(Image: Arnaud Abadie, cc-4.0)
Submerged at a depth of around 90 feet, it may not be as intact as Papua New Guinea’s sunken ‘Black Jack’, but B-17 Flying Fortress 42-31044 still makes for an impressive wreck dive. The American bomber was forced to ditch off the coast of Corsica on February 14, 1944 following an enemy air attack that killed three members of its crew. Touching down on the Mediterranean Sea virtually intact, 42-31044 quickly sank, coming to rest at the foot of Calvi’s majestic port citadel.
(Image: Arnaud Abadie, cc-4.0)
The B-17G of the 97th Bomb Group had taken off from Foggia, Italy, to attack a railway yard some 400 miles away at Verona. But during its bomb run, which was hampered by fog, the Flying Fortress came under heavy fire from enemy aircraft.
Pilot Second Lieutenant Frank G. Chaplick later recalled that his aircraft became isolated from the rest of the squadron as he sought to avoid a collision during the attack run. The B-17 was hit multiple times, causing two engine fires and badly damaging a third. But despite its crippled condition, the Flying Fortress lived up to its name, downing several German fighters that had singled it out.
(Image: Arnaud Abadie, cc-4.0)
One attacker exploded in mid air after being hit by wounded top turret gunner, Sgt. Frank E. Bradley. Another was downed by ball turret gunner Orville F. Grilliot. Meanwhile, navigator Thomas M. Cowell and bombardier Armand C. Sedgeley were able to bring the bomber’s formidable .50 caliber machine guns to bear on a Messerschmitt Bf-109 which had drawn up alongside, sending it crashing into the Mediterranean as a formation of American P-47 Thunderbolts arrived on the scene.
(Image: US Department of Defense, cc-nc-nd-4.0)
The third engine failed within sight of the airfield at Calvi and Chaplick had no choice but to ditch his aircraft. The surviving crew members were rescued before the bomber, its tail section broken away, sank to the sea floor, taking with it the bodies of radio operator Robert F. Householder, rear gunner Tony Duca and left waist gunner George J. Murphy.
The wreck of B-17 42-31044 is now a popular dive site immediately off the coast of Calvi. But according to Aero Relic various attempts have been made to salvage the aircraft’s metal despite its status as a war grave. A diver, meanwhile, is understood to have discovered the wallet of one of the dead airmen, a poignant reminder of that fateful day in 1944.
Keep reading – visit the crash sites of three B-17 Bombers that survived amazingly intact.
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