B-17s vs. Flak

[jhor9]

Tom

Since the nazi's came to power, it was no secret how a Jew would be treated if they fell into their hands. It was the same in wartime, exept if it was possible to be captured by the wehrmachr instead of the SS, one had a chance of being sent to a stalag. An interesting fact was that all enlisted airmen were sergeants, because if captures they received better treatment. Probably because Goering was a WW1 pilot

[Edward Sheetmetalhands]

Jhor9,

Fascinated by your posts, thanks for taking the time to share. A few questions...

1. Did you fly the F or G model when in combat? Did you have a chance to compare the characteristics of the two? Did the G model have more difficult handling characterists with the chin turret? Did the faster speed of the F model ever come into play?

2. What type of ordinance did you drop? What weights? How many/how much did your aircraft typically carry? Did you always carry a full load of fuel?

3. Were your typical missions strategic or tactical? Did your crew ever see secondary explosions?

4. What was the lowest elevation that you ever bombed from?

Thanks...
Edward

[Django]

One more big thumbs up jhor9 for sharing with us! Thank you for your service!

Did you have a particular ship? Was she named? And who painted it? Also how long did it take for the nose art to be painted?

Did the 15th use assembly ships like the 8th did?

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to post.

chad

[mattsb2000]

Incredible and scary thread

[tom d. friedman]

jhor 9, my question revolves around did you know or have hints as to the death camps while in the service?? i know the rumors flew. but no evidence came forward until the german surrender.

[jhor9]

[quote="Django"]One more big thumbs up jhor9 for sharing with us! Thank you for your service!

Did you have a particular ship? Was she named? And who painted it? Also how long did it take for the nose art to be painted?

Did the 15th use assembly ships like the 8th did?

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to post.

chad[/quote]

Chad
The plane I flew over from the states was named Lucky Lady, I flew the plane on some missions, I flew in about 9 different planes during my tour.
My tentmate was an artist , he did most of the nose art for the group. He later went to the Pacific flying B29s. He was KIA by a kamikaze over Tokyo.

[lestweforget]

A big thankyou from this side of the pond as well sir. Your sacrifices are not forgotten. It has been amazing to hear your stories.

[jhor9]

Tom

While overseas I had no knowledge of the death camps. I don't recall when I learned of it.
I've gotten into arguments with holocost survivors as to why the leaders didn't order the bombing of the tracks leading to the death camps. My answer was that it wasn't feasible,because the camps were deep in enemy territory and the cost in planes and aircrew lost would have been very high. Also, the next day the tracks would be repaired,provided they were destroyed. Also, many inmates probably would have been casualties.

[Zachary]

I sure wish there were some way we could get you to tell us your story some time, Sir.

Ask, and you shall receive!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/lin ... 1308022947

Zack

[Ronald]

In the above series of 5 photos, photo # 3 is captioned as a ship attached to the 96th BG . This may be an erroneous identification. Posters have identified the ship in the photo as 42-98004 YB-H of the 351BG, 508BS which was hit by flack to its ball turret.

My cousin, Kenneth Divil, was the ball turret gunner aboard 42-98004 when ground fire resulted in his death. Upon landing at its base at Polebrook 42-98004 broke apart. The ship was salvaged and attached to the aft of 42-97843. Records show he was attached to the 508th Bomber Squadron, 351st Bomber Group, not the 96th.

It is possible that photo # 3 may be of some stricken ship other than 42-98004 - perhaps one that was assigned to the 96th - or otherwise, the photo may be wrongly captioned.

Ronald

[gsmorehead]

I see mention of 42-97843 in this thread. I'm pursuing a story on a tail gunner that shot down two German a/c on July 28, 1944 on a mission to Merseberg. I need help finding a photo! On that mission the tail was badly damaged, the ball turret gunner was killed, and the waist gunner wounded. One engine was out as well. A pizza and 12-pack to the 1st person that can find a post-mission photo of the damage. Art remembers Army photogs taking photos as he exited the aircraft but at the time he could care less about photos, understandably. Help!

Greg Morehead, editor
Warbird Digest
greg@warbirddigest.com

[gsmorehead]

Just a quick FYI regarding the comments about 42-98004. This is what I found when looking up information about 42-97843:

42-97843
Oct. 7 1944 landed at Polebrook with extensive battle damage. Pilot F.O. Carl Stahl.
Dec. 31 1944 resumed missions with 509th Sqn. as RQ-C. However had front end of 42-98004 grafted on!.
May 28 1945 returned to ZOI.

Also, I think this is a different photo of 42-98004 with the battle damage...


My everlasting thanks to anyone who can find a photo of 42-97843 with battle damage from July 28 '44 mission... tail shot up, ball turret gunner killed, waist gunner wounded, one engine shot out.

[gsmorehead]

Oops.... Let's try this...

[gsmorehead]

At the risk of looking even more ignorant I will attempt this a third time. Thanks for the notes in the Announcements section!

Greg

42-98004 flak damage....

[tom d. friedman]

that pic is one heck of a dig & find!! great job!!