Frank Lekas suddenly calls out, “enemy aircraft at six.” but has no chance to finish. Jylkka, gives the heading for the shortest distance back to England, tail gunner Sgt. “Damn Yankee”, now alone and easy prey for enemy fighters, earns the dreaded title of a “straggler”. A call is made to the leader to report that the plane is leaving the formation. With the propeller beginning to windmill and the bomb bay doors jammed open, “Damn Yankee” loses speed and altitude and falls behind the group. “Damn Yankee’s” #4 engine is hit and throws out oil. ![]() Once over the target at 28,000 feet, planes of the 384th encounter intense flak. ![]() It is the first B-17 of the 384th to take the name “Damn Yankee” into the war over Europe. “Damn Yankee", a B-17F “Flying Fortress” of the 545th Squadron piloted by Lt. Briefing showed the route would take the 384th through fighters and flak for about 150 miles after crossing the enemy coast. It was mission #39 for the 384th Bomb Group with the target being a manufacturing complex near Solingen, Germany. While all this was going on, the Group had a mission to fly as well. The movie was being produced by the 8th Air Force as a sequel to the RAF production "Target For Tonight". The base was entertaining a film production company that began work on the bomber scenes for the movie "Target For Today". On December1, 1943 if would appear that there wasn't a war going on. Thirty-six B-17s of the 384th Bomb Group were assigned to USAF Station 106 near the village of Grafton Underwood, Northamptonshire, England. In January 1943 it began training in B-17s for combat in Europe. The 384th Bombardment Group was activated on December 1, 1942. Here’s a description of the events that took place that fateful day: In 2007 Domenic Denardo painted the scene… The B17-F USAAF Ser#41-24557 was shot down by fighters on the way back from a bombing raid over Germany and crashed in a field near Jabbeke, Belgium. I thought it would be a nice touch to drive over in the Jeep which for the occasion had been marked to the unit the ‘Damn Yankee’ belonged to 545th Squadron, 384th Bomb Group of the 8th AAF based at Station 106 at Grafton Underwood, England. Since the crash site is only about 5 miles from my place, I decided to drive over to the site to pay my respects. Six Lancasters were destroyed.Today marks the 68th anniversary of the crash of the 384th Bomb Group’s B17 ‘Damn Yankee’. The bombers faced little resistance and around 20,000 civilians were killed. ![]() On the night of 13/14 February 1945, 796 Lancasters took part in a joint British and American mission to bomb the eastern German city of Dresden. In 1942 in an attempt to break German morale the RAF began attacking German towns and cities in earnest. This was the home of the Nazis’ secret missile program, which was developing deadly V1 and V2 rockets.ĥ96 planes, including 324 Lancasters dropped 1,800 tons of bombs on Peenemunde, destroying the factories and research facilities and setting back the missile program by between three and six months. On 17 and 18 August 1943, they took part in ‘Operation Hydra’ bombing the military test site at Peenemunde in Northern Germany. However the mission became legendary and was a great boost to British morale. Eight of the 19 Lancasters that took part were lost with the loss of 56 men: 53 died and 3 were captured. Two of the four dams targeted were destroyed and the raids flooded mines, factories and houses for 50 miles. ![]() The missiles were designed to skim across the water, hit the dam and sink to the bottom unleashing enough explosive power to breach the structure. In a series of moonlit raids the Lancasters flew very low and dropped ‘bouncing bombs’. 617, of 19 modified Lancasters attacked dams across Germany to disrupt industrial production. Here are some of the operations you could have faced… The ‘Dambusters’ Lancaster crews took part in 156,000 missions and dropped 618,378 tons of bombs on targets in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe. The Lancaster was the work-horse of RAF Bomber Command and the most successful bomber of World War Two.
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