On the side of the road at the top of a ridge line. 

The memorial includes a tall upright concrete monument with a B-17 image and the face of an Aircrew and two information boards.

The monument remembers the crew of B-17 (42-32048) 'Queen' of the 20th Bomber Squadron, 2nd Bomber Group, 15th US Air Force, who were shot down on August 29, 1944, during "Mission 263". Nine of the crew were killed in action, and one survived during this "Air Battle over the White Carpathians".

On August 29, 2944, the 15th Air Force conducted "Mission 263",  a raid on the Moravska Ostrava industrial complex (current-day city of Ostrava). The 2nd Bomber group supported this mission flying from flying from Amendola Air Base, Foggia, Italy. as become known as the "Air Battle over the White Carpathians", nine B-17Gs from 2nd Bomber Group were attacked by 89 German fighters and 20 minutes later eight of them were shot down and crashed in Slovakia (1), Czech Republic (7) and one crash landed in Hungary.  41 US airmen lost their lives, 28 of them were buried in a mass grave in Slavicin. Four fliers evaded capture, and 55 airmen ended up in German POW camps. All the planes of the 20th Bomber Squadron were shot down that day. Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) 8098.

The crew of B-17 (42-32048) 'Queen' included, killed in action: 

2nd Lt JAMES A.WEILER - Pilot
2nd Lt ROBERT L. EMBRY  - Navigator
2nd Lt FRANK A. SULKEY  - Bombardier
Sgt LONNIE H. BUMGARDNER  -Flight engineer/top turret gunner
Sgt ERNEST W. WAGONER  - Ball turret gunner
Sgt JOHN H. ADAIR  - Waist gunner
S/Sgt LOREN E. BYAM  - Waist gunner
S/Sgt GEORGE D. DALCANALE  - Tail Gunner
S/Sgt JOHN J. MARTIN  - Radio Operator

Flight Officer Irving D. Thompson, the  Co-Pilot (from Poughkeepsie, New York) was the only survivor. He remained a POW for the rest of the war at Stalag Luft 1 in Barth, Germany.

Several of those killed during Mission 263 were buried in a mass grave in nearby Slavicin.   See the site Slavicin - Cemetery for more about the mass grave.

Several museums in the area also remember this battle.  See sites: Sanov, Slavicin, and Bojkovice.

Search "Mission 263" for memorials and cenotaphs associated with this event on our website.

For more information, see the Air Battle over the White Carpathian website at: www.leteckabitvakarpaty.cz 

Special thanks to Mission 263 - Aug 29, 1944 / Letecká bitva 29.8.1944 Facebook page & group for remembering this battle and for the several memorials that remember this mission.

29.08.1944

The inscription on the lower plaque is written in Czech and reads:

V tchto místech zahynulo v leteckém souboji 9 amerických letc z létající pevnosti B-17G.

(Translation: In this place, 9 American aircrew from a B-17G flying fortress died in a dogfight.)

2nd Lt JAMES A.WEILER, BURLINGTON - WISCONSIN 
2nd Lt ROBERT L. EMBRY, JACKSON - MISSISSIPPI 
2nd Lt FRANK A. SULKEY, CLEVELAND - OHIO 
Sgt LONNIE H. BUMGARDNER THOMASVILLE - N.CAROLINA 
Sgt ERNEST W. WAGONER, MACY - INDIANA 
Sgt JOHN H. ADAIR, ITALY - TEXAS 
S/Sgt LOREN E. BYAM, LISBON - WISCONSIN 
S/Sgt GEORGE D. DALCANALE, CASPIAN - MICHIGAN 
S/Sgt JOHN J. MARTIN,  WALTON - NEW YORK