B-17s That Made It Home

[Bruzilla]

Damn!

 

[Richard Cranium]

Those are some amazing photographs.

 

[lewtot184]

i think i'm correct in saying that more americans died in the air war over europe than the land war. the life expectancy for a b-17 was short. i worked with a guy who was a gunner on a b-17, plane was shot down, and he became a pow. the air force museum is restoring the original memphis belle. hope to see it one of these days.

 

[GrabberOrange69]

i think i'm correct in saying that more americans died in the air war over europe than the land war....

You are correct sir.

 

[Cranky]

My dad told me about seeing many planes that were shot up pretty bad and made it back but many also ended up crashing when they landed.

 

[Basket case]

a lot of of planes were damaged very heavily and brought back their men. I've been thru several B-17s, and a B-24. I don't know how anyone got out of these cramped spaces, as big as the planes look from the outside, especially while they were bouncing around in combat.

the first Fort caught a direct blast of AA. Bombardier,Navigator,Pilot,Copilot,and probably Top Turret Gunner all killed. Plane flew on for several moments before falling. Several crewmembers got out.

No 0ne got out of the next two.

 

[Badvert65]

I read about a B-17 that was cut in half (can't remember what did it). the front half crashed and all perished, bit the tail section glided down and the tail gunner survived (he was captured though).
Some amazing planes in WWII.

 

[john28ryr]

I had the opportunity to fly in the "nine-o-nine" last year - an amazing experience and one I wont forget. The guys that flew in these are heroes in every sense of the word...

 

[Rocketman]

Look at some the pictures for the P-47 Thunderbolt commonly called "the Jug". Those planes could also take alot of punishment and get you home.

 

[Basket case]

my Uncle and I are flying in Nine O Nine this summer!

 

[Budnicks]

Damn those are great historic photos,
thanks for sharing guys

Truly the greatest generation, for what they did & had to endure...

I'm always amazed by those old WWII photos & the VN war era aviation/militray photos

 

[john28ryr]

my Uncle and I are flying in Nine O Nine this summer!

Word of advice - if you borrow a GoPro (like I did) make sure it is RECORDING before you strap the damn thing to your head!!! I still got decent pics and a couple of videos from my phone so it wasnt a total loss.

 

[Bladecutter]

Bruzilla...know we have our differences...this here is common interest....my Old Man was a test pilot w/ Douglas & Martin in WWll. Douglas Martin & Lockheed handled most B-17 production...@ Douglas Burbank, Dad racked 1300 hours in 17's alone in two years. I have a pic of an F in flight straight off prod line in natural aluminum...has the USAAF markings, but no guns so there's just a hole where the belly turret resides. The bay doors are extended also...camera plane was jut ahead of and just below the B-17F wing tip. i'l try to do an upload of it somehow. He flew A-20's and SBD's there also & other types. From there He went to Martin where He flew my favorite bird, the B-26 Marauder...highest return rate of any combat aircraft in WW ll. and the early short wings scored Fw-190 & Bf-109 kills..in capable hands. B-17 is an incredibly rugged a/c whereas the B-24 seemed to bleed if it was looked at wrong.

 

[cr8crshr]

Here's some more. Just amazing. And to think I crewed on AF Heavy Transports for 34 years! Truly amazing

 

[Bladecutter]

For all who care to see the CAF's B-17 ON the deck doing several passes w/ a P-51 & an F-6-F on wing tips..they would not get as far down as the 17....his wing was within 2 feet of a roof of a conventional sized van. utube the " Making of Don't Mess With Texas" anti scumsucking litterbug commercial. If i can learn to transpose the link i will.

 

[Bruzilla]

I had a science teacher in high school who was a navigator on B-17s. His plane had the tail blown off and started spinning. The waist gunners got out but everyone else was pinned by centrifugal force as the plane spiraled. He was pinned against the aft bulkhead and couldn't move his body but could move his arms, and he pulled one of the M2s back into the bombardier compartment and started shooting out the plexiglass as best he could. At about 4,000 ft the plane stopped spinning for a second and it was just long enough for him to throw himself out through the nose and not get struck by the plane as it went past. He ended up a POW along with his waist gunners.

I used to think of him every time I preflighted my parachute before a mission. We didn't wear our chutes during flights and they were stored in holders near our stations, and I always wondered if I would be able to get that chute down, on, and make it out the door if we were ever spiraling down. Made me think that chute was more for morale than getting out of an aircraft going down.

 

[Bladecutter]

Bruzilla....if You care to share some w/ me, i'm interested to know of Your service career 7&the different A/C You have been able to strap on parachutes brought this to mind....did You know that jimi Hendrix was Army airborne just about two years. He did remain stateside, injured in a jump accident...the Army shipped Him with an Honorable. yes i would like to know what birds You've been in..Your era of service etc. respect of achievement & contribution stands in its own corner.

 

[patrick66]

I had two cousins that flew on B-17s back then. One was a tail gunner, and the other (his sister's husband) was a waist gunner. Cousin Bud (the tail gunner) flew two tours out of bases in England. The magic number was 25 flights, but for him, he flew 26 each tour. Cousin Don was the waist gunner, and did two tours of 25 flights. Bud flew twice for a gunner who was very ill. On those two missions, the aircraft commander was none other than Jimmy Stewart, then a Lt. Colonel. Both were on missions that went deep into Germany. Miraculously, neither was ever hurt, and neither were on aircraft that were lost or shot down. Both were on planes returning to England that were flying solely by the grace of God. Before Bud died in 2002, he showed me a few pictures of one airplane he was on. No rudder to speak of at all. Number four engine was shot clean off the aircraft. They lost every window but two. And after the plane came to a rolling stop, and the crew evacuated, the right gear simply collapsed. My other cousin Don never spoke of the war. He died of dementia in 1999. Sometimes, I wonder what secrets they took to their graves. Being an aircrew member back then was an exceptionally dangerous trade, with a percentage of fatalities comparable to infantry, from what I read once.

It's been 70 years since the end of World War II. I've always been a huge WWII history buff. And so many these days barely remember or acknowledge our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, much less WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. And to me, that is horribly, terribly sad.

 

[snakeoil24]

To me this is just another example what the greatest nation on this earth is capable of doing!

 

[67GTX440]

Here is the making of the Don't Mess With Texas Anti Litter Video with the Confederate Air Force B-17. That is indeed, some very low flying. Take a look at the pass at about the 6:21 mark. If I was the pilot, the van parked there would have made me nervous. If I was the van owner, the pilot would have made me nervous. If I was standing there watching, well, I would not have been standing there. Maybe they were using the van as a visual mark for altitude for the pilot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc6M4XOHq0I

Here is the final product of the commercial also. The fighters did not seem to make the final cut, and the final version does not really show how low to the ground the B-17 really was. Could not have been more than 8 or 9 feet off the deck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlFD0Zyl_f0