Warbird Information Exchange

WW II B17 Survival Story

in Member Articles / by Joris / on August 15, 2012 at 10:58 /

B-17 “All American” (414th Squadron, 97 Bomb Group) 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 World War 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 and the split in the fuselage went all the way to the top gunners turret.
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 still flew – miraculously! 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 his bomb run and released his bombs over the target.

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.

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 empennage 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 and land it.

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.

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 onto the ground. The rugged old bird had done its job.

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

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/member- ... story.html

The basic story is correct, but this happened in North Africa, not England.

P-47 Thunderbolt fighter pilot evaded capture by Germans during WWII with help of Belgium underground
in Featured Article, War Articles / by Jack / on August 15, 2012 at 10:45 /

Bob Grace, 90, of North Olmsted, was a P-47 fighter pilot who was shot down during World War II but evaded capture with the help of the Belgium underground. Shown here with a hand-stitched American flag made by one of his benefactors, Grace said, “They were some of the bravest people I ever met.”

Sixty-seven years ago Bob Grace was a week from flying a blazing P-47 Thunderbolt fighter into either the greatest adventure of his life, or oblivion. Up until then the John Marshall High School grad — who’d realized his dream of becoming a pilot ever since attending the Cleveland Air Races with his father — had been wreaking havoc over Europe during World War II via an aircraft he described as a “flying battleship.”

The P-47, nicknamed “the jug” for its hefty size and weight, was equipped with rockets and eight, .50-caliber machine guns that Grace, 90, of North Olmsted, recently recalled were capable of shooting a railroad locomotive right off the tracks. Grace flew with the 373rd Fighter Group, mostly dive-bombing bridges and railroad yards, and strafing German convoys in the weeks before the D-Day invasion of France on June 6, 1944.

“When we scored a hit on a truck or train that was carrying ammunition, they would blow sky high and we had to fly through the debris,” Grace wrote in his book, “Silver Wings.” Many fighters, he noted, “went down after flying through this garbage. Some were lost because they did not pull up in time and hit a pole or flew into a tree.”

Grace, however, was sublimely confident, with a daredevil’s touch, as he said all fighter pilots were — or should be. “I never got scared when I was flying, even when I was hit,” he said. That hit came May 29, 1944, when he was just pulling up after bombing a railroad yard on the German-Belgium border. As he wrote in his book, he soared to an altitude of 2,000 feet, “going in excess of 400 mph when BLAM. The whole darn world seemed to explode.”

Hit by antiaircraft fire, “part of my engine and a big chunk of my wing were missing, and I had to get out of that plane fast,” he added. Grace leaped from the cockpit, parachuting into four months of harrowing horror and Belgian benevolence as he evaded capture by the Germans.

Fighter pilot eludes capture in Belgium Fighter pilot eludes capture in Belgium After his P-47 Thunderbolt was hit by flak, fighter pilot Bob Grace was forced to parachute into enemy-held territory and spent four months evading capture by the Germans, with the help of the Belgium underground. Watch video
During his second day on the run, while limping through a forest, Grace stumbled upon two German soldiers and shot them with his .45-caliber pistol. “They were both dead before they hit the ground,” Grace wrote in his book. “I walked up to them, looked, and got sick.

“It was a different feeling altogether when I saw the results of my action close-up,” he said. “When we were in our planes we saw what we did, but we were detached from the results.” Grace was fortunate enough to make contact with the Belgium underground, and his life became a series of being shuttled from one hiding place to another. He recalled one hideout in the upstairs bedroom of a home that also housed a small store on the first floor. “There were Germans coming into the store all the time,” Grace recalled, “and I was really nervous, boy, because I thought sure as hell I was going to get caught.” Any lingering qualms about his earlier shooting of the German soldiers may have been resolved when he was being hidden at a monastery.

One day he was suddenly moved to a church belfry because the Gestapo was searching the monastery for three Russian prisoners who had escaped from a work camp and killed two German guards. Grace could only watch in horror as the escapees were discovered. One was shot, the two others tortured and beaten to death as the monastery’s priests and students were forced to witness the brutality. Grace had no doubt that any Belgians discovered harboring him would share a similar fate. “Their life wasn’t worth a nickel if they got caught helping me,” he said. “They were some of the bravest people I ever met.”

As the weeks of evasion became months, Grace grew lonely, missing the company of his fellow fliers who passed overhead in bombers and fighters en route to their targets. “Even though it was a beautiful sight to me, it was also a sad sight,” he wrote.

But there were a few Cleveland connections along the way.

