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Crashes > of the USAAF
On its return flight from the bombing raid on Frankfurt, the B-17 "Mary Jane" came within range of several anti-aircraft batteries of the 7th Anti-Aircraft Division on the right bank of the Rhine near Cologne.
Flying toward Cologne from the east, it was hit several times. A direct hit in the bomb bay set the aircraft on fire, and small pieces of the plane were hurled away. One engine was engulfed in flames, and part of the left wing was blown off. The aircraft turned left and exploded in midair at an altitude of about 5,300 meters.
Large sections of the fuselage crashed in Gleuel near Schnellermaarweg; engines and wings fell scattered across a wide area between Bachem and Gleuel. The tail crashed into a field on the outskirts of Gleuel, near the border with Bachem.
Only one crew member survived the crash. Air Gunner 2nd Lt. William Kalman was thrown from the aircraft by the explosion and reached the ground, where he was captured by German units and taken prisoner of war.
Nine other crew members were recovered only after they had died. Also on board the aircraft were the squadron commander of the 447th Bomber Group, Major Lloyd Wilson Sheppard, and 1st Lt. William Devere Hoffman, who were apparently both flying as observers on this mission. They, too, were killed in the crash and, like the other crew members, were buried at Cologne’s Westfriedhof.
Top:
The crash site near Cologne
Below:
The crash site on the outskirts of Gleuel in an open field
Bottom:
The main section of the crashed and burned-out B-17.
The church in Gleuel can be seen in the background.
Above:
The anti-aircraft gunnery chart for the shoot-down of the B-17 "Mary Jane".
It indicates the altitude and time at which the target was engaged.
The impact point "Bachem" and the coordinates listed apply only to the parts of the aircraft that crashed here.
Left:
Excerpt from the anti-aircraft unit’s logbook.
Listed here are the individual anti-aircraft batteries
that participated in shooting down the B-17.
Source: Federal Archives RL5-1447
Above:
Detailed record of the B-17 crash,
including the initial burial site of the recovered remains,
at Cologne’s Westfriedhof Cemetery.
Source: National Archives, Washington, AV Records, Box 114-F1
Left:
Major Lloyd W. Sheppard.
He was the squadron commander of the 447th Bomber Group
and assigned as an observer on this flight.
Source: American Air Museum