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B-17F Sweater Girl


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Hello. I normally hang out in the uniforms and EGA sections but thought I'd drop in here to ask for a little help. My wife's uncle flew with the 100th BG in WW-II. He was shot down and killed (MIA until the end of the war) on the 10 Oct 43 raid to Munster. As I recall, their regular aircraft was "Terry n' Ten" but, on 10 Oct they were flying "Sweater Girl."

 

For years I have been searching for photographs of either B-17, particularly nose art if any. Might anyone possible have any photos of either or both of these aircraft?

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Having a hard time finding a photo. Here's some info on "Sweater Girl". She didn't appear to be too lucky.

 

230047

 

Sweater Girl

 

350 LN-Q - -

 

Notes:

 

Assigned to original cadre, Crew 10 --- Sweater Girl

 

History:

 

3/30/1943 Accepted into inventory

4/3/1943 Cheyenne also 15-Apr-43 Kearney also 05-May-43 Hill

5/10/1943 Wendover also 21-May-43 Kearney also 28-May-43 Dow

6/1/1943 Assigned to UK

7/14/1943 REM - could not keep up with the formation

9/6/1943 REM - feathered prop

9/15/1943 FTO - malfunctioning booster pump

9/16/1943 RFO - Chivenor

9/23/1943 REM - #4 prop failed

9/27/1943 REM

10/10/1943 FTR - debris from MID between ME-109 and 230723 - Ostberven, Germany

10/10/1943 FTR - debris from MID between ME-109 and 230723

 

Pilot: LT RICHARD B ATCHISON MACR: 01031

Crew: 4 KIA, 6 POW

Related Info: FTR - debris from MID between ME-109 and 230723 - Ostberven, Germany

 

 

 

Here's Terry n Ten:

 

231502

 

Terry 'n' Ten

 

350 LN-S - -

 

Notes:

 

Terry 'n' Ten

 

History:

 

11/9/1943 Accepted into inventory

11/16/1943 Cheyenne

12/3/1943 Kearney

12/11/1943 Grenier

12/14/1943 Presque Isle

12/8/1943 Assigned to UK

1/29/1944 TOA - Frenze Lane, UK - Lt. Loyd C. Marks - 7 KIA, 3 WIA

1/29/1944 Salvaged

 

 

 

1/29/1944 Salvaged

 

Pilot: N/A - N/A MACR:

Crew: N/A

Related Info: N/A

 

 

I'll keep looking for you. There are a lot of sites out there for the 100th BGP. A famous outfit with a lot of famous aircraft. What was your uncles name??

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42-30047/Sweater Girl

 

 

P 2Lt. Richard B. Atchison, Jr. POW

CP 2Lt. Willard Secor POW

NAV 2Lt. Kenneth Baron POW

Bomb 2Lt. Sol Goldstein POW

TTG T/Sgt. Russel W. Bennett POW

RO T/Sgt. Elder E. Lisch KIA

BT S/Sgt. Clarence A. Combs KIA

LWG S/Sgt. Westley M. Field KIA

RWG S/Sgt. Ellot O. Preble KIA

TG S/Sgt. Van T. Wright POW

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A/C 42-30047 "SWEATER GIRL" 350TH LN-Q

 

2ND LT RICHARD B. ATCHISON, JR. P POW 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER

2ND LT WILLARD SECOR CP POW 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER

2ND LT KENNETH BARON NAV POW 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER

2ND LT SOL GOLDSTEIN BOM POW 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER

T/SGT RUSSELL W. BENNETT TTE POW 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER

T/SGT ELDER E. LISCH ROG KIA 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER

S/SGT CLARENCE C. COMBS BTG KIA 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER

S/SGT ELLLOT O. PREBLE WG KIA 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER

S/SGT WESTLEY M. FIELD WG KIA 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER

S/SGT VAN T. WRIGHT TG POW 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER

 

350th Sqdn. Crew, as above , joined 100th Group on 25/8/43.

 

On 10/10/43 a S/Sgt CLARENCE C. COMBS was BTG in place of Sgt Brassell and was KIA.

 

Note George Brassell was KIA on the 100th's second Munster mission with crew of T. F. Goupill when killed and is buried in Cambridge cemetery.

 

Statement by Kenneth Baron "I was wounded during an attack by an enemy a/c before I bailed out, sustaining a penetrating wound Of the right thigh which broke the femur. Due to possible shock I have no clear recollection Or the mission nor of most events until I was picked up on the ground by the Germans I do know we flew along the Rhine river some distance from its mouth and that we dropped our bombs I do not recall seeing the target, although we were in large formation when we were subjected to an intense and accurate flak attack and when we were attacked by large numbers Or enemy a/c/

 

When I bailed out, I was the first person to leave by the lower nose exit because I recall releasing the door by means Or the emergency release handle The bombardier was immediately behind me, preparing to bail out, but once I left the ship I did not see him again, nor did I see the ship after I left it It was flying straight and level at that time to the best Of my knowledge I executed a delayed jump in order to reach ground more quickly and I opened my chute at what I estimated to be 5000 ft During my descent I could recall seeing no aircraft of any sort "

 

Apparently for over a year there was much confusion as to the exact fate of this crew A German Major had taken the dog tags from several crew members when they were captured and later reports from German sources claimed that Atchison, Secor and Bennett were KIA and buried near Munster (dog tags had been switched in some manner).

