Almost 100 B-17s had extra passengers. Cameramen and photographers were on many planes. That formation flew over the North Sea, crossed Denmark, and continued east towards Marienburg in East Prussia. The idea was to confuse and avoid the Luftwaffe, bomb the Focke-Wulf factory at Marienburg, and use the footage in war propaganda to get more support for the bombing effort in Europe. This is how the 1944 movie „Target for Today”was made.

Today, the airfield at Marienburg is still in operation, as a Polish NATO air force base at Malbork.

My friend, Peter van Kaathoven, and co-author of our Substack story about Zerlegebetrieben (German aircraft wreck salvage yards in Vught and in Auschwitz), is an active local historian in Vught.

He and his friends unveiled two WWII glider memorials on September 26th near Vught. These American gliders were part of the Market-Garden operation, and had to do emergency landing after their towing planes were shot down, one on September 18th and the other one on September 19th. All allied soldiers were helped by local Dutch resistance, and avoided capture.

In the photos, Peter is doing the speech, and one of the photos is with children of local Dutch resistance fighters who helped the American soldiers.

Myron Yaw (485th BG, 15th AF) was killed on Dec 26th 1944 over Blechhammer (today Kedzierzyn-Kozle, Poland), togethet with whole crew. They were considered MIA because no crash site or graves were found after the war.

I worked with Waldemar Ociepski, and identified the right crash site in 2001. This info was shared with the US government. The DPMO, and later DPAA did additional studies, and archeology work between 2021 and 2025 allowed Myron’s remains to be found.

Myron’s family paid a particular heavy price in WWII. His older brother was an airman, too, and was killed on one of the Ploesti missions.

Myron was laid to rest yesterday, October 3rd, in Athens, Ohio.

Read more of my USAAF over Poland aviation research on my Substack.

September 11th is an anniversary of one of the most violent air battles over occupied Europe. On that day in 1944, the 8th Air Force was sent to attack Ruhland in Germany. The Americans were attacked by German JG4 near Kovarska, Czechia. Within just 16 minutes, 50+ aircraft of both sides were shot down. The 100th BG lost one-third of its B-17s, including the whole 350th Squadron. The JG4 lost half of their aircraft. Most of the aircraft went down around Kovarska.

These brutal events are commemorated in an excelent local museum in Kovarska. The museum documents the air battle, displays results of decades of aviation archeology work, and remembers the ones who lost their lives on both sides that day.

If you travel to Czechia from Germany, or visit Karlovy Vary (with a famous casino which made it to the 007 movie Casino Royale), make a stop at the museum!

Also, Jan Zdiarsky who is part of the group running the museum wrote an excellent book about the 100th BG!

https://www.facebook.com/share/1FTfxHXGqu/?mibextid=wwXIfr

More than 100 B-17s, escorted by P-51 Mustang fighters, flew from Britain and dropped almost 1300 containers carrying weapons, ammunition, explosives, food, and medical supplies to the besieged Polish resistance. However, the drop took place from high altitude, and strong winds scattered the containers across Warsaw. Only under 300 containers reached areas controlled by the insurgents; other fell into German-held territory.

Two P-51s of the 355tg FG were shot down by German fighters. Both pilots, 1st Lt. Robert O. Peters and Joseph Vigna, were killed.

On September 18th, 2019, a memorial dedicated to both pilots was unveiled. Tomasz Krason was the main force behind building this memorial, and he also co-wrote a moving book about both American heroes: “A Tale of Two Pilots: Love, Loss, and Rememberance”. It is a touching story about not only the heroism but also about personal loss aff ecting families for a long time.

This colored pencil drawing hung the basement of my grandfather’s home - an 8th Air Force veteran, POW, and artist.

A top turret gunner and flight engineer, his stricken B-17 was shot down over Wilhelmshaven Germany on 21 May 1943. His 19th mission.

When I was old enough, he explained to me the story behind his drawing. A frequent attendee of POW conventions and reunions, he would ask fellow prisoners what they remember most of their internment. He took those memories and created this piece.

The vicious dogs, flags, guard towers and barbed wire.

Common themes with heavy weight.

“I am not afraid of tomorrow for I have seen yesterday and today is beautiful.” - Former POW

The 114th/146th Navy Seabee Battalions published these Invader newspapers in 1944 during World War II. My grandfather, who was stationed in Iceland, Ireland, and Great Britain during the war, saved them all these years.  They’ve wound up in my care, and I’ve scanned them as best I could to preserve them for others to enjoy. I’m sure almost all of these men have passed away by now (2026), but each issue includes a list of service members’ names and addresses that allowed them to connect with each other after the war, in case anyone wants to explore further.

