Gunners of the 385th Bomb Group pose in front of B-17F Fortress

Caption     Gunners of the 385th Bomb Group pose in front of B-17F Fortress "Mission Belle" and listen to a word from the Chaplain, James O. Kincannon (“Chaplain Jim”), at Great Ashfield Air Field, England, UK, late 1944. ww2dbase
Photographer   
Source    ww2dbaseUnited States Army Air Force
More on...   
B-17 Flying Fortress   Main article  Photos  Maps  
Photos at Same Place Suffolk, England, United Kingdom
Added By David Stubblebine

This photograph has been scaled down; full resolution photograph is available here (1,200 by 934 pixels).

Licensing  Public Domain. According to the United States copyright law (United States Code, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105), in part, "[c]opyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government".

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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Anonymous says:
8 Jun 2018 09:22:05 AM

This B-17 was actually with the 385th Bomb Group which consisted of the 548th, 549th, 550th and 551st bomb squadrons. This would have been at Great Ashfield, England.
2. Commenter identity confirmed David Stubblebine says:
9 Jun 2018 12:22:04 PM

Anonymous (above):
Thank you very much for leaving your comment. It prompted me to do a lot more looking into this photo and this aircraft. Firstly, I concur with everything you said, adding that this aircraft was not only with the 385th Bomb Group but flew with the 551st Bomb Squadron. The caption and location information has been updated. Thank you again.

This particular photograph was a staged photo for the benefit of the press. None of these men were assigned to this aircraft. The American Air Museum in Britain has an extensive caption they say is from the back of this photo. That identifies the gunners a (L to R): TSgt Howard G Butler of Dallas, Tex; SSgt Walter F Stephens of Los Angeles, Calif, and SSgt Roger D Palmer of Grand Island, Neb.

This aircraft (B-17F #42-30197) was damaged by flak 11 Apr 1944 during their bomb run over the synthetic fuel factories in Pölitz, Germany (now Poland) and later crash landed in Kristianopel, Sweden where all ten crewmen survived and were interred.

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WW2-Era Place Name Suffolk, England, United Kingdom
Lat/Long 52.2572, 0.9356
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