When Grace first hooked up with the underground, the Belgians were wary of German infiltrators posing as downed airmen. So Grace was asked about the Terminal Tower, Public Square and other Cleveland landmarks. It turned out that his interrogator had once lived and worked in Grace’s hometown. And when Grace finally had some company in a fellow aviator, a bomber crewman who’d been shot down, the man’s name turned out to be Bob Cleveland. Come the day of liberation when Americans rolled into the small town where Grace was being sheltered, he ran up to the first tank, wearing civilian clothes and waving a homemade American flag fashioned by his benefactors, asking, “Hey any of you guys have an American cigarette?”

“You speak pretty good English,” came the startled reply of the GI tanker — from Cleveland.

Grace continued flying in the Air Force Reserve after the war and retired as a lieutenant-colonel. He married twice, helped raised four children and put in a 30-year career in the old Cleveland Press newspaper mailroom.

Looking back on the war years — the escape and evasion, but mostly the new friends he made in Belgium — Grace would re-live it in a heartbeat.

As he said, “I’ll tell you, if I ever had to do it over again, and have it work the same way, I’d like to have it done again.”

Source and read more

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/feature ... round.html

Betrayal of a hero: He flew 92 missions as a rear gunner in WWII.
in Featured Article, War Articles / by Jack / on June 12, 2012 at 08:25 /

So why won’t bureaucrats let Freddie Johnson, 91, attend the unveiling of a memorial to his comrades in Bomber Command?

Among a rapidly dwindling band, no one epitomises the courage and heroism of the Bomber Command veterans more than Freddie ‘Johnny’ Johnson. A survivor of 92 missions during five years of service in the Second World War, the highly decorated rear gunner was shot down twice – once behind enemy lines – but lived to fight another day.

Now aged 91 and a wheelchair user, he could have expected to be a VIP guest at the unveiling of a long-awaited £6.5million Bomber Command memorial in Green Park in central London. But despite his distinguished service and years of work helping to raise money for the memorial appeal, Mr Johnson has been told he cannot attend the ceremony on June 28 because there are no tickets left. The memorial, a sculpture which features seven bomber air crew members, is expected to be unveiled by the Queen.

It is seen as overdue recognition for the bomber crews whose place in history has been widely played down because of the high number of civilian deaths they caused. Mr Johnson’s family are furious about the snub. They found out too late that veterans had to apply for tickets, like anyone else wanting to attend. Now the entire allocation has been taken up, largely by relatives of those who served on the bombers, and Mr Johnson has been told he can’t go.

His daughter Mandy Stewart, 56, said: ‘How can they expect a 91-year-old war veteran to sort this out himself? ‘He’s a member of the RAF Association so it couldn’t have been that hard to trace him and invite him to the ceremony. ‘We feel that precedence should be given to those who were actually there.’ Mr Johnson, of Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, supported numerous fundraising events over the years which finally led to the memorial being given the go ahead. He said: ‘I would have loved to have gone. I was very pleased when I heard it was being built.’

Like many other veterans he was determined that the 55,573 bomber crew who lost their lives should be given a fitting memorial. Mr Johnson was 20 when he joined the RAF. As a rear gunner he had a life expectancy of six weeks, but went on to survive the entire war and earn six medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, in the process. There were 25 missions over Germany, as well as stints in Burma and North Africa in Wellington and Halifax bombers.

Mr Johnson’s closest shave came at El Alamein in 1942 when his plane was shot down. He survived by a stroke of luck when the turret of his plane where he was sitting came away as the aircraft crashed into the desert. The front end of the plane exploded, killing four men on board, but he survived. Despite being behind enemy lines he marched off into the desert and was picked up by a group of British soldiers who had spotted the crash. A second crash occurred when his plane was shot down near the Burma border, and on this occasion everyone survived.

The rear gunner badly damaged his leg in another operation and was in hospital when his medal and letter from the King arrived. He still has pins in his legs and suffers severe arthritis. He remains fiercely proud of his war years and his wife Jean, 85, believes the authorities have let him down. She said: ‘It’s a shame. He is bitterly disappointed. There can’t be that many veterans left who saw such long service and were presented with so many medals. This memorial is what my husband has been waiting for. At one point in the war the bombers were all we had. The bombers deserve this.’

The memorial organisers said that they were extremely sorry that Mr Johnson and other veterans had been unable to get tickets to the event.

A spokesman said: ‘The problem is we have been absolutely overwhelmed by demand for tickets. We have a licence limiting us to 6,500 guests which we cannot exceed, and have

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/feature ... -wwii.html

Kiwi pilot relives wartime heroics in restored Tempest -I’ve got a [Messerschmitt] 109 up my tushy, better turn her,”

in Featured Article, War Articles / by Jack / on August 18, 2012 at 12:45 /

The last time Flt Lt Jack Stafford was in the cockpit of a Hawker Tempest was over Denmark

A Hawker Tempest which hasn’t flown since 1946 is in the process of getting its wings again. The plane was found in a shed in the south of France and bought by an anonymous New Zealand businessman for restoration. It’s still in bits, but there was enough to impress former war pilots at a veterans’ day.