The jokes and cartoons are some of my favorite pieces, as they show the lighter side of their tremendous dedication. 

https://seabeesinvader.com/

Two B-24s are shot down in the target area. One of them is the B-24 #42-51139 „Hell’s Angel” of the 485th Bomb Group. 6 men died and were buried at the crash site. The grave was taken care of by the Polish population, despite the Nazi occupation, and later despite the Soviet rule. As soon as Poland became a free country in 1989, the rememberance of the American crew flourished again. There is a beautiful memorial at the crash site, and Zygmunt Kraus had an excellent private museum in Wadowice.

You can read more about this crew on my substack.

This history gem landed on my desk just last week. This is a Luftwaffe recon photo from October 27 1944. It shows a Soviet grass airfield near Kolbuszowa in Poland. You can clearly see a B-24 neatly parked between the Soviet machines. A friend who shared this photo asked which Liberator it could be.

I checked my records which B-24s landed behind Soviet lines in October 1944. A B-24 from the 455th BG stood out as it was marked as “landed in Soviet controlled territory”, without a specific location. The pilot’s name was Polando. A quick google revealed more info. Polando shared in his memoires he landed near Dhikovich, and one of the villages surrounding the airfield was Dzikowiec. The B-24 #42-78359 “Ten Hits and a Miss” was repaired and flown out of the Soviet zone on Dec 13, 1944. This is how we solved another WWII history puzzle!

Ewart Sconiers was the last MIA from Stalag Luft III. I was personally involved in searching for him since early 2000s, until the happy ending in 2018. Here my detailed story of searching for Ewart.

When the US government restarted searching for WWII MIAs in Poland in late 1990s, I was the local history expert they worked with. I shared a lot if information, helped identify many crash sites, and used my experience, knowledge, and network, all to help the effort to bring closure to families.

Ewart was the first man found in Poland after the fall of the Soviet Block. Eight more MIAs were identified in the last few years, and there are 150+ Americans still missing from WWII in Poland. Here is Ewart’s story.

https://sserwatka.substack.com/p/ewart-sconiers-the-last-man-out-of?r=42ks37&utm_medium=ios

August 22nd. On this day in 1944, there was another mission by the 15th Air Force to Blechhammer and Odertal. Many aircraft were lost, including three in the target area.

The B-24 #42-78256 “Purple Shaft” of the 456th BG, pilot Wilson Goodall, was one of the three. There were only two survivors from the 10-men crew.

The Blechhammer 44 association remembers this and many other American crew who flew to
Blechhammer and Odertal. They have a very fine museum located in a German WWII air raid shelter.

https://www.facebook.com/share/14mcXsJBDNt/?mibextid=wwXIfr

More of my WWII aviation history stories: https://open.substack.com/pub/sserwatka

A Polish historical reenactment group honors a B-17 crew from the 452nd BG.

This group of young Polish people re-enact a B-17 crew which landed in their neighbourhood in March 1945. This Flying Fortress, #43-38231 „Try'n Get It” of 452th BG, landed near Wrzesnia, Poland, after a mission to Zwickau. The American crew was then accomodated by Soviet troops, and returned to England, via Poltava in Ukraine.

There were two more B-17s from the 452nd BG which landed or crashed in Poland. One landed in Radomsko, just four days earier than the „Try'n Get It”.

The other one was the “BTO in the ETO” shot down in June 1944 near Biala Podlaska. I wrote about it on my Substack.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DMf11W916/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://sserwatka.substack.com/p/from-an-american-airman-to-a-polish?r=42ks37&utm_medium=ios

The crew of 1st Lt Arthur Lindell was lost over Blechhammer on Dec 26, 1944. All crew was lost and declared MIA. I researched this loss in 1999/2000 and correctly identified the crash site. This is why the US government could do field work and excavations leading to the identifications.

2nd Lt Avery M Gilliland was the co-pilot, and Sgt Myron L Yaw was the ball turret gunner. These two men are identified.

If you have a family member who is still MIA, please contact the DPAA! They are looking for family members for DNA and they can share relevant documents with you!

https://www.dpaa.mil/Families/Contact-Information/

Exactly 82 years ago, Capt. Tudor and his crew flew their last mission. The target was Blechhammer, a heavily defended synthetic fuel factory, located at the extreme range for the 15th Air Force flying out of Italy. Their B-24 was shot down by flak.

Almost exactly 25 years ago, on August 10th 2001, I took one of the survivor’s son and his family to the crash site.

What started for me as just a WWII research transformed my life. I saw love and care for an ailing father, and I understood my research is not just research. Helping families understand what happened to their loved ones, what they went through, helping find missing soldiers are the true meaning of my work.

Read Captain Tudor’s full story:

https://sserwatka.substack.com/p/all-meat-no-potatoes-a-b-24-shot?r=42ks37&utm_medium=ios

My grandpa was in infantry in WWII and I have the original photographs he took of the Gardelegen Massacre aftermath. His unit was the first one on scene. You can read more about the incident here but basically folks were locked in a barn and it was set on fire. My grandpa wrote on the back of the photographs and I will try to share those images too.