When I first went into Uncle Surgars Wind Force my first Wing Commander , then a Colonel at Kincheloe AFB , told of his days as an enlisted man in WWII as a Waist Gunner in a B17. said he and other gunners put more holes in other B17’s than German Pilots did..... flying in tight formations , trying to lead and shoot down enemy fighters etc ... said it was tough and did happen more often than not.
I took a short ride in a B17 about 12 years ago ...it has since crashed and allegedly it’s up and running again.
http://www.libertyfoundation.org/index.html
During that short ride around the Texas Panhandle I tried to imagine the cold those crews experienced just to and from. Add to the basic lack of comfort for long hours of flight the fight for survival against fast and deadly enemy fighters.....
Deepest respects for those crews that pounded the hell out of the enemy 24/7 for all those years.
Deepest Respects....
Stay safe Travis !
I’m pretty sure that more airmen died in the 8th AF alone, than Marines died in all of WW2.
During the war, keeping up the morale was part of the news/propaganda effort, so some subjects were just not touted.
Imagine what stressed out wrecks they must have been climbing into bombers for the 20th of 25 missions, after seeing half of your squadron mates go down in flames during that time?
And then climbing back into a bomber again and again?
How did they do that? Amazing. They were made of sterner stuff than we have today.
Plus, today the MSM (if it was a GOP president) would be screaming about the casualties....
Amen to that. When I was a young airman, I had the distinct pleasure of serving with a couple of older men (retired in so-called double dipper status) who had been doing the same in that war over Europe and the Pacific.
I especially like the story one told me about Dec 7th, (Dec 8th in the PI) 1941. He was a B-17 waist gunner who had a part time job as a bartender at the O’Club on Clark AB in the Phillipines. He worked late the night before and was allowed to sleep in. He was woke up by a buddy who told him they were going to bomb Formosa. While getting dressed the Japs attacked Clark Field. His plane made it through unscathed, and when he got to it, more than half the planes on Clark were destroyed.
He later flew out to Mindinao, and to Australia before the PI fell. He was later transferred to England, and had several enocunters he should have died from over Europe; too many to tell.
I love these old tales. I had to keep in mind, too, that the old guys telling them were, at the time, young fellows like me. Now, I’m an old guy like they were when they told me!