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Personal info

Full name
MAC PHEE, George Anthony
Date of birth
18 November 1923
Age
20
Place of birth
Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts
Hometown
Essex County, Massachusetts

Military service

Service number
31311381
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Ball Turret Gunner
Unit
568th Bombardment Squadron,
390th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
18 September 1944
Place of death
Lomianki, Poland

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
A 33 35

Immediate family

Members
John A. Mac Phee (father)
Harriet Mac Phee (stepmother)

Plane data

Serial number
43-38175
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: I'll Be Seeing You/Till We Meet Again
Destination: Warsaw
Mission: Dropping of supply containers
MACR: 10205

More information

S/Sgt George A. Mac Phee enlisted in Boston, Massachusetts, on 19 April 1943.

During the seventh and last shuttle mission of Operation Frantic, 107 B-17s were sent out to drop 12,484 containers of supplies to the Polish resistance forces in Warsaw, Poland. One B-17 was lost.

About 1242 hours, the airplane was hit by flak and attacked by fighters and peeled out of formation to the right, with #1 engine afire. Also, the left horizontal stabilizer began to disintegrate. The plane dropped its load. The waist escape hatch came off. The plane went down in controlled glide to 8,000 feet, at which altitude it exploded at about 1246 hours. Two parachutes were reported.

After the war, T/Sgt Marcus L. Shook, the Radio Operator who survived, stated: 'The plane crashed at 1250 hours approximately 50 km northwest of Warsaw. One engine caught fire. I bailed out at 10,000 or 14,000 feet. No one was killed or injured before the plane crashed. A wing blew off in midair.

It was the crew's 15th mission.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Jean Louis Vijgen, Terry Hirsch, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.ancestry.com - U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, WWII Draft Card

Photo source: Mireille Goedhart, www.findagrave.com - Cindy