#42-102620 De Rumble Izer was delivered to Cheyenne, Wyoming, on 18th March 1944, having been built by Boeing Airplane Company. 7th May 1944 saw the B-17G start as a new replacement aircraft for the 384th, and though briefly assigned as JD-P to the 545th bomb squadron, it was put into action when assigned to the 546th Bomb Squadron as BK-P.

De Rumble Izer first saw action during Mission #105 on a raid over railroad marshalling yards in Saarbrücken and Ehrang, Germany on 11th May 1944, with the mission the previous day having been recalled. Pilot 2nd Lt. Gates Chapman Carey flew the aircraft as it bombed its primary target in Ehrang despite considerable haze. On the 29th May 1944, the aircraft was forced to abort the mission after take off when an oil leak emerged from the cooler of engine #2, withdrawing the aircraft from Mission #119, a raid on Focke-Wulf Aircraft Parts Plant.

De Rumble Izer participated on Mission #128 during D-Day on 6th June 1944, comprising part of J Squadron within Air Task Force #2. Piloted by 2nd Lt. Howard Carl Melsen, the aircraft dropped its 500- and 1000-pound bombs with unobserved results in an attack on two bridges in Caen. The principle of Mission #128 was to disrupt German transportation while the Allies landed on the Normandy beaches.

Mission #155 on 11th July 1944 is noted as being a “long mission”, and saw #42-102620 and the crew of 2nd Lt. Nicholas Vincent Pranger airborne for over eight and a half hours, flying for four and a half before attacking railway marshalling yards at Munich, Germany and then flying four more hours on the return leg. Later, on Mission #193, the aircraft suffered issues with #1 engine having flown the mission as a used flying spare. Combined with the issue of low fuel, the crew of 2nd Lt. Edward Hanks Tracy landed at the emergency airfield at RAF Woodbridge without incident.

De Rumble Izer was subjected to heavy flak while flying on 11th October 1944, Mission #209, a raid targeting a synthetic oil plant in Wesseling, Germany. Though initially reported as Missing In Action, it was later found that the aircraft and crew (that of 2nd Lt. Harold Richard Ellis) had actually landed in Allied territory on the continent. The crew were uninjured and returned to Grafton Underwood on 13th October 1944, before flying again on the 15th. #42-102620 also returned, where it was repaired and re-assigned to 544th Bomb Squadron, now with the identification of SU-F, though retaining its name De Rumble Izer. It first flew under its new identity on 11th December 1944 during Mission #238, successfully attacking a road and rail bridge in Mannheim, Germany.

However, the aircraft soon suffered another mishap during Mission #250 on 3rd January 1945 while acting as the lead squadron’s hot camera ship. A supercharger failure led to De Rumble Izer aborting the mission and returning to base.

Upon return from Mission #259 on 22nd January 1945, De Rumble Izer (flown by 2nd Lt. George Robert “Bob” Milligan Jr.), blew a tyre on the runway shortly after landing. The following aircraft, 43-38721 (unnamed) had landed long following problems with the flaps and a high approach speed. These factors culminated in a collision between the two aircraft, having the latter condemned to salvage. Ultimately, 2nd Lt. Edwin Carlton Burroughs (the pilot of 43-38721) was found entirely at fault for the accident, the report stating that had a normal landing have been conducted, the incident would have been avoided. The accident report cites miscommunication onboard as the flaps should have been extended manually as they were not operable electronically, however at the point of landing they had only been 1/3 extended, hence the high landing speed. A further issue was that the tail wheel had remained locked (as normal for a landing), however this hindered the aircraft when trying to avoid De Rumble Izer, which was attempting to exit the runway onto the grass. De Rumble Izer was repaired and would not participate until Mission #275 on 26th February 1945, having been reidentified as SU-K. The following raid on 27th February 1945 - Mission #276 - saw the aircraft endure a mechanical issue that forced 2nd Lt. John Michael Connor and his crew to dump their bombs in the North Sea and abort the mission.

Though a flying spare, De Rumble Izer was forced to abort Mission #280 on 3rd March 1945 after developing mechanical issues. The crew of 2nd Lt. John Michael Connor returned to base having jettisoned the payload into the North Sea. Soon after during Mission #291, 18th March 1945, to the Schlesischer Railway Station in Berlin, German, the crew of 2nd Lt. Edwin George Nicolai Jr. feathered engine #2 and returned to base with the group. Four days later, 2nd Lt. Willard Jerome “Bud” Turner III and his crew manned De Rumble Izer on its century mission, acting as the lead squadron hot camera ship for a raid on German military barracks in Westerholt, Germany, near the Dutch border. 

The aircraft’s final contribution to the war came with Mission #316 on 25th April 1945 during a raid on the Skoda Armament Works in Plzen, Czechoslovakia, manned by the crew of 1st Lt. Arthur L. Schwab. The raid was completed without incident, and unbeknown to the crew at the time this mission was the very final combat mission for the 8th Air Force. Members of the same crew would be aboard on 14th May 1945 during a non-combat training sortie, where the aircraft would nose over while running its engines. The subsequent report found that armour at the rear of the aircraft had been removed, making the tail lighter than 1st Lt. Arthur L. Schwab was familiar with. In spite of this, the aircraft was still within permitted weight limits. A wind of approximately 30 or 32 miles per hour came up towards the tail of the aircraft as the aircraft’s engines were running on 1,500rpm, and each engine was being run up individually. When engine #3 was run up, the aircraft’s tail lifted, and the nose hit the ground. The report notes that the incident would have been avoided had the aircraft been tuned into the wind for the engine run ups, and if less power had been used. Despite recognising the removal of armour and armour plating as an underlying cause, 1st Lt. Arthur L. Schwab was found 100% at fault for the accident, with the report stating he failed to keep the stick held back while running up the engines. De Rumble Izer was salvaged the following day having completed 112 missions.

With kind thanks to the 384th Bomb Group website (384thbombgroup.com) for permission in using material from their records in the making of this story. It holds a wealth of information, documents and photographs of the Group’s activities during World War 2.

Research courtesy of Charlie Saddington on behalf of 384th Bombardment Group Museum.