Missing information?
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Submit- Full
name
FOSTER, Frank Mason - Date of
birth
30 December 1921 -
Age
22 - Place of
birth
Leominster, Worcester County, Massachusetts -
Hometown
Leominster, Worcester County, Massachusetts
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
O-806612 -
Rank
Second Lieutenant -
Function
Navigator -
Unit
331st Bombardment Squadron,
94th Bombardment Group, Heavy
-
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters
Death
-
Status
Finding of Death - Date of
death
3 March 1944 - Place of
death
Itzehoe, Germany
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten - Walls of the Missing
Immediate family
-
Members
Frank N. Foster (father)
Emily N. (Chandler) Foster (mother)
Norman C. Foster (brother)
Nathan Foster (brother)
Plane data
- Serial
number
42-38075 -
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Berlin
Mission: Bombing of the industrial areas
MACR: 2794
More information
2nd Lt Frank M. Foster graduated from Leominster High School, attended Worceiser Polytechnic Institute and worked in an aircraft factory.He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve as an aviation cadet at Fort Devens, Massachusetts on 23 October 1942.
On their way to the target, the formation crossed another formation that was returning without bombing their target, due to bad weather. The airplane collided head on with plane 42-31112, killing the entire crew of both planes.
There is a contradiction about the exact place where the plane crashed. According to certain documents, it crashed in Itzehoe, but other documents mention that the body of Thomas Robey washed ashore in Busum on 5 May 1944. This can mean that the airplane crashed in the North Sea.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, www.wwiimemorial.com, NARA, Missing Aircrew Report, www.newspapers.com - Fitchburg Sentinel
Photo source: Jeannine T. Levesque - Leominster Public Library; Leominster High School, 1939, Greg Lampman