The last time Flt Lt Jack Stafford was in the cockpit of a Hawker Tempest was over Denmark, just after the Germans surrendered. Sixty-six years later, the smile says it all. “It seems smaller somehow,” he says. “I loved it. I loved it more than anything.”

It took him right back.

“I’ve got a [Messerschmitt] 109 up my tushy, better turn her,” he says. “You just sort of swing around get your bloody head back, watching them coming in, have a look at him.” But there were sobering memories too. He recalled an attack in which his wingman was killed during a fierce battle. This Tempest was found in a shed in the South of France. It was bought by a New Zealand businessman and arrived in Auckland last month in bits in three containers. It will be restored to its full glory, which should take about two years. By then it’ll be worth about US$2.5 million dollars.

Through skill and bravery, Mr Stafford ran away safely many times. Tempest pilots had their own love song for their planes they flew. “And if per chance this song should be a prelude to eternity, I ask for a moment’s grace that I may think of thee before I die,” sings Mr Stafford.

He turns 90 on Sunday. The Tempest is a gift he will cherish…

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/feature ... n-her.html

Spitfire pilot shot down by Health & Safety takes controls of a Spitfire 70 years after he first flew

in Featured Article, War Articles / by Jack / on August 20, 2012 at 10:45 /

‘Just as I remembered it’: Eric Carter, 91, said it ‘all came back’ after ten minutes of flying in the Spitfire. The pilot is the last surviving member of a task force sent to northern Russia in 1941 to protect supply routes

He survived the daily dangers of being a pilot in the Second World War and even risked his life on a clandestine operation in the Soviet Union. Now aged 91, and seven decades on from his wartime exploits, Eric Carter has taken to the skies again at the controls of a rare two-seater Spitfire.Earlier this year, museum officials denied Mr Carter the chance even to sit in the cockpit of a Spitfire because of health and safety rules.

But thanks to the help of a fellow flying enthusiast, he has finally had the chance to reacquaint himself with one – and to fly in it, too! Mr Carter, the last surviving member of a 38-strong task force sent to northern Russia in 1941 to protect supply routes, said: ‘Amazing as it may seem it all came back to me after about ten minutes in the air. ‘The firing button and all the controls were right there, exactly as they were when I last flew the Spitfire.

‘I can only describe it as being like you jumping back into your first car and feeling at home. It was an amazing experience – some sad memories, some happy. It was just as I remembered it.’ Mr Carter, from Chaddesley Corbett, Worcestershire, was sent to Russia with 37 other pilots as part of Force Benedict. They flew 365 sorties over four months to keep the port of Murmansk open, shooting down 11 Messerschmitt fighters and three Junkers 88 bombers.

The operation remained a secret for years because Stalin did not want to admit he had asked for help. In January, Mr Carter was refused permission to sit inside a Spitfire at The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, in Stoke-on-Trent, because officials were concerned for his safety. At the time, the former pilot joked: ‘I just wish the Luftwaffe had been so caring.’ But a fellow flying enthusiast decided he deserved better. Matt Jones, of the Boultbee Flight Academy, organised for him to fly in a dual control Spitfire TR9 over Goodwood Aerodrome in West Sussex. The plane, PV202, was built as a single-seater in 1944 and flown in combat in Northern France.

It was later converted and used in training, and is now based at Duxford airfield in Cambridgeshire.Mr Jones said: ‘I found it was ridiculous that Eric wasn’t allowed to sit in a museum Spitfire due to inane modern health and safety rules. ‘We were lucky to be in a position to be able to right this wrong, arranging for him to not only sit in a Spitfire but to take the controls of one in flight once again…

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/feature ... -flew.html

The VERY basic story is true, but nearly every detail mentioned in the story above is untrue. All four of All American's engines were running just fine. The airplane did not make a "40-mile final approach," in fact it circled above the field (Biskra, Algeria) while the rest of its formation landed. The tail gunner was not trapped at his station and in fact came forward to join the rest of the crew; his weight had nothing to do with stabilizing the tail. The crew did not use parachute harnesses to help strap the empennage to the fuselage. The photo was not take from a P-51 but from another B-17. The -109 hit All American -after- it had attacked its target, not before. The turn back to base did not take 70 miles.

And so forth, a typically fanciful Internet "report." The information above is from the pilot's after-action report as well as interviews with other crewmen in the formation.

Even Martin Caidin's account of this incident in "Flying Forts" was more accurate.

I guess I won't be reading the rest of the articles if the first one is any indication of their accuracy. No wonder the author did not reveal his full name. That is one fast B-17--flew from Tunis to the "channel" in 2.5 hours.

_________________
.
.
.

"Welcome back Mr. Lasky."

Hi Jack- I see you you post a lot of material from that site. Are you Jack Beckett, the founder?

