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name
ADE, Robert Hagy - Date of
birth
3 January 1918 -
Age
25 - Place of
birth
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania -
Hometown
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
33105382 -
Rank
Staff Sergeant -
Function
Ball Turret Gunner -
Unit
401st Bombardment Squadron,
91st Bombardment Group, Heavy
-
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
17 April 1943 - Place of
death
Bremen, Germany
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
| Plot | Row | Grave |
|---|---|---|
| B | 32 | 26 |
Immediate family
-
Members
Arthur Reed (father)
Irene M. (Lowry) Ade (mother)
Norman L. Ade (brother)
Helen M. (Haegney) Ade (wife)
Robert J. Ade (son)
Plane data
- Serial
number
41-24459 -
Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: Hellsapoppin
Destination: Bremen, Germany
MACR: 15523
More information
The aircraft took part in a bombing mission to the Focke Wulf Plant at Bremen, Germany on 17 April 1943, at which time several aircrafts were lost. Three or four minutes after the target there was a very hard jolt under the left side of the plane, close in to the fuselage. An anti-aircraft shell had exploded just under "Hellsapoppin". Flak ripped into the left front side of the aircraft, flaking off chunks of metal from the fuselage and throwing them through the interior of the plane. At the same time, three feet of the right wing tip was blown off by a flak burst. One half foot hole appeared in the nose compartment and all the nose window plexiglas blew out. There was a fire in the left wing and nosecompartment. The radioroom became enfulged in fire from oxygen lines.Five bodies were recovered from the wreckage, and were buried at the Waldfriedhof Cemetery in Vechta, Germany. They were moved after the war.
Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Terry Hirsch, Astrid van Erp, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / Lowry Family Tree / Veteran Compensation Application File, https://airforce.togetherweserved.com
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Michel Beckers