[Vision2020] Fwd: WW II - B-17
Kai Eiselein
fotopro63 at hotmail.com
Sat Dec 7 17:50:07 PST 2013
My grandfather was a Chief Photographers Mate in the Navy. He went through flight training at Pensacola before being deployed to the Pacific Theater, where he manned cameras during reconnaissance flights. According to my grandmother, he did not have to fly, but did so because he felt it was his duty to take the same risks as his fellow recon photographers.
He never talked much about the war, a few "life lesson" type stories here and there, although he did say that he didn't fire a single shot.
It was only after he died when I was 14 that I found out how dangerous his job was. Before the advent of automatic cameras, recon photographers, including my grandfather, often built their own cameras. His strapped to his chest. He would then be attached to a harness and would lean out over the open bomb doors of the plane to take photos of a target. Even as the plane was being shot at these men would do what was needed to get photos. My grandfather's one niggling complaint, was that he was required to wear a sidearm even though, if he was strapped in, he wouldn't be able to detach himself and couldn't wear a parachute with the camera anyway. In short, if the plane went down, he would go down with it.
I have his dog tags which, for a time, were on display at the courthouse with some other WWII items. I carried them with me when I took a ride on a B-17 a few years ago.
As an aside, one of the most decorated flights in history did not occur during a battle, but as a result of a recon mission. The flight of "Old 666", resulted in two Medals of Honor and seven Distinguished Service Crosses.
________________________________
> Date: Sat, 7 Dec 2013 16:03:04 -0800
> From: rforce2003 at yahoo.com
> To: suehovey at moscow.com; vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Fwd: WW II - B-17
>
> A few corrections to the story. It was flying out of Algeria, not
> England, and wasn't attacked after the accident. The crew
> actions--sliding back and forth, etc.- are fiction. Other than that,
> should we mention it was built by Boeing?
>
> http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbird-articles/wwiis-b-17-all-american-separating-fact-fiction.html
>
> Ron Force
> Moscow Idaho USA
>
>
> On Saturday, December 7, 2013 3:35 PM, Sue Hovey <suehovey at moscow.com> wrote:
> A story to celebrate the fortunate events about the "good war." I had
> an uncle who was a crew chief on a B-17. Despite what he told my aunt,
> most of the missions included him in the plane. I don't know in what
> capacity.
>
> Sueh
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: tony mohr <ssmohr at hotmail.com<mailto:ssmohr at hotmail.com>>
> Date: December 7, 2013 at 12:41:25 PM PST
> To:
> Subject: FW: WW II - B-17
>
> days......
>
>
>
>
>
> By the skin of your teeth, so to speak
>
>
> Thanks,
> Tony
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: moosehmc at hotmail.com<mailto:moosehmc at hotmail.com>
> Subject: WW II - B-17
> Date: Sat, 7 Dec 2013 10:38:11 -0800
>
> WW II B 17 Survival Story
>
>
> [DB2967305C50480F9B3A933B32AE7659]
>
> B-17 "All American" (414th Squadron, 97BG) Crew
>
> Pilot- Ken Bragg Jr.
> Copilot- G. Boyd Jr.
> Navigator- Harry C. Nuessle
> Bombardier- Ralph Burbridge
> Engineer- Joe C. James
> Radio Operator- Paul A. Galloway
> Ball Turret Gunner- Elton Conda
> Waist Gunner- Michael Zuk
> Tail Gunner- Sam T. Sarpolus
> Ground Crew Chief- Hank Hyland
>
> In 1943 a mid-air collision on February 1, 1943, between a B-17 and a
> German fighter over the
> Tunis dock area, became the subject of one of the most famous
> photographs of WW II. An enemy fighter attacking a 97th Bomb Group
> formation went out of control, probably with a wounded pilot, then
> continued its crashing descent into the rear of the fuselage of a
> Fortress named "All American", piloted by Lt. Kendrick R. Bragg, of the
> 414th Bomb Squadron. When it struck, the fighter broke apart, but left
> some pieces in the B-17. The left horizontal stabilizer of the Fortress
> and left elevator were completely torn away. The two right engines were
> out and one on the left had a serious oil pump leak. The vertical fin
> and the rudder had been damaged, the fuselage had been cut almost
> completely through connected only at two small parts of the frame, and
> the radios, electrical and oxygen systems were damaged. There was also
> a hole in the top that was over 16 feet long and 4 feet wide at its
> widest;
> the split in the fuselage went all the way to the top gunner's turret.
