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Issue 40.13 Once when we were on a bomb run, with our bomb bay doors open, we were number three position of the high element of the lead squadron. Luin Lewis, our top turret gunner screamed out for the pilot to hurry and move because we were directly below an out of place B-17 in […] Issue 39.13 Once on a mission to a German industrial target, we passed over the Netherlands when we saw a German V-2 rocket launched. It came from almost directly below us and trailed a great white plume of white exhaust gases as it passes us and arched way overhead and was pointed toward London before […] Issue 38.13 Music is important to humans from the cradle to the grave. Time in the military is no exception. From our first days in the military, we sang songs. On a long march was an especially good time to sing. Anyone in a flight or platoon could start singing and all of the rest […] Issue 37.13 Flying on a bombing mission to the dreaded city of “Big B” Berlin was gut wrenching to anticipate. Four of us gunners were sitting in the radio room waiting for the signal to start engines and then another signal flair from the control tower to taxie into position. There can’t be very much […] Issue 36.13 My crew and I were awakened at 2 AM with all of the lights turned on. The loud voice of one of the non flying personnel shouted so everyone in the cold barracks could hear. He called out all the names of crew members who would fly that day. Of course our crew […] Issue 35.13 When many combat missions are flown by many thousands of crewmen, then many strange things happen that can not be explained. On out crew, our radio operator gunner had a ground artillery (FLAK) burst directly below his position in the radio room. One piece of hot shrapnel came up through the floor beneath […] Issue 34.13 The food that the group mess hall provides to both air crews and ground personnel was probably much better than the infantry on the front lines received. We always complained about the food but not without just cause. We often had chicken on the menu but it was always not fried chicken but […] Issue 33.13 When we bomber crewmen would check the night before a mission, we would find out what type of a mission we would fly the next day. We crew men were never privileged to find out where the next day’s mission would be to until briefing the morning of the mission. The only thing […] Issue 32.13 While training at the Ariel gunnery school at Las Vegas, Nevada, we learned the latest tactics and how to defend a bomber from attack by enemy fighters. We were taught that the enemy fighters would most likely attack from three o’clock or nine o’clock because the enemy fighters would have guns bearing for […] Issue 30 & 31.13 No one on a WWII bomber crew is more important than the pilot. He flies the airplane and he is the airplane commander. When there is one who out ranks the pilot on board his airplane, the pilot who sits in the pilot’s seat is still the airplane commander. Sometimes this […] |
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