MIDWAY B-17 “MYSTERY” SOLVED

[Steve Birdsall]

There were two 72nd Bomb Squadron B-17Es lost during the Midway battle. One was 41-2529 flown by Captain Glenn Kramer, the other was flown by Captain Robert S. Porter. No trace of the Porter plane or crew was ever found.

Over the years the Porter plane has been identified as 41-2415 but a veteran named Joe Goeppner claimed that was impossible because he was in the tail turret of that plane that day and he was still alive and kicking . There was also ample evidence that 41-2415 flew missions well after June 1942.

In fact the Porter crew was lost in 41-9212.

It appears that the confusion resulted because 41-2415 was normally assigned to Porter and his crew while the much newer, ball-turreted 41-9212 was normally assigned to Captain Orin H. Rigley, the 72nd Squadron’s Operations Officer. Crew-to-plane assignments appear to have been pretty tight in Hawaii and 41-2415 was “Porter’s plane” and 41-9212 was “Rigley’s plane”.

I’m not sure why they traded aircraft for the fateful mission.