• B-17G Flying Fortress

• 43-37990

• SO-G

• 384 Bomb Group, 547 Bomb Squadron

• Tremelo, October 3, 1944 - March 2004
  

During a raid on Germany a B-17G of was hit by flak. The pilot, 1st Lt John M. Mock, could not control the aircraft anymore and he ordered his crew to bale out. This happened over Tremelo (N of Brussels). The crew landed safely. However, the Flying Fortres crashed into the farm of the Van Der Veken family. No one was really hurt, but the farm had to be rebuild.

Whilst preparing his book on the nearby airfield of Grimbergen, BAHA author Frans Van Humbeek was informed by fellow member Willem Labro that the tailcone of this particular B-17, named "Parker's Madhouse" (after the original pilot of this Fort, Lt John F. Parker) was still used as a kind of stove on the farm. BAHAAT thought this was a unique part of aviation history and with the help of Willem and Frans the Van Der Veken family agreed to give the tail cone to our association, on condition it would be restored and put on display for further generations.

When picking up the cone, we were amazed to seen that the original tail gunners's name, Nick Stamm, is still visible below the window. Other parts recovered by BAHAAT were both the waist gunner's airmour plates. Also the prop blad was taken home, but this item is cleaned, and restored, and returned to Tremelo as a memory to this incident.

BAHAAT-member Dany Saey spent many weeks in his shed cleaning the cone and restoring it to its original condition. Two .50 calibre machine guns were installed so the Cheyenne tail turret is complete again and a fitting tribute to the difficult conditions those Fort tail gunners had to work in.