From a painting by Robert Peters (Courtesy of Mr. Jack D. Keller)
B-17G-20-BO 42-31582
711th SQ — A
Aircraft No. 42-31582, a B-17G-10-BO, was completed at Boeing Seattle plant on Thanksgiving, 1943. Records indicate that it was assigned to the 447th on 23 January 1944, but for reasons unknown it appears to not to have flown in combat until June. No. 582 flew a total of 63 combat missions. No photographs of 42-31582 have been positively identified.
Sgt. Jack D. Keller with his Ol’ Scrapiron jacket. A/C in background is probably not 42-31582.
Flight listings for 42-31582
These lists are NOT limited to officially credited Combat missions, and may include Aborts, returns and non-takeoff occurrences as well.
Jack Keller |
Lt. Robert D. Stevenson |
How “Ol’ Scrapiron” Got Its Name
by Jack D. Keller
On April 29, 1944, Lt. Robert C. Stevenson was killed on his first mission en route to Berlin, Germany, with Lt. E. D. Johnson in A/C #501 as Co-pilot. Our group lost ten aircraft and one ditched in the North Sea for a total of eleven B-17s lost. Lt. Stevenson was a very mild mannered, easy going person. One evening a group of officers were out on the town having a good time when a bunch of rowdies started to hassle them. Lt. Stevenson was being pushed around, so the story goes, and when he had enough, he single-handedly cleaned house. Problem solved. So our officers called him “Ol’ Scrapiron.”
When Lt. Dahlgran, our original Co-pilot, became Command Pilot he asked for his original crew back. We flew in A/C #42-31582, thus the name “Ol’ Scrapiron” was voted by the entire crew. God Bless Lt. Robert C. Stevenson! I, Jack D. Keller, flew only eight missions with Lt. Dahlgran as Command Pilot: six in 582, one in 803, and one in 572. It was sure nice to be back with Lt. Dahlgran
Ol’ Scrapiron carried its name throughout its tour of duty.
Final Mission
After the bomb run on 23 March 1945, Ol’ Scrapiron dropped from the 4th Bomb Wing formation and joined the 34th Bomb Group formation returning to England from its mission to Geisecke. Near Koblenz, one of the 34th aircraft (43-38971) was struck by flak, losing its wing. The damaged aircraft first rolled into a plane from the 487th, which remained flying, before colliding with Ol’ Scrapiron. The plane from the 447th with the Bruckman crew onboard was broken apart at the waist.
Tail gunner Byron Schlag was the only member of the crew able to bail out, after riding the tail section down to 8,000 feet — at times losing consciousness from lack of oxygen. Amazingly, Ed Shibble survived the fall (though sustaining serious injuries), trapped in the ball turret until it broke free of the aircraft as it crashed through some trees. The two gunners were captured. The rest of the crew perished along with the entire crew from the 34th.
From MACR 13617:
At 1347 hours, 27000 ft. altitude, the A/C flying No. 11 position of the 34th Group was hit by flak and peeled off to the left. After glancing off A/C of the 487th Group, No. 11 struck A/C #582 who went into a tight spin. The right wing folded and there was one explosion within the A/C in mid-air. #582 then hit the ground in a wooded area and exploded again. 2 chutes were observed. Coordinates were approximately 5040-0740 (MAP). This report corroborated by 93rd Wing, 34th Bomb Group and 487th Bomb Group.
For more information, see the original preliminary Missing A/C Report (B0559-1360) filed by the 447th.
See also: Crew Profiles- Bruckman
The story about Schlag & Shibble is fascinating, so in Byron Schlags own words…
”The Navigator reported they were nearing Koblenz, when all of a sudden I noticed out the corner of my eye, large pieces of aluminum flying by including a piece of engine cowling. Just as I pressed the intercom button to call the pilot, I heard our engineer, the top turret gunner, say: “’Pilot look out—‘at that moment, I experienced the most horrible crash as we were hit. In the moment before losing consciousness, I remember crying out, ‘Lord help me’, then total oblivion.
When Byron regained consciousness, he was disoriented and dazed. He was tangled up in his flak suit, his helmet and a belt of ammunition. He headed for the escape hatch, but it was stuck, so he headed for the waist, but saw only a circle of sky. He had always kept his chest pack attached to the harness by one clip, so he snapped the other side of the chute of the harness and sat on the jagged edge of the aft section. He popped the chute and was pulled out of the tail. He only swung a time or two and hit the ground.
He was sure all of his crew had died in the crash. He was captured by civilians and had a gun placed to his temple twice, but no one pulled the trigger. He was concerned that the irate civilians would kill him. Fortunately he was turned over to a German Officer and two enlisted men.
While traveling in a car to a prisoner of war camp, the Germans spotted something and bailed out to a deep ditch on one side of the car. He dived into the ditch on the other side. They were strafed twice by American fighters. The Germans were killed, Byron Schlag survived.
After a week, he was finally rescued by men of Patton’s Third Army. He later found that his ball turret gunner also survived the crash, still in his ball turret. His back was broken, but he was alive. He was in a POW camp and returned to American forces on 13 April.”
