Neil E. Byers Crew photo from Lester Schrenk 08 DEC 2014 Updated: 26 JAN 2015
Airman: o888185.htm Surname: Byers Init: N E Rank: S/Sgt Service: USAAF Sqdn: 327
P_link: p271.htm Plane: B17 42-31377 Operation: Attack DK Crash_site: Near Hørdum
Crash_d: d220244 Buried_d: o888 C_link: o888.htm At_Next: POW
B17 42-31377 med navnet Pot O´Gold var 22. februar
1944 sammen med en del andre fly på bombetogt til Aalborg West Lufthavn (her)
som afledningsmanøvre
for
et større bombetogt mod Ruhr-området i Tyskland.
Dårlig sigtbarhed forhindrede flyene i at bombe lufthavnen. På tilbagevejen blev
dette fly beskadiget af tyske
Me109
og
Ju88 over Nordsøen, så Pilot 2nd Lt W.R. Lavies valgte at vende om for at
nå Thy
(omkring
her). Alle 10
flyvere sprang
ud med faldskærm. Flyet styrtede
ned
her ca. 500 m nordvest for Koustrup
Møllegård, Damsgårdvej 3, Sønderhå, 7752 Thisted (Kilde: Niels Møller).
En vinge
styrtede
ned ved gården omkring
her. Se dele af flyet
B17 42-31377 "Pot O' Gold" på gårdspladsen. 9 af flyverne
landede på jorden. Se ID+Lester Schrenk.
Se Lester Schrenk - Den dag jeg blev taget til
fange og Beretning fra Herluf Munkholm
efter Kom ned med faldskærm i Thy i dag
for 70 år siden 2014.
Næste dag blev de 9 overlevende
flyvere sendt med tog til Tyskland. Alle overlevede krigen, men i maj 2008 var kun en enkelt
flyver og Lester Schrenk tilbage.
Schrenk fra Minnesota, Byers fra Arkansas, Harman fra Ohio, Guastella fra Florida, Walcott
fra Pennsylvania og Swindler fra Colorado blev ført til Tyske
krigsfangelejre.
Fra Dulag Luft blev sergenterne ført til
Stalag Luft 6
Heydekrug. De blev adskilt under den hårde transport til
Stalag
Luft
4 Gross-Tychow. "Swindler og Walcott var i en anden lejr men stadig i Stalag
Luft 4, og vi så dem ikke igen fra da af. Vi mødtes dog igen i England." (Lester
Schrenk)
I februar 1945 kom de på en march på 86 dage
og omkring 1100 km - se
kort
- gennem det
nordlige Polen og Tyskland for at undgå Allierede styrker.
De blev befriet af den
engelske 8 Armé den 3. maj 1945.
Se meget mere ved
Lester Schrenk og
Foto af en B-17 + B-17 i airmen.dk samt
B-17 Ball Turret, Ammunition og Ball Turret
Gunner.
Staff Sergeant Neil E. Byers var Top Turret Gunner. Se tegning af besætningen på en B-17. 10 flyvere.
On 22 February 1944
together with a number of other planes
B17 42-31377 "Pot O´Gold" was on a bombing raid to Aalborg West
Airfield (here)
as a diversion for
a greater bombing raid to the Ruhr area in Germany. Bad
visibility prevented the planes from bombing the airfield. This plane was
damaged on the return flight by
German
Me109s and
Ju88s over the North Sea,
so Pilot 2nd Lt W.R. Lavies decided to return to reach Thy (about
here). All 10 airmen
bailed out. The plane crashed
here about 500 m northwest of Koustrup Møllegård,
Damsgårdvej 3, Sønderhå, 7752 Thisted (Source: Niels Møller). A wing crashed at
the farm about
here.
See parts from the plane
B17 42-31377 "Pot O' Gold" in the yard.
9 of the airmen landed on the ground. See ID + Lester
Schrenk.
See also The day of my
capture and Account from Herluf Munkholm
after Came down by parachute in Thy on this day
70 years ago 22 FEB 2014.
Next day the 9 surviving crew members were sent
by train to Germany. All of them survived
the war, but in May 2008 only a single airman and Lester Schrenk were left.
The enlisted men Schrenk from Minnesota, Byers from Arkansas, Harman from Ohio,
Guastella from Florida, Walcott from Pennsylvania and Swindler from Colorado
were taken to
German POW-Camps. From
Dulag Luft Oberursel they were
taken to Stalag Luft 6
Heydekrug. They got separated during the
Heydekrug Run to
Stalag
Luft
4 Gross-Tychow. "Swindler and Walcott were in another compound, but still at
Stalag Luft 4 and we did not see them from then on. We did meet again in
England." (Lester Schrenk)
In February 1945 a
march of
86 days some 700 miles (see map) across northern Poland and northern Germany started
to avoid capture by Allied forces. The group was liberated
by the British Eighth Army on 3 May 1945.
(Source:
MY POW
EXPERIENCE and
THE EVACUATION OF STALAG LUFT VI
by Lester Schrenk)
See
much more at
Lester Schrenk and
Photo of a B-17 + B-17s in airmen.dk and
B-17 Ball Turret, Ammunition and the story
of a Ball Turret
Gunner.
Staff Sergeant Neil E. Byers was the Top Turret Gunner. See a drawing of the crew of a B-17.
8
Air Force, 1 BD, 40 CBW, 92 BG, 327 BS *
RAF Podington *
92nd USAAF-USAF Memorial Association with
Missions 1944, see
Losses 22 FEB 1944.
See a painting of Pot O' Gold * Crew
photo
from Lester Schrenk 08 DEC 2014 * B-17 Flight 2013. 10 airmen.