Aircraft History
Built by Boeing, constructor number 2470. Assigned to the 19th Bombardment Group, and nicknamed "Frank Buck". There is a possibility that the nose art was "Frank Buck Bring em Back Alive". This was the name of a radio series in the 1930s.

Steve Birdsall adds:
"Holsey's "regular" crew was:
P: Lt. Raymond E. Holsey (Altos, OK)
CP: Lt Glenn E. Ream
N: Lt John A. Crockett
B: Lt James P. Springfield
FE: Sgt J. B. Young
RO: Cpl Lynn M. Himmel
G: Sgt John W. Rosenberger
G: Cpl Thomas D. Edgar
G: Cpl John L. Honold"

Mission History
On September 15, 1942 this B-17 participated in a night bombing mission against Rabaul during bad weather. Returning, it was short on fuel after and force landed on the beach near Hood Point. The crew on the mission included:

Pilot  Lt. Ramond "Ray" Holsey
Co-Pilot  ["Ryan" in 70,000 to One]
Navigator John A. Crockett ["Davy Crocket" in 70,000 to One]
Bombardier  Gordon R. Manuel
Radio  Sgt John W. Rosenberger
Tail  Vernon O. "Skeets" Elder

Gordon R. Manuel recalls in 70,000 to One:
"This had been a night mission and the weather was really foul. It was so bad that somehow our instruments went haywire and now, when we should have been just about coming home, we were God knows how many miles from nowhere with nothing under us but two miles of sky and a few more miles of water. I went back to the radio compartment with the boys. We put on our Mae Wests and just sweated it out. Rosenberger, our radio operator, just sat there, tapping out messages, asking the base to tell us where we were. The gas was getting very low, and Holsey had the engines leaning way down to use as little gas as possible.

We hit so softly that we didn't even bounce. Holsey had landed us on a beach at Hood Point - a lovely beach. The plane skimmed along and then it settled into the sand as our speed reduced. The heavy ship gave a little lurch to the left and we stopped. The next day a boat came with some steel netting. [marston matting] Friendly natives helped us lay it on the beach, and then Holsey and Ryan, our co-pilot took her off. They just prayed her off and the right wing tip touched the water, but she got off all right. We went back to Moresby by boat laughing it all off. But we hadn't laughed during the hour we were sweating it out."

Assisted by friendly natives, the crew waited for help. Following the force landing, a boat came to their aid, delivering marston matting, to assemble on the beach, to create a firm runway surface. Time-Life photographer, George Strock visited the site and photographed the bomber and the crew interacting with locals, later published in Lie Magazine January 4, 1943 issue. The B-17 took off successfully with only the pilot and co-pilot aboard, and returned to Port Moresby, the rest of the crew by boat.

Later, the B-17 was transferred to the 43rd Bombardment Group and continued to fly combat missions.

Salvage for Scrap
Finally, the bomber was scrapped at Mareeba Airfield by the 2nd Australian Corps Salvage Unit on July 27, 1943.

Relatives
Erik Himmel (son of Lynn M. Himmel)

References
Life Magazine January 4, 1943 had an article about this B-17 with photos by George Strock (Getty 53374003 - 53374027)
Raymond A. Holsey - Find Gave Memorial
Lynn Mark Himmel - Find Gave Memorial
Australia @ War 19th BG during WW2
70,000 to One mentions its force landing on pages 24-26.
Thanks to Steve Birdsall, Edward Rogers and Aerothentic.com for additional information

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Last Updated
November 8, 2009

B-17

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