Issue 51.13
There has been account after account of how the Flying Fortress brought its crew members home in spite of unimaginable damage to the airplane. I saw first hand how planes came home and landed and I wondered how they kept together long enough to land. Many planes in that shape could not even be repaired enough to be flown again. We crewmen did not think of these planes that we went to war in as just machines of metal. After all we loved those planes so much that we gave them names painted pictures on them. We even talked to them even as one person talks to another. We have all seen pictures of B-17’s damaged so bad that we couldn’t imagine that one landing and not crashing. When the first model 299 first flew, a reporter saw it and called it a “Flying Fortress” and the name stuck. The first B-17’s couldn’t have held their own in the war over Germany, but after they added a top turret. twin tail guns, a lower ball turret and a chin turret, then it was a real fortress. We all called the nose guns a turret but it was actually a remote controlled station. The Fortress was not built for comfort but it was built to take the war to the heart of the enemy. Crew comfort was secondary. Each crew member had to contend with minus 65 below zero with some positions contending with whistling winds. We flew most missions at about 30,000 feet altitude and as high as 34,000 feet so of course we had to be on oxygen to stay alive. I know of many instances of narrow escapes because of oxygen problems. I and my crew had our plane shot up nineteen times out of the thirty-five missions we flew. Sometimes there was major damage and sometimes there were just a few holes caused by FLAK or bullets. There was a tale going around when I was flying my missions that went like this. There was a B-17 whose crew was flying a mission into Germany. They got shot up pretty good and some on the crew were killed. The pilot and co-pilot were both severely wounded in their seats. The engineer-top turret gunner saw what was happening. He pulled both of the wounded down to the floor and made them comfortable. He then sat in the pilot’s seat and was flying the airplane. The radio operator was killed. The bombardier, waist gunner, ball turret gunner and tail gunner had all bailed out as they were now over liberated territory. The navigator was wounded and unable to bailout. Of course the rest of the group had gone ahead and were out of sight. Somehow the engineer who was flying the plane got the plane in the vicinity of home field. He got on the radio with the control tower and told of his situation. He said “We are flying on two engines as numbers two and four engines are out. The bomb bay doors are not closed and are flapping.
The horizontal stabilizer has been half shot off. I have lowered the landing wheels but I can’t check if they are down. The pilot and co-pilot are both wounded and are on the floor. Some of the crew has bailed out. The navigator is wounded. I am the engineer and have never flown an airplane but I watch the pilot from my position all the time. I want to land this plane. I will need help. Please give me clear instructions.” “Control tower to airplane driver. Listen carefully and repeat after me. My Father in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Like all similar things, we felt at the time that there was a little truth to that tale.