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'Big Red' was a B-17F-90 model, serial number 42-30207.
It was manufactured by Boeing Aircraft in Seattle WA,
USAAF order number ac-20292 and cost $316,426.00
Received by the USAAF on 23rd April 1943.
'Big Red' then went to the Cheyenne Modification Centre, WY on 29th April 1943, project number 92111. This project upgraded 'Big Red' to
B-17F-90 status. B-17 serial numbers 42-30132 to 42-30231 became
B-17F-90 standard, this entailed all other previous upgrades that B-17's had, plus newly improved Automatic Flight Control equipment and
elevator fabric attachment added.
After Cheyenne, it went to Sioux City, IA on 11th May 1943, then flown to Smoky Hill, KS on 9th June 1943.
From there to Dow Field AAF, ME on 12th June 1943.
It departed the US from Dow Field AAF on 14th June 1943 via
Salinas AAF, KS (picked up by Lt. Richard Bailey crew) Assigned to
388th Bombardment Group -- 561 Bomb Squadron,
Eighth Air Force, European Theatre of Operations.
Then onward to England via, Maine, Labrador, Iceland and Prestwick, Scotland. 'Big Red' finally arrived in Knettishall in England June 1943.
'Big Red' flown by Bailey crew to Manchester to have 'Tokio' tanks fitted.
'Big Red' was nicknamed by Pilot Richard Bailey, after his then fiancé,
and future wife, Ms Bette Rathburn, a tall red headed lady.
B-17 #42-30207 'Big Red' completed a total of 35 missions, and was on it's 36 mission when it crashed on 27th March 1944 in France.
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MISSION #1 AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND - 17th July 1943
This was the 388th Heavy Bombardment Group's first mission since it's formation.
For the first mission, 'Big Red' was piloted by Lt. Richard Bailey together with
388th Group Commander Col. William B. David.
It was one of 20 aircraft from 388th Bomb Group. Two groups were involved, the 388th and the 385th, 388th as lead.
Big Red was the lead ship for the group and the mission...the leader of all the B-17's that day.
All aircraft were airborne by 0626 hours,
Col. David was the Group Leader. Three aircraft aborted, and the rest continued on. The group and wing formation was accomplished and the briefed route was followed with only a slight deviation at the Initial Point-- the last turn before the bomb run.
The assigned target--an aircraft factory in AMSTERDAM was 7/10th badly covered in cloud
and bombing results were poor because it was difficult to pick out the target area. No fighter presence and only light flak.
Lt. Bailey could not identify the target area, and so returned to Knettishall with all 10 of his bombs. Big Red, did however, have 2 holes as a result of flak in it's right wing.
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Back - left to right :
George Bartuska--Bombardier,
Richard Bailey -
Pilot,
Bill Tobin - Co-pilot,
Larry Bairstow - Navigator
Front - left to right :
Ned Transou - Radio
John Thompson - Top Turret Gunner,
Don Marble -
Right Waist Gunner,
Ralph Higgins -
Tail Gunner,
Ed Gwinnell -
Left Waist Gunner
Roy Graziani -
Ball Turret Gunner.
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BIG RED' list of missions 1943-1944
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388th Mission # Target Date
1 Amsterdam 17th July 43
2 Bergen 24th July 43
4 Hanover 26th July 43
5 Ochersleben 28th July 43
7 Kassel 30th July 43
8 Bonn 12th August 43
9 Merville 15th August 43
11 Regensburg 17th August 43
14 Bordeaux/Merignac 24th August 43
16 Brussels 31st August 43
17 Brussels 2nd September 43
18 Meulans 4th September 43
19 Stuttgart 6th September 43
20 Watten 8th September 43
21 Paris 9th September 43
22 Paris 15th September43
23 Bordeaux/La Pallice 16th September 43
24 Rhiems 26th September 43
28 Bremen 8th October 43
31 Schweinfurt 14th October 43
33 Duren 20th October 43
40 Bremen 26th October 43
49 Northern France 24th December 43
50 Ludwigshaven 30th December 43
53 Bordeaux 5th January 44
55 Brunswick 11th January 44
57 Calais 21st January 44
62 Frankfurt 4th February 44
65 Frankfurt 8th February 44
84 Brunswick 23rd March 44
86 Bordeaux/Merignac 27th March 44
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Above are listed 31 missions, 'Big Red' completed a another 4 in between,
any help appreciated.
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GROUP MISSION # 86 BORDEAUX, FRANCE - 27th March 1944
THE CREWMEMBERS
Pilot : Julius Lederman
Co-Pilot : Waite Deeds Law
Navigator : John Joseph Carroll
Bombardier : John Nunez Luzell
Radio : Blair Harper Harman
Top Turret Gunner: Herman Frank Hermanson
Ball Turret Gunner : Louis Mizera
Waist Gunner Right : Joseph James Kapec
Waist Gunner Left : George Melroy Schwarzkopf
Tail Gunner : George William Hewett
So the final day began….
