WW2 survivor

[gundownunder]

I got an email with this story in it and thought you blokes might like it.

http://www.garfieldsteamhouse.org/Histo ... -Story.php

[Borregos]

Seen that before but read it all again, hard to believe really.

[FWiedner]

Brave men with nerves of steel doing their job.

When I grow up, I want to be like them.

[MrMurphy]

Thanks. I knew of the story, but not all of it.

See my post "Flying the Fortress" if you want to get an idea of what one's really like.

[piller]

One Uncle, Cecil A. Casady, flew the B24J Liberator in the South Pacific in WWII. He had a few stories, but nothing like that.

[Rusty]

Thanks for posting. I passed it along to several friends.

[Ben_Rumson]

My uncle flew on a B17 in a crew that was the only plane & crew out of six in their squadron to make it back to England from a raid into Germany in 1944... Another time it was just two planes & crews that made it back...

[geobru]

I had a good friend who was shot down over Germany. His crew had to climb vertically up through the plane so they could exit through the tail as it corkscrewed toward the ground. IIRC, not all of the crew made it out of the plane before it hit the ground.
They were very brave men, and I salute those who are still with us, and reverence all those who are no longer with us.

[gak]

Amazing story. My father was a pilot instructor and among virtually all of the bombers perhaps logged the most hours in the 17, and like so many others have said, had a real affection for. He thankfully never saw combat (close, was being sent to Guam to fly 29s he'd instructed on as well - as the war ended)...but he had some hair raising stories of "that tough old bird." A good friend of his, also 17 pilot, got shot down over Germany and got mention regarding time in the Stalag in the definitive (to me) 17 book, "Flying Fortress" by Jacob Jablonski, IIRC.

[AJMD429]

Flying with a broken airplane is bad enough - having to ride in the almost-detached tail section is even worse. Then to top it off by being back there while landing - takes it beyond anything I can imagine.