80 years ago, a WWII B-17 bomber crashed in the Baltic. Scientists are finally learning who was onboard.

A team of marine archaeologists is close to identifying an Air Force crew who lost their lives aboard a B-17 bomber during the height of World War II. For 82 years, their unidentified remains and planes have lain at the bottom of the icy Baltic Sea. Although more work is needed to match the downed plane to its unknown pilots, a key clue may lie in a pair of surprisingly well-preserved .50-caliber machine guns.

What was the B-17 bomber?

Eight decades after its debut, the Boeing B-17 bomber remains one of the most recognizable aircraft in military history. Commonly known as the Flying Fortress, the B-17 is famous for its role in multiple campaigns across Germany, including the tragic bombing of Dresden in February 1945. The U.S. Army specifically ordered the four-engine aircraft to avoid radar detection, flying long range at altitudes up to 35,600 feet. Because the B-17’s cabin remained unpressurized throughout the flight, the plane’s 10 crew members had to wear specialized suits to withstand the thin air and freezing temperatures.

The Flying Fortress cumulatively dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II, but these numbers came at a great cost to its crews. Over Germany, B-17s had only a 25 to 33 percent chance of surviving the 25 flights required to complete a single mission.

A mysterious crash

An estimated 81,000 U.S. military personnel remain missing from past wars, including the crew of a B-17 bomber that crashed while flying over the Baltic Sea near Germany in 1943. This particular plane was lost to history until 2001, when a local diver reported his discovery of the wreckage to the U.S. Defense POW/MIA accounting agency (DPAA). In July, marine archaeologists from Texas A&M University began working with DPAA to locate the bomber’s underwater location, with the goal of finally identifying the plane and its crew. The team surveyed a 0.38 square mile section of sea using techniques such as side-scan sonar imaging and magnetometry metal detection to pinpoint the exact position of the B-17. Then, they guided a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) toward any anomalies noted during the scans to separate the geological formations from the actual wreckage.

ROV footage revealing a half-buried section of the sail finally convinced Texas A&M marine archaeologist Piotr Bojakowski and Nordic Maritime Group volunteers to dive and investigate themselves. However, Bojakowski and his team had to swim very close to the plane to get visual confirmation, because the murky, blue-green waters of the Baltic Sea only allowed visibility of less than 10 feet.

“It’s an exciting process to see a crash site underwater,” Bojakowski said in a recent academic profile. “Even though it’s in ruins, you start to visualize the plane as a whole with the engine, the wings and the fuel tanks. You slowly start to piece it all together in a way that makes sense and understand what happened.”

Serial Numbers and Recovery Efforts

During their dives, Bojakowski’s team made a particularly remarkable discovery amid the wreckage of the B-17, which ultimately led to the identification of its MIA crew. It appears that the Flying Fortress’s twin .50 caliber machine guns were torn from the plane during the crash. Despite the damage, the cannons remained in good condition even after more than 80 years underwater. They were then brought to the surface for further inspections, and careful cleaning eventually allowed Bojakowski and his colleagues to clearly read the serial numbers of the machine guns.

“On the wreckage of the plane, it is very important to find the machine guns,” explained anthropologist Katie Custer Bojakowski. “They are a controlled item in the military and so are not only stamped with a serial number, but their location on any given aircraft has also been closely controlled throughout the war.”

With more archival research, both Bojakowskis are confident they will be able to identify the specific B-17 bomber, as well as its crew. From there, they can contact any of their surviving descendants and complete a long, incomplete chapter of history.

“We don’t want to investigate this case only as an archaeological site; we want to understand what happened and bring closure to the families,” said Piotr Bojakowski. “It’s a unique experience that requires a lot of archaeological work and careful investigation of each individual piece to provide the best answers.”

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