English script. And I never told, my English is perfect. But I love to telling the stories of B-17s.
You sound perfect
Why is talking so Strange. 🤭🤔
Because I am a human 🤫
I fail to see the tragic part
Killed by accident. That is tragic.
The tragic part is that your 4F grandfather left you as a legacy.
please watch again
Aha....so the Yanks did make mistakes as well .....!!
nobody is perfect