B-17G 42-31795 Pysonya perhaps the only pics of her and crew

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Attn: Wayne -- B-17F 42-5951 "O Pissonya"

I think Wayne might be able to add some photos for another B-17 with a similar name. This one was 42-5951, a B-17F-35-VE named "O Pissonya" delivered new to Long Beach on 5/30/43. It was assigned to the 301st BG/419th BS at Oudna on 8/12/43.There is some conflicting information regarding this 419th BS assignment. Some sources say it flew with the 353rd BS of the 301st. It transfered to the 341BS/97BG after 17 missions. She crashed at Plovdiv on 6/23/44 and Kingsley was MOH

Wayne, this is the one depicted in the huge painted mural on the side of a building in downtown Klamath Falls, Oregon. Kingsley Field was named after her co-pilot which stayed with the ship so that the others could get out.

Lowell... though I no longer live there, I drive through Kfalls fairly often, I should make a point of stopping by there... Steve S. still calls "OrderitFalls" his home, maybe we could get him to stop by?

Wayne

[Lowell]

Re: B-17G 42-31795 Pysonya perhaps the only pics of her and crew

The mural is nicely done. I was last there in my 35mm days maybe 6 years ago and coming home from Reno I was OUT of film. We pulled into that parking lot to find a restaurant and were amazed to see the giant B-17 painting. I later found out that the airplane had served in my dad's Squadron (419th BS) and was really upset I hadn't bought another roll of film then.

Steve, can you photograph it please, and the placque or painted script, (I don't remember which) that is below it?

I have a fairly good 8 x 10 air to air of this B-17 I'll send you.

Lowell
thunderp51@aol.com

[rwflyboy]

Re: B-17G 42-31795 Pysonya perhaps the only pics of her and crew

Leo,,, any more info about all the stuff you ended up with...if you put into a book or anything...let us know...

That would be a excellent read to have.

[2101]

Re: B-17G 42-31795 Pysonya perhaps the only pics of her and crew

Lt. David Kingsley was the bombadier.He placed his chute on a wounded crewman whose chute was shot off and threw him out the bomb bay.Ed Anderson was the pilot who later was the shop foreman for Calif. Engine Service in Livermore.His son Ray now owns what became of the business and now operates out of Idaho.His shop is responsible for the engines on Czech Mate and Steadfast amoung others.

[AGreene]

Re: B-17G 42-31795 Pysonya perhaps the only pics of her and crew

I was fortunate to do a plumbing job for a man in Roseville calif who had a pic of this plane and its crew on his wall, His father was the captain and flew it for 55 missions and was rotated out, the next crew to fly her was shot down and all became POW's. Below is about all I could find on her and I think this may be the only pic of her and the crew. Just thought I would share this with you all. Feel free to add to this as any info will be emailed to my customer. His father never really talked about his war duties he said. Just had this pic and a pic of his crew on his office wall.





from: http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/1942_2.html
ser# 231795 (463rd BG, 774th BS) lost Jul 13, 1944. MACR 6858


From: http://www.b17database.de/data.php?block=72
42-31795/Pysonya
(BO) 463/774/?? 14/07/1944 Abgeschossen durch Flak beim Einsatz nach Budapest, Ungarn. 10 POW
Shot down by flak on mission to Budapest, Hungary. 10 POW


From: http://www.463rd.com/1944missions.htm
I found the following mission logs from the 463 bomber group, it says they lost one plane on 7-14-44 over the Budapest marshalling grounds. That has to be the Pysonya
13 Jul Verona, Italy Marshalling Yards 24-0, good results
14 Jul Budapest, Hungary Marshalling Yards 25-1, good results

Bob,
My neighbor found this web site posting last night, himself a retired Air Force Pilot. I didn’t realize you had my Father’s photos and story up.

My Father’s name was Roland L. Greene Jr. In the photo of the crew, he is kneeling in the first row with the baseball cap, second from the left. He may have told me about the Distinguished Unit Citations, I seem to have a vague memory of him telling me but I would not have appreciated what they represented. In reviewing his log he flew 4 missions to Ploesti, 3 took 7 hrs 30 +/-, the May 18th mission took 8 hrs 30 minutes.

I am pleased that people are interested in his and the crew’s stories. He would be both pleased and embarrassed at the same time. After the war, he went on to a successful management career with JC Penney’s in California. He retired to own and operate Hallmark Gift Shops in Roseville, CA. I scattered his ashes from a plane April 1, 1995,

All the Best,
Alan L. Greene
Roseville, CA

[slhornung]

Re: B-17G 42-31795 Pysonya perhaps the only pics of her and crew

The Pysonya is my grandfather J.D. Bennett's Plane he is the second from the left on the top row in the photo. his job was the engineer top terriet gunner and plane medic. They were shot down over Budapest ,and was a prisoner of war at Stalag luft IV ,during his captivity he was on the 86 day death march. He turned 90 March 5 of this year and we lost him to a battle of sudden illness in June. He was an amazing man with the most interesting stories about the Pysonya and his time in the Military we will miss him greatly. His memory though will live on in our family because we have the privilege of having him to record all of his accounts on audio tape for us and our children to enjoy forever. We are truly grateful he came home to us once he was liberated.