>
> [C4D99E47040349578C7BD415E24511B5]
>
> Although the tail actually bounced and swayed in the wind and twisted
> when the plane turned and all the control cables were severed, except
> one single elevator cable still worked, and the aircraft miraculously
> still flew!
>
> The tail gunner was trapped because there was no floor connecting the
> tail to the rest of the plane. The waist and tail gunners used parts of
> the German fighter and their own parachute harnesses in an attempt to
> keep the tail from ripping off and the two sides of the fuselage from
> splitting apart.
>
> While the crew was trying to keep the bomber from coming apart, the
> pilot continued on hisbomb run and released his bombs over the target.
>
> [461EA6A808474A3A8D89BBA5DBE7F2A1]
>
> When the bomb bay doors were opened, the wind turbulence was so great
> that it blew one of the waist gunners into the broken tail section. It
> took several minutes and four crew members to pass him ropes from
> parachutes and haul him back into the forward part of the plane. When
> they tried to do the same for the tail gunner, the tail began flapping
> so hard that it began to break off. The weight of the gunner was adding
> some stability to the tail section, so he went back to his position.
> The turn back toward England had to be very slow to keep the tail from
> twisting off. They actually covered almost 70 miles to make the turn
> home. The bomber was so badly damaged that it was losing altitude and
> speed and was soon alone in the sky.
>
>
> For a brief time, two more Me-109 German fighters attacked the All
> American. Despite the extensive damage, all of the machine gunners were
> able to respond to these attacks and soon drove off the fighters. The
> two waist gunners stood up with their heads sticking out through the
> hole in the top of the fuselage to aim and fire their machine guns. The
> tail gunner had to shoot in short bursts because the recoil was
> actually causing the plane to turn.
>
> [73995FA1AC2649DAAAD8A7BBD2BCEA3A]
>
>
> Allied P-51 fighters intercepted the All American as it crossed over
> the Channel and took one of the pictures shown. They also radioed to
> the base describing that the appendage was waving like a fish tail and
> that the plane would not make it and to send out boats to rescue the
> crew when they bailed out.
>
> The fighters stayed with the Fortress, taking hand signals from Lt.
> Bragg and relaying them to the base. Lt. Bragg signaled that 5
> parachutes and the spare had been "used" so five of the crew could not
> bail out. He made the decision that if they could not bail out safely,
> then he would stay with the plane to land it.
>
> [C3BF1CA01B0F4474A2FC99AEFF9286E2]
>
> Two and a half hours after being hit, the aircraft made its final turn
> to line up with the runway while it was still over 40 miles away. It
> descended into an emergency landing and a normal roll-out on its
> landing gear.
>
> [D99398481B4B423C8C29028509C1AC00]
>
> When the ambulance pulled alongside, it was waved off because not a
> single member of the crew had been injured. No one could believe that
> the aircraft could still fly in such a condition. The Fortress sat
> placidly until the crew all exited through the door in the fuselage and
> the tail gunner had climbed down a ladder, at which time the entire
> rear section of the aircraft collapsed.
>
> [7D348B323AB34E759980B9F8962567B9]
>
> This old bird had done its job and brought the entire crew home uninjured.
>
> [4FEAAAE144C9434EBFF92E9E71881C10]
> I love these old war stories, especially the ones with a happy ending !
>
>
> [E492B6F530C044CC8783FB51A94D4AFB]
>
>
> Please pass this on to someone who will also appreciate this amazing story.
> In God We Trust.........
>
>
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> =
>
>
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