Combat Missions (previously compiled)
| No. | DATE | TARGET | PILOT |
| 1 | 6/21/1944 | BERLIN | Lt. Read |
| 2 | 6/22/1944 | NUCOURT | Lt. Lefebvre |
| 3 | 6/25/1944 | AREA #1 “ZEBRA” | Lt. Read |
| 4 | 7/7/1944 | MERSEBURG | Lt. Read |
| 5 | 7/14/1944 | AREA 10, CADILLAC | Lt. Martenson |
| 6 | 7/18/1944 | CUXHAVEN | Lt. Dahlgran |
| Aircraft named Ol’ Scrapiron by Dahlgran crew | |||
| 7 | 7/20/1944 | MERSEBURG | Lt. Dahlgran |
| 8 | 7/24/1944 | ST. LO AREA | Lt. Dahlgran |
| 9 | 7/25/1944 | ST. LO AREA | Lt. Peterson |
| 10 | 8/4/1944 | ARRAS-OSTEND | Lt. Dahlgran |
| 11 | 8/8/1944 | BRETTEVILLE | Lt. Warriner |
| 12 | 8/11/1944 | BELFORT M/V | Lt. Dahlgran |
| 13 | 8/13/1944 | SEINE R. AREA | Lt. Dahlgran |
| 14 | 8/15/1944 | HANDORF A/F | Lt. Dahlgran |
| 15 | 8/16/1944 | ROSITZ | Lt. Phillips |
| 16 | 8/25/1944 | RECHLIN | Lt. Helms |
| 17 | 8/26/1944 | BREST | Lt. Catchpole |
| 18 | 8/27/1944 | BREST | Lt. Kenney |
| 19 | 8/30/1944 | BERLIN | Lt. Dahlgran |
| 20 | 9/1/1944 | MAINZ | Lt. Catchpole |
| 21 | 9/3/1944 | BREST | Lt. Gunn |
| 22 | 9/11/1944 | FULDA | Lt. Read |
| 23 | 9/13/1944 | STUTTGART | Lt. McKindly |
| 24 | 10/2/1944 | KASSEL | Lt. Gunn |
| 25 | 10/18/1944 | KASSELL | Lt. Moses |
| 26 | 10/19/1944 | MANNHEIM | Lt. Lefebvre |
| 27 | 10/22/1944 | MUNSTER | Lt. Poynor |
| 28 | 10/25/1944 | HARBURG | Lt. Dahlgran |
| 29 | 10/26/1944 | HANOVER | Lt. Dahlgran |
| 30 | 11/2/1944 | MERSEBURG | Lt. Fargo |
| 31 | 11/16/1944 | DUREN AREA | Lt. Rohde |
| 32 | 11/21/1944 | KOBLENZ | Lt. Dahlgran |
| 33 | 11/26/1944 | HAMM | Lt. Poynor |
| 34 | 12/4/1944 | MAINZ | Lt. Dahlgran |
| 35 | 12/6/1944 | MERSEBURG | Lt. McMath |
| 36 | 12/10/1944 | KOBLENZ | Lt. Dahlgran |
| 37 | 12/24/1944 | BABENHAUSEN | Lt. Poynor |
| 38 | 1/14/1945 | MADGEBURG | Lt. Neal |
| 39 | 1/15/1945 | AUGSBURG | Lt. Whitney |
| 40 | 1/16/1945 | DESSAU | Lt. Hodge |
| 41 | 1/20/1945 | HEILBRONN | Lt. Hodge |
| 42 | 1/29/1945 | KASSEL | Lt. Beighley |
| 43 | 2/1/1945 | WESSEL | Lt. McMath |
| 44 | 2/3/1945 | BERLIN | Lt. McMath |
| 45 | 2/6/1945 | BERLIN | Lt. Hodge |
| 46 | 2/14/1945 | WESEL | Lt. Hodge |
| 47 | 2/15/1945 | WESEL | Lt. Hodge |
| 48 | 2/22/1945 | AALEN | Lt. Hodge |
| 49 | 2/24/1945 | BREMEN | Lt. Wolf |
| 50 | 2/25/1945 | NEUBERG | Lt. Wright |
| 51 | 2/26/1945 | BERLIN | Lt. Wright |
| 52 | 3/1/1945 | ULM | Lt. Hodge |
| 53 | 3/7/1945 | DATTELN | Lt. Hodge |
| 54 | 3/8/1945 | FRANKFURT | Lt. Hodge |
| 55 | 3/9/1945 | FRANKFURT | Lt. Hayse |
| 56 | 3/11/1945 | HAMBURG | Lt. Wolf |
| 57 | 3/12/1945 | MARBURG | Lt. Hodge |
| 58 | 3/14/1945 | HANOVER | Lt. Thomas |
| 59 | 3/15/1945 | ORANIENBURG | Lt. Malone |
| 60 | 3/20/1945 | HAMBURG | Lt. Baker |
| 61 | 3/21/1945 | WITTMUNDHAFEN | Lt. Wright |
| 62 | 3/22/1945 | HELBERT AREA | Lt. Eakes |
| 63 | 3/23/1945 | HOLZWICKEDE | Lt. Bruckman |
Some photos/information provided by:
- Mr. Jack D. Keller
Some information and/or images sourced from the American Air Museum database