Here is a survival story taken from interview's with my dad's friend Sam Dunseith and from the actual Loss and Evasion Reports filed by Sam and the other two survivors.

Avro Lancaster LM-178, BH-U “Uncle” (nicknamed “Luck of the Irish” by bomb-aimer T.F. Gallagher) took off at 20:37hrs, 24 July 1944 from Faldingworth, UK, for a bombing mission on Stuttgart. It was the crew's 10th mission since their transfer to 300 (Polish) Sqn from 626 Sqn and most of the crew’s 18th mission overall.

Sam Dunseith, the rear gunner, remembers preparing for this mission. He was seated in his turret, getting ready, when Navigator Joe Forman came around the wing with a young man following him. Their regular bomb-aimer, Tom Gallagher was apparently too ill to fly that night. Forman said, ‘Sam, this is Jimmy Duguid, our bomb-aimer for tonight.’ Sam reached between his four Browning .303s (he had removed the centre perspex panel), shook Duguid's hand and said, ‘Pleased to meet you Jimmy.’ When Dunseith related this story, he looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘That was the first and last time I ever saw the guy.’ It was James Duguid’s second mission. He had been pilfered from another new RCAF crew for that night’s mission.

It was a clear but hazy night, with no moon. Near Orleans, France at 00.11 hours on July 25th, they were attacked from the starboard rear quarter by a German JU-88 night fighter, flown by Major Paul Semrau of II/NJG2, based out of Chateaudun. The Lancaster was raked along the fuselage and right wing with 30mm cannon fire, smashing the upper turret and setting the starboard wing ablaze. Pilot William Robinson ordered them to bail out. They were flying at a height of 2,300 metres when they were attacked.



Sgt. Dunsieth had managed to briefly return fire before his turret was disabled and he was slightly wounded. Being rotated to starboard and then disabled, the turret doorway was almost impassable but he was just able to squeeze back into the fuselage, activating his Mae West in the process. When he grabbed his parachute and opened the double doors over the rear wing spar, he was met with a frightening sight. The photo-flash had been ignited in the attack and the interior of the aircraft was burning furiously, half of the bomb bay already being burned away. His friend and mid-upper gunner, 17 year-old Jimmy Rheubottom was hanging dead in his turret. Dunseith pulled open the rear door and jumped out into the burning slipstream, only to have the door slam shut on his foot and leave him hanging by one leg. He wiggled out of his flying boot and fell away from the aircraft. In the front of the Lanc, F/O. Forman was just handing pilot Robinson his parachute. They were both blown clear of the aircraft as it exploded.

Meanwhile, Sgt. Dunseith was continuing to have problems. As he fell away from the burning bomber, he pulled the D-ring on his parachute. It came off in his hand. He looked down to discover that the front of his chute was on fire. Beating out the flames with his hands, he reached into the chute pack, found the ripcord string and pulled it. Amazingly, his chute opened. Even more incredibly, he and Joe Forman landed only a few feet from each other in the same field.

Only they and F/O. Robinson had escaped the burning aircraft.

 Dunseith had suffered severe facial burns and was already losing his vision. He and Forman hid in a small wood overnight and in the morning decided that Sam needed medical attention. Their plan was that Forman would help get him to a nearby farmhouse (owned by Francine LeSerre) where he would count to one hundred before knocking on the door, giving Joe time to escape. In fact, Ms. LeSerre hid them and had Sam's wounds tended to by a local veterinarian.

She contacted the Maquis who eventually moved them to Freteval Forest, on the very edge of the German nightfighter base at Chateaudun. They and almost 60 other evaders were hidden there for almost a month until they were eventually liberated by US soldiers in mid-August. Dunseith was blind from his infected burns during this whole time.

 He and Joe Forman were returned to England on August 18th where he received further medical treatment, recovering completely. F/O. Robinson had been wounded and captured and was in hospital in Orleans when the Allies arrived. When the Germans were evacuating the prisoners, a French nurse hid him in a closet and he was found by the Americans as well and returned to England. The rest of the crew, James Duguid, Ernest Morter, Leslie Page and James Rheubottom are buried with honour in St. Laurent-des-Bois, near where their aircraft crashed.



Joe Forman returned to Ontario, Canada where he became a teacher. He died on October 10th 2006. Tom Gallagher went on to survive WWII and returned to Canada. He passed away in Toronto in August 1997 at the age of 75. Sam Dunseith returned to Canada and bought a farm near Woodstock, Ontario, and is now the only surviving crew member of Lancaster LM178.



The full story of the crew of LM178 can be found here..

http://aircrewremembered.com/robinson-william.html

Don

Just finished reading "A Higher Call" about the ME-109 that escorted the B-17 "ye Old Pub" to safety over the North Sea. An excellent and easy to read book.