 

The crew this day was flying B-17F 42-30047 "Sweater Girl" LN-Q instead of their regular B-17F "Terry n'Ten" 42-30062, LD-O which was named by Lt Atchison for his wife. The crew was assigned Terry n'Ten on September 16, 1943. On October 10, 1943 the target was MUNSTER, just after the bomb run, the 100th was hit by fighters, and intense flak with one ME 109 colliding with Lt William Beddow's aircraft "Sexy Susy, Mother of Ten" 42-30723 EP-D which had completed only 6 mission prior to October 10th. The collision occurred on Lt. Beddows left wing with flames erupting throughout the plane. The bailout order was given and 4 men got out, the plane exploded in mid air after going into a steep spiral killing Lt Beddow and 5 of his crew. It has been speculated that "Sweater Girl" also was damaged by this midair collision but surviving crew members report that the aircraft was under heavy flak followed by fighter attacks and was severly damaged before the crew was ordered to bail out. There is no mention from Crew reports that their plane sustained any damage from Lt Beddow's mid-air collision with the Me109. According to eye witness accounts, Lt Atchison was hit in No 2 Engine, it must have been an oil line because oil was pouring out in a stream. All the officers along with the TTG and TG were fortunate in escaping the severly damage B-17 but unfortunately, the rest of the crew perished when the plane crashed a few miles north of Munster at Ostberven near the Dormund-Ems canal. (mpf 6/2001)

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I know a guy over on the Warbird Information Exchange (Wix Forums) who has tons of WWII plane pics so I'll check with him. You might always want to post a request over there, there are some amazing resources there.

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  • 11 months later...
  • 1 year later...
  • 4 weeks later...

post-5349-1265662328.jpgThis "Sweat Er Girl" was from the 306th at Thurleigh. The man in the picture is Lt.Pletcher. Also on the back of the picture it says "Caen Raid". Hope this is of some help.

Steve

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Cobrahistorian
post-5349-1265662328.jpgThis "Sweat Er Girl" was from the 306th at Thurleigh. The man in the picture is Lt.Pletcher. Also on the back of the picture it says "Caen Raid". Hope this is of some help.

Steve

 

I don't think this is the same bird. This one's a G model (chin turret, framed and bulged cheek windows, bare metal finish).

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I came across this shot in one of my books. I've posted it because it illustrates just how difficult it can be to trace images of an individual airplane when so many within the USAAF shared the same or similar nicknames at the time.

 

 

 

post-8022-1265801966.jpg

 

 

Sabrejet

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  • 3 months later...

Lt. Richard B Atchison was a very good friend of mine.... he was the Pilot on Sweater Girl 10 Oct 43 over Munster.

 

TnT (Terry n Ten) was previously called Bastards Bungalow, then TnT and after the crew was lost in the sweater girl (TnT had bad generators and could not go out), the new crew named it Reilly’s racehorse. You can find pictures of Reilly's racehorse (shot down later in 44) and can see the Bastard's Bungalow painted over in some. To my knowledge the TnT was only painted on the pilots (port) side of the nose. It was a Large T with small erry (Terry) lower case n then large T lowercase en (ten). From any distance what you saw was TnT.

 

Dick left for his son Scott and I a 4 1/5 hour tape of his experiences, from first in the AF, to the bombing raids, prison camp and escaping.... eventually making it back to the states after the war was over without much help from the military. They did figure it out and come get him for a debriefing.

 

I am working on an edited version to put on a couple CD's. These will be used to solicit donations to the Chino Planes of Fame air museum, to restore a B-17 they have. Piccadilly Lilly II.

 

http://www.planesoffame.org/index.php?page...ration-projects

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  • 3 months later...
I have 2 framed pictures and pilot autographed, nose art pictures, of a B-17 from the 15th AF 416th BS 99th BG called "Sweater Girl" and the pilot was from Shelton, Wa.

Mike

 

my uncle flew on sweater girl s#42-29472 and i have been looking for info on it ,,what is the pilots name.thank you ron

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ron

I'm sorry I never got back to you sooner but I just became aware of your inquiry. The B-17 Pilots name was Charles Boggs.

 

Regards

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

my uncle flew on sweater girl s#42-29472 and i have been looking for info on it ,,what is the pilots name.thank you ron
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