[slhornung]

Re: B-17G 42-31795 Pysonya perhaps the only pics of her and crew

I would love to talk with you in detail about the pysonya it is a true gem in my family it is my grandfathers plane and I have heard many stories about it over the years. He is the second from the left on the top row in the photo: JD Bennett top turret gunner/engineer/ plane medic. 3/5/1920-6/6/2010 he will be greatly missed.

[Mark Schwartz]

Re: B-17G 42-31795 Pysonya perhaps the only pics of her and crew

Allen,
My father was James Leon Schwartz. He was the CO-Pilot substitute for Roland L. Greene on the Pysonya when it when it went down when the Pysonya took a direct flack hit in the nose and went down. I have a hand written letter from E.M. (Marty) Eagan's wife or girl friend to my father. My father wrote to Marty's ( Laura) to explain what happened on that flight when she got a direct hit on that flight to bomb Budapest on July 14, 1944. My father was a fill in with your dad's crew on that flight. He survived and spent months in several prison camps. I'm still researching his career and finding out what happened to him.

Mark Schwartz

Bob,
My neighbor found this web site posting last night, himself a retired Air Force Pilot. I didn’t realize you had my Father’s photos and story up.

My Father’s name was Roland L. Greene Jr. In the photo of the crew, he is kneeling in the first row with the baseball cap, second from the left. He may have told me about the Distinguished Unit Citations, I seem to have a vague memory of him telling me but I would not have appreciated what they represented. In reviewing his log he flew 4 missions to Ploesti, 3 took 7 hrs 30 +/-, the May 18th mission took 8 hrs 30 minutes.

I am pleased that people are interested in his and the crew’s stories. He would be both pleased and embarrassed at the same time. After the war, he went on to a successful management career with JC Penney’s in California. He retired to own and operate Hallmark Gift Shops in Roseville, CA. I scattered his ashes from a plane April 1, 1995,

All the Best,
Alan L. Greene
Roseville, CA

[Mark Schwartz]

Re: B-17G 42-31795 Pysonya perhaps the only pics of her and crew

Picture of the Pysonya going down July 14, 1944 on its last Mission to bomb Budapest Hungry right after taking a direct flack hit in the nose knocking it off the plane. My father was a fill in Co-Pilot on that B-17 and his name was James Leon Schwartz

[Matt58]

Re: B-17G 42-31795 Pysonya perhaps the only pics of her and crew

This is simply amazing! Thanks so much for sharing!

[SkyvanDelta]

Re: B-17G 42-31795 Pysonya perhaps the only pics of her and crew

Picture of the Pysonya going down July 14, 1944 on its last Mission to bomb Budapest Hungry right after taking a direct flack hit in the nose knocking it off the plane. My father was a fill in Co-Pilot on that B-17 and his name was James Leon Schwartz

1. Look at the damage to the nose section. Completely gone and still flying. Imagine what that must have been like inside? Scary. According to the text in the picture, "5 crewmen bailed out, plane crashed in Budapest." Was it a controlled crash and was anyone killed, seriously injured on board during the flak blast that took off the nose section or during the crash landing?

2. When you see the second picture of the Pysonya flight crew in the first thread, it must have been uncommon to have a picture taken, and they did not take pictures prior to every flight, correct? I'm assuming that they were too busy or too depressed to think about taking pictures. The picture taken may have been their last picture. Who wants to pose for a picture when you may be killed in action?

[Leo]

Re: B-17G 42-31795 Pysonya perhaps the only pics of her and crew

The caption says it crashed near Budapest. This picture is in most B-17 books, now a personal tie-in!
It's hard to tell if any of the flight deck is still there. Was your father one of those lost, Mark?
5 crew bailing out accounts for the tail and waist gunners, radio operator and top turret or ball. In a situation like this it would be hard for the ball to escape as he had to raise the turret, enter the fuselage, clip on his chute, then bail. It would have had to fly along like that for a while for him to accomplish all of that.
Looks like pilot, co-pilot, navigator and bombardier went pretty much instantly.

[mgbf4u]

Re: B-17G 42-31795 Pysonya perhaps the only pics of her and crew

It's like seeing the "Ruptured Duck" for the first time.
Then you find out that means something.
Americans are so cool.
Proud to be red, white and blue...
Engineman Third Class United States Navy Proud