WWII Vets' Photos from the 388th Heavy Bomb Group flying out of Knettishall - East Anglia

[Anthony]

Amazing! The navigator on Little Boy Blue was my uncle! He is in a number of the photos, including one he autographed to Gordon Penton! I have a photo of Penton that he autographed and gave to my uncle! Thanks for posting these pictures.

[Adrian]

Amazing! The navigator on Little Boy Blue was my uncle! He is in a number of the photos, including one he autographed to Gordon Penton! I have a photo of Penton that he autographed and gave to my uncle! Thanks for posting these pictures.

Excellent set of photos and suddenly it seems the world got a bit smaller! Welcome to the forum Anthony, how did you end up on this thread? Have you got any photos you can post here?

[Woolgar]

Great photos .. best viewed while listening to Glenn Miller !

B-17 WW2 Bombing raids (to moonlight serenade) - YouTube

Nick

[ObKrieger]

Really great photos. I bet Bill would have a blast colorizing some of these.

[COLT 1911A1]

On a second glimpse i noticed in the 3rd photo from the top that the airman kneeling near 1st Lt. Penton is packing a M1911A1 in a cowboy holster while the one standing near is wearing a shoulder holster as a waist one !!! In another photo the airman is wearing the same shoulder holster in the left side of his waist...
Talking about rules, i like the freedom of WWII airmen to arm themselfs flying in a weapon itself.

[Paul D]

Great photos .. best viewed while listening to Glenn Miller !

B-17 WW2 Bombing raids (to moonlight serenade) - YouTube

Nick

Good link Nick , always had a lot of time and interest in the Bomber Boys both British and American !!

[kalehond]

Very, very nice photo's! I personally like the in flight ones, thanks for sharing man!

[Bird Dog]

Fantastic pictures, thank you for sharing them.

B-17F 'Little Boy Blue' flew it's 67 & final mission with Lt Walter H. Malaniak at the controls on Weds 19th July 1944, during formation at 07.25 a resulting mid air collision with a 96th BG B-17 flown by Lt Colflesh saw 'Little Boy Blue' auger into farmland minus its tail section near Thurston, Suffolk & explode resulting in complete destruction of the aircraft.
We excavated the site in mid September 1986 & recovered a .50 cal MG from the top turret, many large chunks of 1000lb bomb shrapnel, personel items & clothing, part of an A-2 jacket, right GI service boot, one section of tyre, ball turret remains & small sections of airframe. One large chunk recovered at the time which is part of the rear fuselage section close to the rear entry door resides at the 94th BG Museum at Rougham Airfield. Ian covered the story which can be found P 104 Chapt.21 in Eighth Air Force Bomber Stories.

Ian's series of books are well worth hunting down in the library, they cover a great many of our digs from the mid 1970's right up to present day & a great read for those interested in East Anglian aviation archaeology.

[Javi E]

Hi all,

maybe a late post, but i have a lot of docus from a member from 388th, his name was S/Sgt. Floyd E. Pernu 39421743, he was a gunner and his plane was shot down over Germany near the end of the war and he was taken prisoner.after the war he returned to US.
but i have no photos from him or aircraft name, can someone help me with this? maybe any of you know this guy, or maybe a crew from the planes you talk about.

one more detail is that Pernu flow in a B17G and not F, if someone wants to see some papers just let me know.

best
Javi ;-)

[FJR6]

These photos are amazing. Thanks for taking the time to post them up here.

I've never visited Knettishall but myself and a good friend do plan to tour that part of East Anglia when work/family permits. If we do eventually make it there I'll get some photos of the base as it is now and post them on here.