Aero Vintage Books

Kate, a rare and detailed account not only of the incident but also your research. Thank you for sharing.  The 95th BG database lists only 24 missions; it does not include the four missions Capt. Baber few as Command Pilot. As a command pilot he may have been flying in a Pathfinder plane from anoth...

(Scott, should '092 be added to the RFC/WAA list for that reason?)

The IARC quotes Class 26 24 July 1943, then 'SCRAPRFC', and RECL COMP 3195 [19 March 1945].

>Moving on . . . the records all indicate that Rickenbacker was aboard a B-17D, and the available records show that there were only half a dozen B-17Ds still in service in Hawaii by September-October 1942. >> It is unfortunate that the machine printed IARCs for aircraft of this period stop at FY3, c...

Given the evidence, why do people think that the plane involved was 40-3089?

Thanks.
Strange that a candidate hasn't been identified for a high profile incident.

It is widely reported that the B-17 which ditched in the Pacific 21 October 1942 with Eddie Rickenbacker was B-17D 40-3089. Missing Air Crew Reports #802 and 900 both quote the serial number 40-3089 and date 2 October 1942. The pilot is named as Quentin R Birchard with a combat crew of nine airmen; ...

'42-30052 taken at Avon Park but it was mostly based in the Northwest'. Assuming that it was assigned to the 88th Bomb Group, which was based at Walla Walla and Redmond mid-1943, that Bomb Group moved to Avon Park late 1943 into summer 1944. Typical for an IARC of that time period, assigments in FY4...

MACR 16346 [NAID: 91174084]. A B-17 went missing somewhere in the Pacific on a secret mission between Oahu and Midway 23 July 1942. The operating crew appears to have been assigned to 394th Bomb Squadron, 5th Bomb Group; a passenger was assigned to the 73rd Fighter Squadron, 18th Fighter Group. The ...

I believe that 'LK' is a loss code; 'B' is gain. My interpretation is that they went to Brewer on or after the dead period from June 1943 until transfer to Paine October 1943 then another dead period until June 1944. With a few exceptions, assignment histories in FY44 (Jul43 to Jun44) were not recor...

Thank you. Interesting that a civilian school received four new bombers. Wonder what the workers at Boeing thought of that. Or was it a cover unit for the 'Special Weapons'?

Four B-17Fs, 42-30514/30517, were received by the USAAF but retained at Seattle. Four months later all are recorded as being with 'Brewer Co Se Civ Sch Area Seattle' and then assigned to the Sub Depot at Paine Field, Everett. 42-30514 had an accident at Tonopah and later assigned to 'Special Weapons...

The IARC records the plane with 330th Sub Depot, Yuma Field March 1944 just prior to transfer to Clovis.
NB: IARCs typically do not record the operational history [with some exceptions] during FY44 [July 1943 - June 1944].

Bonus Myth #10: A B-17 That Has A Chin Turret Can’t Be a B-17F

****
42-6050 was fitted with a chin turret as annotated on the IARC. It was then assigned to the School of Applied Tactics, Orlando FL, and later to Yuma.

Thank you, but how does Class 26 apply when the complete aircraft is missing on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico?

Does anyone have a clear definition of CL-26/Class 26? CL-26/Class 26 is generally regarded to apply to a ground instructional airframe but there are many examples of aircraft written off in a fatal accident being ‘recommended for, or placed in Class 26’ and which are very unlikely to be used for su...