Enlisted men of the List Crew Standing: Richard Sherman (BG), Rueben Bratmoe (FE), Dick Price (WG) who was transferred to another crew in early 1944 when crews went from 10 men to 9 men. Front: Owen Crawford (TG), James Goonan (WG), Robert "Bobby" Stanley (ROG). (Courtesy of Susan Stanley Caver, niece of Robert Stanley). The List crew normally flew "Ula Lume." However, this aircraft was flown by the Coy crew and shot down on an earlier mission. The List crew was given "Snow White" to fly on the 15th. She was hit by flak over the target. One crew reported a wing breaking off Snow White before she entered a spin. 2 chutes were seen, but unconfirmed at the time of the report. Snow White was originally delivered to the 835th BS by the Cross Crew. (MACR 9491) John Wise had flown with "Ding Dong Daddy from Dixie" piloted by LT Stuart (835th) replaced LT VandeCasteele. He was making up his last few missions when he perished. LT VandeCasteele would complete his tour.
Story of the crash, as told to Susan Stanley by Norm Dahlstrom October 2006
Norm Dahlstrom, himself was flying the plane when they were initially hit. The tail gunner, Owen Crawford, who I talked to earlier, informed them over the intercom that the number one engine was on fire. The engines could not be seen from the cockpit. Norm actually deliberately moved the plane out of formation so as not to destroy any of the other planes if they blew up, as per training requirements. They went through the procedure to put out the fire and were able to shut down the engine. At that point,
they were giving the "four fingers up" OK sign.
They sustained 3 more hits. George List, the pilot, gave the order to abandon the aircraft over the intercom. At some point, the radios and intercom went out, so they were relying on hand signals. When List gave the order, he took over the controls of the plane. Norm got both his chute and George List's chute out from under the seats. He said they were snap-on type parachutes. He said it was very noisy because the plane had broken apart and crew members were giving the hand signals to bail out. Just
before he jumped, Norm said he made sure that List had his parachute. He said that George then gave him the OK sign and signaled for him to exit the aircraft, which he did. Immediately after he jumped, he saw the plane blow up in mid air. He bailed out at 28,500 feet and passed out shortly after - since, of course no one can stay conscience at that altitude without air. He said he remembers floating in the air and his right boot fell off. He landed in some trees. The plane broke apart just forward of the tail section. He later
learned that Crawford had to crawl to the open edge of the tail section as it was descending to jump out.
He said that they had very good training - and I gathered from what he was saying that despite all that was going on, they were busy responding with an organized procedure.
Story of the crash, as told to Susan Stanley by Owen Crawford
He was the tail gunner. It was their 19th mission. Their plane was hit and the number one engine caught on fire. He could look out the window and see the fire. This caused them to lag behind the rest of the formation. The pilot announced to abandon the aircraft. The tail section broke apart from the plane. He somehow made it out of the tail section (by crawling to the opening as the tail section descended) to parachute out. On his way down, he could see there were two other men waiting at the "waist door" to parachute out.
(I don't know if this was before or after Dahlstrom jumped, he didn't say). He could not make out who they were. Of course only two survived. He and Dahlstrom were taken to two separate camps. He was in Poland and Dahlstrom, the co-pilot, was taken to an "officers camp". From October 44 to Feb 45, he was a POW. In Feb 45, before the end of the war, they basically and literally walked out of the POW camp with their German guards - and literally walked for weeks until they reached a US camp. I don't know if he said where that camp
in Poland was. But at that point, the war was coming to a close, and the Germans feared the Russians more than the US, so they took their prisoners and found the nearest US base. Owen said it was coldest weather he had ever experienced. After they got to the US base, they were eventually taken to the US base hospital where they learned how to eat again.
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CREW INFO | |||||
Name | Rank | Position | First Mission | Last Mission | Status |
George List | 2nd LT | Pilot | 08/14/44 | 10/15/44 | KIA |
Norman R. Dahlstrom | 2nd LT | Co-pilot | 08/14/44 | 10/15/44 | POW |
Robert F. VandeCasteele | 2nd LT | Navigator | 08/14/44 | 01/10/45 | Completed tour. |
John B. Wise | 1st LT | Navigator | 05/07/44 | 10/15/44 | KIA - 30+ missions |
James D. Ellison | 2nd LT | Bombardier | 09/25/44 | 10/15/44 | KIA |
Rueben Bratmoe | SSGT | Engineer/Top | 08/14/44 | 10/15/44 | KIA |
James T. Goonan | SSGT | Waist Gunner | 08/14/44 | 10/15/44 | KIA |
Owen Crawford | SSGT | Tail Gunner | 08/14/44 | 10/15/44 | POW |
Robert F. Stanley | SSGT | Radio/Waist | 08/14/44 | 10/15/44 | KIA |
Richard A. Sherman | SSGT | Ball Gunner | 08/14/44 | 10/15/44 | KIA |
MISSION INFO | |||||
MISSION | DATE | NAME | ID | S/N | TYPE |
061 | 08/14/44 | Ula Lume | NJ | 43-37972 | B17G-75-BO |
062 | 08/15/44 | TL | 43-38040 | B17G | |
067 | 08/26/44 | Rack and Ruin | NT | 43-37899 | B17G |
068 | 08/27/44 | Rack and Ruin | NT | 43-37899 | B17G |
070 | 09/01/44 | NG | 43-37966 | B17G | |
071 | 09/03/44 | NG | 43-37966 | B17G | |
072 | 09/05/44 | NG | 43-37966 | B17G | |
074 | 09/10/44 | NG | 43-37966 | B17G | |
075 | 09/11/44 | NG | 43-37966 | B17G | |
077 | 09/13/44 | Goin' Jesse | NK | 43-37954 | B17G |
078 | 09/17/44 | NG | 43-37966 | B17G | |
080 | 09/21/44 | NG | 43-37966 | B17G | |
084 | 09/28/44 | TP | 43-37992 | B17G | |
087 | 10/05/44 | NG | 43-37966 | B17G | |
089 | 10/07/44 | NG | 43-37966 | B17G | |
090 | 10/09/44 | Goin' Jesse | NK | 43-37954 | B17G |
092 | 10/15/44 | Snow White | NR | 43-38136 | B17G |
Created 08/03/99 | Modified 12/23/16 |
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