Last edited by HCM; 11-22-2017 at 01:24 AM.
My 1st wife’s father (both deceased) was a B17 waist gunner in England during WWII when it was statistically unlikely to survive. He was the only surviving member of his original crew. He got assigned to the armory to help detail clean and prep a bunch of new .50 cals and a brand new gunner was assigned for that mission only. The plane was shot down and everyone killed. He made his missions, extended and flew for about 1.5 years. Never so much as a scratch. I stilll have a copy of his discharge papers in storage. RIP Sgt James C Brown.
Thanks HCM.
Last edited by LSP552; 11-22-2017 at 12:10 PM.
My father was cross trained as both a Bombardier and Navigator in B-17's and completed 33 missions over occupied Europe 1944 - early 1945.Originally Posted by LSP552
I liked both your posts but that doesn’t really do it justice.
I don’t know how the B17s were able to get airborne with the payload of balls they were carrying.
--Josh
“Formerly we suffered from crimes; now we suffer from laws.” - Tacitus.
My instructor when I learned to fly had flown B-17s in the Eighth Air Force. Patient guy. The only time he ever mentioned it was when I did something dumb and he said: "The Germans didn't kill me and I'm not going to let you kill me."
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
My granddad, who passed away in 2010, flew B-17's out of North Africa and Italy with the 483rd Bomb Group, 15th Air Force. He was the 1st generation aviator in the family...hopefully my daughter will keep it going and be the fourth generation.
I have a Winchester Model 12 that started out life as a trainer. It had a long barrel and a full choke and was used to teach gunners how to lead targets by shooting clays.
The barrel was shortened, and it was bored to cylinder choke for garrison duty.
I had an ER nurse in a class. I noticed she kept taking all head shots. Her response when asked why, "'I've seen too many people who have been shot in the chest putting up a fight in the ER." Point taken.
I shared an office for a year with the engineer who had been a B-17 navigator. He told me, one time, that when they did trap shooting for gunnery training, that they shot from the backs of trucks in motion.
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Last edited by Stephanie B; 11-22-2017 at 07:20 PM.
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
I've seen video of that. Then had a semi auto shotgun modified with spade grips in lieu of a stock and a modified trigger system mounted to a frame in the back of the truck.
If a B-17 crewmember were severely wounded and might not survive the trip back to England, policy permitted attaching a static line to his chute and pushing him from the plane. The intent was that the Germans would locate and treat the injured airman.
Last edited by willie; 11-23-2017 at 10:26 PM.
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