WW II Army Air Core

old-9 · Dec 12, 2014

While we are posting about WW II avation. First I am proud that my father served in WW II as a tail gunner in a B-24 over Europe. He flew from Italy and while once was unable to make it back to the base, was able to land on another US field, made repairs and made it back to base. Also he made it HOME or I would not be writing this. As this is a small world I recieved this in an email today, enjoy. Joe
B 17

RGMartin · Dec 12, 2014

Army Air Corps... My granddad(My namesake) was a peacetime draftee, spent almost 6 years in northern India/Burma(supposed to be a 12 month tour) working on P-40s.

Ivan in Mich · Dec 12, 2014

That is amazing. I think those guys had someone else riding with them that day. Thanks for sharing

David G · Dec 12, 2014

My uncle enlisted in 1939 in the army air corp, he passed away last year.

Goose · Dec 12, 2014

Those were tough old birds.

In the book "Ghosts of the Air" by Martin Caidin, a story is told of a B17 that returned to its base in formation with the other planes, taxied to its usual parking spot, and the engines shut down normally.

When no crew appeared, ground crew entered the plane and found the entire crew dead. They obviously had been for several hours. After the bodies of the crew were removed from the plane, the plane burned to the ground.

Explain that. It was like the plane had a mind of its own and insisted on bringing the crew back.

In the book, the author solicited stories, but tossed out 90% and used only the ones for which there was absolutely no explanation.

JD Seller · Dec 12, 2014

THANK YOU for the post!!!

CKain(MI) · Dec 12, 2014

P-40 !!! Wow, my favorite WWII plane. I have repaired a lot of airplane radios, years ago, no P-40's. :-(

GlenIdaho · Dec 12, 2014

Thank you for sharing. I am so thankful for the men and women of our military who have shown such amazing courage and resolve, many paying the ultimate cost that we may be free. To all of you veterans, THANK YOU!

Dean · Dec 13, 2014

Fascinating story. Thanks for posting.

Dean

James Howell · Dec 13, 2014

Now that I've wiped the tears from my eyes, all I can say is this is a fascinating story.

I have read and heard many stories of how much damage the B17s could withstand and still manage to stay in the air.

Tunis is located in the country of Tunisia in North Africa.

There were several heavy bombardment groups of B17s and B24s in that surrounding area.

There were also light bombers B26s in the area.

The main airfield in Italy was Fogia in 1944.

My father's crew was in Massicalt, Tunisia until October 5, 1943 when they were shot down over Italy on their 30th mission.

My father was a bombardier and flew with the Group Commander in the lead plane on the bombing mission that day.

He flew his 50 combat missions and came home in late 1944.

Thanks so much for sharing the video with us.

GeneMO · Dec 13, 2014

And just to make it tractor related, IHC made lots of the tractors or tugs used to pull the planes around. I have seen pics of them using unaltered farm tractors, W-6's or W-9's.

Gene

super99 · Dec 13, 2014

Thanks for the post and the link, I enjoyed looking at it. They were truly the greatest generation!! Chris

WW II Army Air Core

old-9

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RGMartin

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Ivan in Mich

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David G

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Goose

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JD Seller

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CKain(MI)

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GlenIdaho

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Dean

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James Howell

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GeneMO

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super99

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