On March 27th 1944, 21 aircraft from 388th Bomb Group set off from KNETTISHALL at 10.19 hours, their target the airfields, port and factories of BORDEAUX in FRANCE. They were part of a total of 546 B-17's that set out that day, from different groups. Big Red flew in the high
'A' group at 20,900ft.
They followed a route over the South of England, leaving the English coast at 12.10 hours. Then over the English Channel and flying over the Normandy coastline of France at 12.40 hours. Their route by-passed to the east of the hazardous St Nazaire area (also known as 'Flak City') around 13.25 hours. At around 13.40 hours, over the Western Coast shortly before the target area and bomb run, Big Red encountered major problems... FIRE! Flames flew out of the Top Turret motor and spread rapidly throughout the cockpit and surrounding area, the fire had got into the oxygen system and disaster was imminent. Big Red left the formation, a red flare was fired then the burning B-17 made a complete circle above the town of Aizenay, with more and more smoke and flames pouring from it, before finally going into a steep dive.
At 15,000 ft Pilot Julius Lederman managed to level the plane and gave the alarm to bail out. John Luzell, John Carroll, Herman Hermanson, Waite Law and Julius Lederman bailed out of the nose escape hatch. Tail Gunner George Hewett not hearing the bail-out alarm turned around to see smoke coming down the inside of the fuselage, he climbed out of the tail to go out of the main rear escape hatch, but seeing the other gunners George Schwarzkopf, Joseph Kapec and Louis Mizera struggling to open the door, he returned to the tail and went out his own emergency hatch after remembering he had one !.
Immediately after George Hewett bailed out, Big Red went into a dive and spin and fell from the sky with Waist Gunner George Schwarzkopf, Waist Gunner Joseph Kapec, Ball Turret
Gunner Louis Mizera and Radio Operator Blair Harmon sadly still on board. Apparently the main escape hatch door was stuck and before they could get to another emergency hatch the speed and gravity of the fall made it impossible to get to another escape hatch.
Big Red was totally on fire and falling too fast. Five members of the crew had already
parachuted from the stricken B-17, but a sixth, probably Ball Turret Gunner Louis Mizera took the plunge without a parachute just as the central section of Big Red was about to hit the ground. He broke his spine in the fall, the Germans put him in a van to take him to hospital. He never arrived, having probably died on the way. An unconfirmed report from a tail gunner on another B-17 nearby said one crewmember jumped out of the Radio escape hatch but upon
jumping hit the rear stabiliser of Big Red, his severe injuries made both accounts accurate.
Eye witness reports say that with all the oxygen, fuel and bombs still on board, Big Red blew up with a massive explosion about 100ft above the ground and split into three pieces..
It finally came to rest, making a huge crater, on the edge of the Forest of Aizenay.
The remaining wreckage of 'Big Red' was later blown to small pieces by the German Army.
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Louis Mizera (KIA)
Ball Turret Gunner
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The five crew members who parachuted from 'Big Red' all landed in the VENANSAULT area,
between LA ROCHE SUR YON and AIZENAY in the western VENDEE region of France.
The Co-pilot Lieutenant Waite Law, came down in a field at LA LOUISIERE and tried to reach
LE ROCHAIS wood but, wounded in the leg, he was quickly noticed by the approaching
German soldiers who fired a shot into the air above his head and shouted to him to
surrender. He raised his hands and gave himself up. As he had more and more difficulty in walking his captors improvised a stretcher for him from branches cut from the nearby wood.
Tailgunner George Hewett landed in a tree which had two German soldiers standing at the bottom awaiting to pick him up, he had leg injuries.
Bombardier Lieutenant John Luzell. Landed in some apple trees at the farm of Le Plessis and quickly concealed himself in a ditch alongside the VENANSAULT to BEAULIEU road near the
village of PUYRAJOUX. Several German convoys passed right beside him without seeing him in the ditch. However as ill-luck would have it, a German soldier got off his motorcycle to
relieve himself into the ditch where Luzell was hiding, he was captured there and then.
As for Lieutenant Julius Lederman the Pilot of 'Big Red' he touched down at LA NICOLIERE and had no time to hide because German soldiers arrived from everywhere by car,
motorcycle and even on horses and captured him as he was about to enter a barn on a farm.
The three prisoners were gathered up and taken together to the German command point in VENANSAULT before being taken to AIZENAY and locked up in a first floor room at the
Hotel De France (Town Hall). They all were then eventually taken to NANTES, then
transferred to the German POW camps for US airmen in GERMANY and KREMS, AUSTRIA.
