Crash Site B17G "Stormy Weather"

On its way back from a mission to Berlin, the B17 G "Stormy Weather" of the 351st USAAF Bomber Group made an emergency landing here on 24 May 1944. The aircraft had taken off that morning from Polebrook Airfield in Northamptonshire, UK. Over Germany, it was heavily damaged by FLAK and the pilot Captain Clay decided to leave the formation. They hoped they were already flying over neutral Sweden when Clay ordered his crew to jump. However, they turned out to be still over southern Denmark and eight crew members came down on the Danish island of Als, and were soon captured. Clay and his co-pilot Frank Hatten made an emergency landing a few kilometres away and survived the crash. They too were captured and the entire crew survived the war in German captivity. On 24 May 2001, 57 years after the crash, a reunion was held in great interest with the crew and their relatives present.

The crew of the Stormy Weather consisted of:
Pilot: Captain Robert Blaine Clay
Co pilot: 1st. Lt. Frank Hatten
Navigator: 1st. Lt. Marshall Ray Pullen
Bombardier: 1st. Lt. George Walker Arnold
Top turret gunner: T/Sgt. Charles Bernard Jilcott
Radio : T/Sgt. Frank Heward Belsinger
Left waist gunner: S/Sgt. Daniel Harvey Surprise
Right waist gunner: S/Sgt. Franklin Leroy Travis
Ball Turret gunner: S/Sgt. Michael De'Marie
Tail gunner: 1st. Lt. James Hareld Wimmer

A short distance from the actual crash site is a monument commemorating this event.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Jes-Peder K. Lokke
• http://www.stormyweather.dk/
• https://www.airmen.dk/p326.htm