Issue 48.13
I have written about Forts flying out of England to bomb Germany but these B-17’s flew combat missions in every war theatre and everywhere the war had to be taken to the enemy. When the Allies were dislodging the enemy from North Africa the B-17’s were instrumental in defeating the Germans and Italians in North Africa.
I wish to tell of one incidence that happened to help defeat the Axis armies. This is a story about one gunner who prevailed. When I was flying my missions there was a phrase of a few words that would upset any combat gunner. It was “Gunner today, Goner tomorrow”. This held true of many bomber crewmen but not this gunner. Staff Sergeant Benjamin Warner and his Fortress crew were on a mission to Italy. They dropped their bombs successfully and their Group of 30 bombers was attacked by one hundred German FW190’s and ME 109’s. The enemy fighters fought all through the bomb run and the battle raged across the Mediterranean until the enemy fighters had come to the limit of their range. Ben’s Fortress was so damaged by enemy fire that after it successfully landed, it was a pile of junk and never flew again. The next day, July 5th, Ben’s crew got a new Fortress for another mission. This date was Ben’s wedding anniversary and this mission was Ben’s crew’s number twelve mission. They were to go to the port city of Messina and they expected to be met by another great number of enemy fighters. Sure enough, the enemy put up more than one hundred fighters. This time there were FW 190’s, ME l09’s and twin-engined ME 110’s. Again the Fortresses fought the enemy on the bomb run and most of the way to their home field in Africa. The enemy fighters were so determined, that they flew right through their own FLAK. Of course Ben at 6’5″ and 265 pounds wouldn’t fit in the lower ball turret or even in the less cramped tail gun position but Ben was just made for the waist gun position. He handled those caliber .50 hand held machine guns like we would handle a .22. The reason Ben was a gunner in the first place was that he was too big to be a pilot. There was the old saying that a hand held .50 caliber machine gun handled the gunner, but in Ben’s case, he defiantly handled the gun. The first enemy fighter that Ben shot down was an ME 110 doing a “Pursuit Curve” attack. A “Pursuit Curve” means that the fighter pilot comes in from 9 o’clock level and aims for the bomber mid section. From a bomber, 12 o’clock is straight ahead from the nose, 9 o’clock is straight out from the port side waist window, six o’clock is straight back from the tail and 3 o’clock is straight out from the right side window. Ben saw the tracers from the enemy fall short but Ben waited until he was within range. Ben opened up with his one gun against the fighter’s eight guns and shot the enemy down. That was number one. Another fighter came in and Ben fired and evidently killed the pilot because the wildly out of control fighter just missed Ben’s Fortress. One after another, Ben shot down a total of 7 enemy planes that day. Later at his crew’s interrogation, Ben and his crewmen described how Ben shot down 7 enemy fighters. His superiors did not believe the story. They questioned all the other crews and got the same story. Ben was given credit for downing 7 enemy planes in one air battle. Ben attained the coveted distinction of the title of “Ace”. Such a feat has not been attained before or since.
Sam can be contacted at 801-707-2666.