The bodies of Louis Mizera and Joseph Kapec are now buried in the
BRITTANY AMERICAN CEMETERY in FRANCE. The bodies of George Schwarzkopf and
Blair Harman were repatriated and buried near their family homes in the USA.
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Top Turret Gunner, Sergeant Herman Hermanson, decent from the burning B-17 was a little scary. He jumped and having never done a parachute jump before, and only managed to fasten one of his two parachute straps...luckily it held him. He fortunately landed in an alder tree with this legs dangling in a pond.
The Violleau family from the neighbouring hamlet of LE GRAIZEAU rushed to the spot immediately, as did Fernand Fetiveau and Clement Ponndevie both from small villages around the area. They all managed to pull the airman from the tree. Emile Chiron and his brother-in-law Marcel Petit, who were collecting wood in the area, cut some branches from the alder tree and removed the parachute which would have been visible for miles around and would have alerted German soldiers to where Hermanson had landed.
Hermanson climbed quickly from the water, hastily ripping off his US Air Force uniform and ran after Emile Chiron who, from the shelter of some bushes, directed him towards a small disused quarry near LA NICOLIERE. It wasn't a moment too soon because Germans rushed to the area and searched everywhere, fortunately finding nothing.
Herman mentioned in his Escape and Evasion report that the soldiers passed very close to him hiding without seeing him.
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At nightfall, Victor Clautour brought food to Herman who was crouched motionless in his hideout. Over the next few days the Germans returned to make further unsuccessful searches of houses and farm buildings.
After 3 days Gaston Mercier of Beaulieu obtained false papers for the airman through his cousin Yves Arnaud, declaring Hermanson to be deaf and dumb ! On the Friday morning after dressing himself in civilian clothes, the American left by bicycle for the nearby town of
LA ROCHE SUR YON. The enterprising Mercier had earlier put emery powder in the petrol tanks of the German vehicles preventing them from patrols that day.
Sergeant Hermanson then put on a train bound for BORDEAUX which passed without any
incident. Hermanson was supposed me be met at the station in Bordeaux by a friend of
Gaston Mercier, but after waiting several hours he knew this friend was not turning up.
Herman then bought a ticket to LANGON which was near the line of demarcation. He did this by writing the name of the city and time of train on some paper and handing it to the ticket agent, of course the ticket agent thinking Hermanson was deaf and dumb paid no attention, Herman boarded the train and everything went according to plan.
Remembering what he was told in LA ROCHE SUR YON about BORDEAUX being full of German soldiers, Herman decided to get off the train one stop before LANGON, intending to walk across the line of demarcation. After walking boldly across the bridge over the river Garenne at the town of LA REOLE he then travelled by train to TOULOUSE. Finding TOULOUSE station full of German soldiers, Herman bought another ticket to ST GAUDENS using his deaf and dumb technique. ST GAUDENS was the last big town before the Spanish border and safety. When in ST GAUDENS he started walking towards a little town called ASPE, and fell asleep in nearby woods. Later on he was found by a French farmer called Pierre who would become a very valuable friend indeed. Pierre gave Herman a hayloft to sleep in and fed him for 6 weeks and then made contact with the underground French resistance.
Herman was met by 4 men in a car, ironically the two men in the back seats were also
American pilots trying to escape. Travelling via VAL D'ARAN and through the PYRENNES
Mountains, the group came under fire from German soldiers while crossing the frontier. They entered Spain where they reached the Hotel Palacio in LERIDA on the 16th May 1944 - 51 days after the crash.
THE OFFICIAL AAF ESCAPE AND EVASION REPORT FOR HERMAN IS #751
Navigator Lieutenant John J. Carroll came down near the village of LA BREVIDIERE by the
Venansault-Landeronde road, surrounded by a crowd who helped him off with his chute and
buried it in a newly ploughed field. He gave himself a shot of morphine because of spraining his ankle upon landing in the furrows of the ploughed field. The crowd gestured to him to
follow them and he started running towards the village of LA GUERINIERE, where
Marcel LeFort found him on the edge of a field dazed and confused. Rapidly he helped Carroll over the hedge to hide from the approaching German soldiers who were hot on his trail and just entering the other end of the field. It was then Carroll realised he had several bad burns and his confusion and dizziness was due to shock.
Miraculously Carroll was not discovered. In the evening, once the Germans had finished searching the surrounding houses, wardrobes, chests and haystacks, LeFort brought Carroll some food and moral support. Wanting to get out of this dangerous area swarming with
Germans as quickly as possible, the American left the same night en-route to Spain.
