43-38052
Crashes > of the USAAF
Over nine hundred B-17s, accompanied by more than 500 fighter planes as escort, attacked the rail yards at Cologne-Eifeltor and Cologne-Gremberg that morning.
Only one B-17 was lost in the mission: it was the 43-38052 of the 366th Bombardment Squadron, commanded by 2nd Lt. Emil V. Potucek.
His aircraft took a direct hit from anti-aircraft fire in the left wing, causing two engines to catch fire immediately. The wing broke off at the level of the second engine; the aircraft flipped onto its back and crashed uncontrollably to the ground. It crashed in an open field near the Merten station in Bornheim and burned completely. Only two crew members survived the crash; they were captured on the ground while wounded and taken as German prisoners of war.
Seven crew members were later recovered dead from the wreckage and buried in the cemeteries in Bornheim and Waldorf.
Top:
The area between Bornheim and Merten on the left bank of the Rhine
Below:
The crash site in Merten near the train station
Bottom:
The tail section of the crashed B-17G
Source: American Air Museum
Left:
Excerpt from the anti-aircraft diary dated October 17, 1944
noting the shootdown at 9:25 a.m.
Left:
The pilot of the B-17G, 2nd Lt. Emil V. Potucek
left:
The Navigator of the B-17G, 2nd Lt. George C. Skeen