Delivered at Denver, Colorado on 29th August 1943, #42-37789 was originally assigned to the 303rd Bombardment Group at RAF Molesworth, on 18th September 1943. On 23rd October 1943 the aircraft had been transferred to the BAD (Base Air Depot) at Burtonwood. This was a maintenance and supply depot, used for repairs to aircraft that weren't possible at a Group level. Records show subsequently the 384th Bomb Group received the aircraft from Burtonwood, on the 2nd November 1943, with it being allocated to the 544th Bomb Squadron.

The aircraft was credited with 9 combat missions whilst with the 384th Bomb Group, between 26th November 1943 to 9th April 1944.

On the morning of 24th April 1944, B-17G #42-37789 was scheduled to be part of the 384th Bomb Group's mission #94, to the Dornier-Werke aircraft plant, at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. Due to technical difficulties at the last minute, the aircraft was withdrawn from the mission, with a ground spare taking its place.

The aircraft was worked on during the day by technicians, and records show that at 14.00 the aircraft took off from Grafton Underwood, with a crew of four, on a test flight. The crew of four were:-

Pilot                   Lt. Col. Alfred Charles Nuttall

Co-Pilot             2nd Lt. Alfred Holten Cole

Navigator          2nd Lt. Harold Francis Gantert

Radio operator T/Sgt. Charles Leroy Anderson

Immediately on take off, the crew realised they had a potentially lethal issue - fuel was spotted syphoning out of the #1 engine. The pilot tried rocking the aircraft violently in the hope of fixing the leak, but to no avail. The decision was made to land immediately, with the aircraft seemingly lining up on Runway 2. 

At 14.07, the aircraft was on final approach, and sitting around 15 feet above the runway. Possibly through throttling back the engines, the fuel suddenly caught light, causing an explosion that severed the outboard section of the wing from the aircraft.

Although still under control, the aircraft made a very heavy landing, which collapsed the left hand landing gear. This caused the aircraft to veer off to the left of the runway, with the aircraft coming to rest on the grass. A fire had continued to burn on the remaining section of wing, however all the crew were able to immediately, and safely, exit the aircraft.

Images show that emergency vehicles were on the scene quickly, however they were unable to contain the spread of the fire. By the time the blaze had been brought under control, very little remained other than the right wing and the tail section.

Research courtesy of Keith Andrews on behalf of 384th Bombardment Group Museum.

With kind thanks to the 384th Bomb Group website www.384thbombgroup.com for permission in using material from their records in the making of this story. It holds a wealth of information, documents and photographs of their activities during World War 2.