Carroll is known to have passed through the small village of L'OISELLERIE, near
ST-FLORENT-DES-BOIS, where he slept in a barn belonging to Felicien Charpentreau who brought him food. He left the next morning at dawn--only just in time, for a quarter of an hour later the Germans arrived having been tipped off by an informer, and encircled the
village where they proceeded to interrogate the inhabitants, but no one betrayed him.
The fine chain of solidarity continued farther on at THORIGNY. On the morning of Friday 13th March, Gustave Crepeau was busy flattening molehills when he discovered the American
hidden in a hedge calling "Ami, ami" (Friend, friend) That evening there was an extra place laid at the table in the Chateauneuf farm and John Carroll, full of food, warmth and good cheer, managed to convey to his hosts with writing, gestures, and some rudimentary French what happened to him.
He rested for two days until Sunday lunchtime when he told the Crepeau family, as they
returned from Palm Sunday church service, that he would be leaving for Spain that night.
Gustave Crepeau had great difficulty finding civilian clothes for the tall, well-built Carroll, but when the time came for departure the aiman was ready. At midnight the American drank a cup of coffee and was given a bag of food and a purse full of money, the whole family wept to see him go off into the night, heading south with a heavy fork on hi shoulder.
It took John Carroll two months to reach Spain, moving by night and given shelter and food here and there. He is known to have walked and passed through on a train: CONFLANS,
BRANTOME, ST ASTIER, ST SYLVESTRE, PENNE, AGEN, TOULOUSE, NARBONNE, PERPIGNAN and ERR.
After walking alone over the freezing and snow covered PYRENNES mountains Carroll
eventually arrived in RIPOLL, SPAIN he found a friendly Spanish man and he suggested getting the train to BARCELONA and going to the American Consul. He boarded the train and
fifteen minutes later the conductor asked for his ticket and identity card. He had no ID card ! And Carroll was immediately hauled into the aisle and searched, he gestured he was an American but he was still returned under arrest to RIPOLL and not to BARCELONA as hoped. Carroll was thrown into jail for two days then moved to FIGUERAS, then a further four days later the American Consul arrived and sorted it out. He was then moved to
ALHAMA DE ARAGON and returned to the UK on the 11th June 1944.
THE OFFICIAL AAF ESCAPE AND EVASION REPORT FOR JOHN CARROLL IS #753
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Photographs of 'BIG RED' and crews
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Don Marble - Waist Gunner
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Lt. Richard Bailey - Pilot (DFC)
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Larry Bairstow - Navigator
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George Bartuska - Bombardier
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Ed Gwinnell - Waist Gunner
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Roy Graziani - Ball Turret Gunner
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After 12 successful missions
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Lt Ben Terry beside tail of 'Big Red'
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Original gunnery crew of 'Big Red' after 31 missions.
Top - Left to Right:
Don Marble, Ned Transou, Roy Graziani.
Bottom - Left to Right:
Ed Gwinnell, John Thompson, Ralph Higgins.
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Locally known as "Sentier du Souvenir" and located between the towns of
AIZENAY and LA ROCHE SUR YON, on the edge of the Forest of Aizenay is a
beautiful memorial dedicated to the brave men who died in the crash of 'Big Red'
On 27th March 1944, superb weather had made it possible for numerous people to see the burning B-17 diving to the ground. Among those eyewitnesses was a young Louis Gouraud.
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He was 15 then, and had been deeply interested in the crash. On the following day Louis cycled from his home in Palluau to see the crashed airplane.
Fifty years later, Louis Gouraud now retired, thought he would devote some of his free time to investigating what had left so vivid an imprint on his memory.
It took him considerable patience and dedication for he did not remember the date of the crash. He knew nothing about the crew, where they were from or where they were heading that day.
After a 10 month investigation, Louis Gouraud finally realised the story of the crash. In July 1995 a memorial concieved by the people of Aizenay, was unveiled at the site of the crash and was dedicated by co-Pilot Waite Law together with Gladys Hermanson, wife of Herman and Ruth Lederman, wife of Julius.
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Louis Gouraud's research and story was published in a book called "Il s'appelait BIG RED" written by local journalist
Bertrand Illegems.
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My sincere thanks to the many people and friends who have helped with my research,
including Don Marble (an inspirational friend) Gladys Hermanson, George Hewett,
Louis Gouraud, Bertrand Illegems, 388th Bomb Group Association, Jan Pack-Singer,
Gail Tobin-Hipwell, Andre-Luc Goarant, Olivier Goarant, Anne-Marie Vrignaud, Larry Bairstow, Ruth Lederman, Mary Donley, Marilyn Bailey, Bill Mizera...thanks to you all !!!
Email:
dmc92518@bigpond.net.au
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Copyright ©2002. All rights reserved.
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