The story
On February 21st 1944, at arround 9.00 in the morning 36 B-17’s belonging to the 457th Bomb Group started their engines to go on the groups first mission.
Colonel Luper, group commander, took off at 10:19 with Major Wilson, deputy group commander, taking off just behind him at 10:29. The 36 planes would split up in an A and B formation with two separate targets in Germany.
The first planes arrived back at Glatton after 1500 hours and the last coming in after 1710 hours. The mission didn’t go as planned but a lot was learned from this mission. Harsh reality struck on base when the B-17 of Lt. Bredeson didn’t return and when the body of sgt. Seymour Pliss was removed from a badly damaged B-17.
Crew: Seymour C. Pliss and William H. Schenkel (one of the perons in the crew photo)
There's more to discover
You have arrived at just one small part of Back to Normandy — a personal project dedicated to preserving stories, images, music and memories of the Second World War.
Every record is a doorway to a larger story. Explore Back to Normandy to discover more, or visit Fred Vogels' personal website to learn about the person and the projects behind it.