349TH SQDN. CREW, AS ABOVE, JOINED THE 100TH ON 12 JUN 1944. ON THE MAGDEBURG MISSION OF 5 AUG 44, S/SGT DANIEL J. SULLIVAN WAS ABOARD AS THE NG AND BECAME A POW. HE WAS FROM THE L.R. ROEDIGER CREW.pw

"On August 5, 1944 we were on our 14th mission. Just before the target we were forced out of formation by another aircraft. At that time we were hit by flak near the upper turret and behind the pilot. The plane began to burn. Just before being hit we had salvoed the bombs. There was a hell of an explosion and then the plane caught fire. We were at 24,000 feet. I managed to get out of the ball. The Waist Gunner and Radio Operator went out of the plane first, then me followed by the Tail Gunner. There was no bail out signal because the plane was destroyed when first hit by flak."

Report by Lt. Edward J. Konopack adds that he and F/O Fred W. Harvey were unable to bail out because of the aircraft was in a spin but the ship blew up and they were thrown out by the force of the explosion. Probably the centrifugal force prevented Scott from getting out or the initial flak hit may have killed him

HEADQUARTERS
100TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP (H)
Office of the Intelligence Officer

SUBJECT: Report on T/Sgt. Lloyd E. Maltbie, 18193937

To:
T/5 James P. Hill, 38182822, 34th Evac. Hosp. (SM). APO 403 %
Postmaster, New York City, New York
APO 559

31 July 1945

1. All information we have at this Headquarters concerning T/Sgt. Lloyd E. Maltbie, 18193937, is as follows: He was Engineer and Top Turret gunner on a B-17 crew. His pilot was Lt. Bert L. Scott. On the mission of 5 August 1944, he was flying in A/C #639 (last three numbers). This A/C was seen to be in distress just before bombs away over the target of Magdeburg, Germany. It fell out of formation and jettisoned its bombs. Soon after that fire broke out in it's #2 engine, spread into the left wing and seemed to just about cover the entire plane in a very short time. A few chutes were seen in the vicinity, but observing crew members did not know if they came from this A/C. The A/C continued down in a shallow glide and it was believed that all crew members could have bailed out. This happened at 12:52 hours. Anti-aircraft fire was intense and it is possible that Sgt. Maltbie and his pilot, Lt. Scott, were both killed in the A/C. All other members of the crew were prisoners of war and have subsequently been liberated.

2. The A/C in question must have crashed a few miles from Magdeburg, but there are no reports confirming this fact. It is possible that the battle causality office in Paris had more information. Also the Adjutant General's Office in Washington, D.C. should have further information concerning the two member of this crew who were killed. I regret my inability to give you any definite information, but trust this letter may furnish leads to the answer of all your questions.

Sincerely,

Charles W. Terry
Capt., Air Corps.
P. W. Officer

Subj: Re: 100thBG Form Submission
Date: 7/26/2001 6:35:56 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: Gimlet8746

To: MPFaley

File: dadb17.jpg (107604 bytes) DL Time (26400 bps): < 1 minute

According to talks I had with my dad the plane was hit by flak in the still open bomb bay shortly after dropping its load. The engineer was killed in the explosion and my father believed the pilot died due to removing his oxygen mask during the ensuing panic. He confirmed this in a meeting with CP Elmore Harvey at a VFW in St. Johnbury, VT (Harvey's hometown) in the early 1960's at which I was present. My father was thrown free when the aircraft exploded and parachuted safely to the ground. I would love to somehow have you folks look at the diary I mentioned, but I'm afraid you may be getting too exited about it's content. Perhaps describing it as a "diary" was a poor choice of words. It's a little hardback blank book called a "Wartime Log" that I believe was distributed to POW's by the YMCA through the Red Cross. My dad chose to fill it with drawings of the camp and POW life, labels from Red Cross parcels, books he read, etc. As a record of life in a German Stalag it seems invaluable, but I don't think it would help a Bomb Group historian that much. I will, of course, leave that to your best judgment and will remain in touch. I will try to have a copy made of the crew picture but in the meantime I am attaching a jpg photo of it. I think it may have been taken in the states because of the lack of paint on the airplane. My dad is third from the right.

Sincerely,
Ed Konopack

Subj: Re: 100thBG Form Submission
Date: 7/27/2001 4:56:14 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: Gimlet8746 Ed Konopack Jr

To: MPFaley

Mike, Dad always referred to himself as a Bombardier-Navigator. I'm going to have to do some looking but I'm pretty sure I have an old yearbook of his around somewhere. If memory serves it was from Demming, NM and his graduation and commissioning upon completion of bombardier training. I always thought he had put in the vast majority of his B-17 time as a bombardier. I know he went to Demming after washing out of pilot training, however I don't know why he washed out. He always told a story about a mission shortly before he was shot down when the navigator was apparently somewhat shook up. I felt Dad was doing double duty as both bom and nav during the mission when he was shot down .For whatever reason, I know he did know navigation. When I went through nav training at Mather AFB, CA in 1969 he knew enough about what I was doing to convince me.

Mike, You say there were cases where bombardiers were used as navigators because they were trained for the job and toggeliers were used. Isn't that exactly what we're talking about here? In the "Wartime Log" I've mentioned, Dad listed a Joseph Sullivan as the toggelier. I assume this is Daniel Sullivan and the reason Dad got the name wrong is because the last mission was Sullivan's first with the crew and Dad just didn't know him that well (or maybe Daniel J. Sullivan went by "Joe").I've checked all of Dad's wartime wings and they're all bombardier wings. So are the miniature wings attached to the end of his dog tag chain and the wings mounted on a bracelet for my Mom. He was described in local papers at the time he was reported missing and at the time he was reported a POW as a bombardier. I don't remember anyone referring to him as anything else. He certainly considered himself a bombardier. The fact that the picture shows him wearing said wings seems perfectly normal to me. The picture was definitely taken after the official end of the war. Dad wasn't liberated until April 29, 1945 and by the time he got home, spent some time with Mom in the recovery camps and gained back the weight he had lost (he appears hale and hearty in the photo) it would have been at least late 1945 or early 1946. The ribbons are the (left to right on the left breast) Air Medal w/1OLC, Purple Heart, and EAME Campaign. The Presidential Unit Citation is on the right breast. He was in fact a 1st Lt. when the photo was taken.

Ed Konopack Jr