In that book there is a account of a B-17 landing in England
with no crew aboard. It touched down near a British AA battery.
The first people to access the aircraft got the engines shut
down by trial and error. And while in the plane noticed that
what they thought to be parachutes still in the plane. Turns
out that what they thought to be parachutes were actually
protective bags for the chest type chutes. The crew had bailed
out over the channel with the auto pilot on. The engines
were not making enough power for them to get home so they
bailed. I guess that the engines either picked back up again
or the reduced weight, the crew having left the airplane was
just enough for the plane to get back to England, by itself.
Mike
It seems I was off a day on the book title. It is Actually
titled “Black Thursday”.
Mike