“When my late father was trained to be a nose gunner on B-24s,.......”
My late father was tail gunner on B-24’s. Navy, South Pacific. Shot down three times. Tore up his leg pretty good the last time, but he was OK. He lived to 87.
My father bailed out during training and was in another B-24 that crashed on takeoff while at Harlingen, TX. He was set to head to the South Pacific when the final medical at March Field discovered he had a double hernia, probably from the bale out and was declared medically unfit for overseas deployment. He spent the final year plus a few months as a clerk-typist at March Army Air Field. I’m glad your dad made it back.