Brief summary of Black Monday over the Ore Mountains on 11th September, 1944

On this very day, the formations of the 8th US Army Air Force and German Luftwaffe met over the borders of the German and former Czechoslovakian mountains. The battle lasting just several minutes left more than fifty aircraft shot down on both sides of combat.

Considering the intensity and speed of the battle, the majority of downed aircraft fell on a very small territory in the Czech-German Ore Mountain region. Just in the area of Kovarska alone, four B-17G Flying Fortresses from the 100th Bomb Group were shot down. One of them was the aircraft with serial number 42-102657 marked as LN-Y, piloted by Lt. Albert E. Trommer. The aircraft exploded directly above Kovarska and broke into several pieces in the air. The front section, including the cockpit crashed on the crossroad between buildings No. 44 and 47, (No. 47 is the house which you now find yourself in) along with four of the crew members still inside. The rear part of the bomber fell onto the roof of the elementary school found several metres away, where it remained stuck. In 1994, the school received honourable appellation as the “Sgt. J.C. Kluttz's Elementary School” name after the ball turret gunner of this aircraft, who survived his B-17 crash.
Of Lt. Trommer's nine-member crew, five men lost their lives.
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“Sacrifice is a present of yourself. To the fundamentals which human will be trying to call.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

        Wreckage of the cockpit from the aircraft 42-102657 on the crossroad between

                                                             buildings No. 44 and 47.

                     Rear part B-17G 42-102657 in the roof of the school in Kovarska.

               Display case in the Museum of the Air Battle over the Ore Mountains on

                          September 11th, 1944 dedicated to Lt. A.E. Trommer's crew.

Crew B-17G Flying Fortress 42-102657 - 350th BS, 100th Bombardment Group (H)

+ Lt. Albert E. Trommer – pilot
Lt. Timothy H. Bradshaw – co-pilot
+ Lt. James H. Wright – navigator
+ Lt. Levi F. Groce – bombometčík / Bombenschütze / Bombardier
+ T/Sgt. Alvin J. W. Severson – hřbetní střelec / Oberschütze / Top Turret Gunner
+ T/Sgt. William M. Stone – radio-operator / Funker
S/Sgt. John C. Kluttz – spodní střelec / Unterer Schütze / Ball Turret Gunner
S/Sgt. Thomas C. Kenntes – boční střelec / Seitenschütze / Waist Gunner
S/Sgt. Charles E. Wilson – zadní střelec / Heckschütze / Tail Gunner
 

In September 1997, the Museum of the Air Battle over the Ore Mountains on September 11th, 1944 was ceremoniously opened. Former German and American airmen, enemies in this battle met for the very first time since the war. Through their personal friendship 53 years after they fought against each other in the sky above the Ore Mountain region, they proved the senselessness of this air battle, just as all other battles and wars. Thus a new chapter was born of the “Black Monday over the Ore Mountains.” Not only is the museum a unique collection documenting the largest war event in the expansive Czech-German region of the Ore Mountains, but is also helps by filling in the blanks on the history of World War II in Europe.