B17 Linda Mary

B-17F. LINDA MARY 533 Squadron. 381st Bomb Group.
Serial # 42-29984. Boeing built. Assigned to 533BS/381BG [code VP]. Ridgewell Essex England 16th June 1943. Lost 22nd June 1943. Badly damaged by enemy fire and forced to crash-land on the English east coast.
Serial # 42-3215 Douglas built. Delivered: Cheyenne 3rd March 1943; Assigned: 533BS/381BG [code VP-S] Ridgewell 28th April 1943. Pilot: Martin Shenk. Co-Pilot: Bill Grant. Navigator:Tom Keheley. Bombardier; Moses Hoppenstein. Engineer/Top Turret Gunner; Shirley Goucher. Radio Operator: John Sinclair. Ball Turret Gunner; George Bardsley. Waist Gunners; Mitch LaBuda & Jim Sloan. Tail Gunner; Chas Brinton.

MIA (Missing in Action) Berlin 6th March 1944. Pilot; Rich Coyle. Co-Pilot; John Wierman. Navigator; Bob Hassletine. Bombardier; Bob Baker. Engineer/Top Turret Gunner; Alby Seabaugh. Radio Operator; Pete Smith. Ball Turret Gunner; Dan Mendoza. Waist Gunner; John Mueller. Tail Gunner; Louis Schultz, all nine become POWs; Waist Gunner; Ray Legg was killed in action. Aircraft crashed in Magdeburg area, Germany.

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry outperformed both competitors and exceeded the air corps' performance specifications. Although Boeing lost the contract because the prototype crashed, the air corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation. From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances.
The B-17 was primarily employed by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in the daylight strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial and military targets. The United States Eighth Air Force, based at many airfields in eastern, central and southern England, complemented the RAF Bomber Command's nighttime area bombing in the Combined Bomber Offensive to help secure air superiority over the cities, factories and battlefields of Western Europe in preparation for the invasion of France in 1944.
The B-17F variants were the primary versions flying for the Eighth Air Force to face the Germans in 1943, and had standardized the manned Sperry ball turret for ventral defense, replacing the earlier, ten-panel well-framed bombardier's nose glazing from the B subtype with an enlarged, nearly frameless Plexiglas bombardier's nose enclosure for improved forward vision.
Ridgewell is located 7.5 miles (12.1 km) north west of Halstead, Essex, England and was an early example of stations completed to Class A heavy bomber airfield design for the RAF, and had three intersecting runways of 6,500 ft each in length, thirty-six hardstands, two T-2 hangars and accommodation for 2,900 men in temporary buildings. The airfield was opened in December 1942 and was first used by No. 90 Squadron of RAF Bomber Command, equipped with Short Stirling Bombers until May 1943, the station being at that time a satellite of RAF Stradishall. RAF Ridgewell was the only long-term heavy bomber airfield of the Eighth Air Force in Essex. For United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) use, the number of hard standings was increased to the fifty required by a US bomb group. From 30th June 1943 the airfield was used by the USAAF 381st Bombardment Group (Heavy), arriving from Pueblo AAB, Colorado. Its tail code was Triangle-L. The 381st Bomb Group consisted of the following operational squadrons and fuselage codes: 532nd Bombardment Squadron (VE) 533nd Bombardment Squadron (VP) 534th Bombardment Squadron (GD) 535th Bombardment Squadron (MS).
After V-E Day, the 381st Bomb Group returned to Sioux Falls AAF, South Dakota in July 1945 and was inactivated on 28th August. After the war, RAF Ridgewell was used for bomb storage from 15th July 1945 to 31st March 1957. It was then disposed of and sold. The United States Air Force retained the old aircraft hangars which were used by units from nearby RAF Wethersfield and RAF Alconbury for storage until both airfields were closed in the early 1990s. With the end of military control, the majority of the airfield was returned to agriculture, with the buildings and control tower being torn down. The concrete runways and hardstands were removed for hardcore, although much of the perimeter track was reused for country roads, albeit at a reduced width. There are several memorials to the men of Ridgewell. One is dedicated to the men of RAF 90 Squadron, while a second is dedicated to the USAAF 381st Bombardment Group. Both are located on the site of the USAAF airfield hospital, where a small museum is also located. A further memorial commemorates those who lost their lives in a bomb loading accident on 23rdJune 1943.Constructed in October 2014; the memorial is located close to the site of the explosion next to RAF Ridgewell's former perimeter track at Ovington.