Umbriago Discovery | Liberty Lady

28 Dec Umbriago Discovery

by Pat DiGeorge 0 Comments

The Aviation Archeology crew that uncovered the engine of the Umbriago (306th BG) and wreckage of the American Eagle (457th BG.)

On November 9th of this year, Chriss Wengel from Germany posted (in German) on the (amazing) armyairforces.com forum and I google-translated:

We have found wreckage of the B-17 on Üdersee. (a body of water north of Berlin)
We have the engine (of) Umbriago, engine number SW-010 721.
Crash on 12 Sept 1944
Crew of Charles Wegener
MACR 8833
We need more information, photos of Umbriago for exhibition
Aviation Museum Finowfurt near Eberswalde.
Who can help?

Because the crew of the Umbriago flew out of Thurleigh’s 306th BG, I was immediately interested. Then the moderator of our new Facebook group “306th Bomb Group ~ First over Germany” alerted me that the copilot and the family of the pilot were at the recent reunion the bomb group held in Savannah.

I wrote about the crew of the Umbriago on December 8th. It was easy to get the parties together. The wife of co-pilot William C. Griffin was born in Germany so she and Chriss were able to email each other.

Chriss Wengel works in Eberswalde, about 50 km north of Berlin. There he is part of a group “Luftfahrtarchäologie Oderland” (LAO) that searches for aviation wreckage from the battles of the war.

Besides Christian Wengel, the other members of the crew (all LAO) are Tobias Wengel, Frank Millert, Rene Millert, Andre Fischer, and Hansgünther Ploes.

As it turned out, the wreckage they found and referred to in the initial request was from the B-17 “American Eagle” of the 457th Bomb Group. They have since been in touch with individuals related to that airplane.

But they do have the Umbriago engine No. SW 010721. It was found buried in a factory near Eberswalde which was being demolished. They are searching for other debris nearby.

It is not unusual for remnants of the war to be found in Germany. In fact, what the group initially found was a 250 kg bomb which had to be detonated.

The Griffins mailed photographs of the plane and crew to Chriss in Germany for the museum exhibition. The son of the pilot Charles C. Wegener has been in the loop also.