NEW: Not a healthy place to work in *PIC Inside*
Louis of PA-- Mon 2 Mar 2009 7:25 pm
Views of the nose which houses the bombardier’s and navigator’s station.
The bombardier’s seat is missing.
From The Saga of Murder, Inc. (B17 crew shot down) [Archive] - Military Photos
The navigator wrote, “When we were all alone in the sky many German fighters attacked our ship. Six ME-109’s lined up in formation about 1,000 yards out from my gun position, just beyond the range of my gun. I do not know how many fighters were at other positions around our plane.
“The first two German fighters turned toward us, one flying off the wing and just behind the other, and began firing their machine guns. Each fighter had six guns, making a total of twelve guns firing at me. Bullet holes began to pop in the window and side of our aircraft. Bullets flew all around me. I fired my gun at the fighters.
“The first two fighters passed below us and the next two came in for a pass, firing their guns. As they passed below us the last two came in. By the time they passed below us the first two were back in position and began another run. I always had two German fighters coming in on my position and I continually fired my gun at them. Not one bullet hit me nor did I shoot down a single German fighter.
“I had lost communication with the rest of the crew but I sensed that something was wrong. I moved over from my gun position and looked back through the tunnel that led to the pilot’s compartment. The pilot was down in the tunnel banging on the escape hatch with a heavy ammunition box. Directly behind the pilot was a solid wall of flames. It looked to me as if the entire aircraft except for the nose compartment was engulfed in flames.
“The escape hatch was on the floor of the tunnel. I crawled back to see if I could help the pilot open the escape hatch. As I crawled toward him the pilot put his foot on the hatch and forced it open. This took tremendous pressure since the slipstream was trying to force it closed. The pilot grabbed me by the waist and forced me head first out the escape hatch.
“As I fell clear of the plane, my first reaction was a sense of relief that I had gotten away from that fire. My next thought was, “Did I put on that parachute?” I looked down at my chest --- no parachute.
“I felt something tugging at my shoulders and looked up. There a few feet above my head was my unopened parachute securely hooked to the risers of my harness. Evidently I had clipped the parachute on my harness but the force of the pilot pushing me through the escape hatch had ripped the risers loose, but the chute was still firmly hooked to the risers.
“As I was falling, the pilot fell past me no more than fifty feet away. He had a look of horror on his face. I thought when we got on the ground I would kid him about how scared he looked. I found out later that both the pilot and the co-pilot had jumped without their parachutes. Evidently their chutes had burned in the fire.
“They had told us if we ever bailed out in combat to delay opening the parachute so we could fall away from the fighting. I looked up at my chute and decided to open it right away. In case I had any trouble, I would then have time to work on it before I hit the ground. I pulled the parachute down to me hand over hand and pulled the ripcord. It opened immediately.
“I did not realize the violent shock I would receive when the parachute opened. I was wearing a harness that was too big. The force of the opening jerked the harness up and tight around my throat. There I hung, about 20,000 feet over Germany unable to breath. I grabbed the risers and gradually pulled myself up in the harness until I could breath.
“I had opened my parachute too close to the fighting and one of the German fighters came straight for me. I thought, “I have survived all of this just to be shot to death in my parachute by a German fighter.” But the fighter did not shoot at me. He circled me all the way to the ground. I assume he was radioing my position to the ground.
“Next I realized how quiet it was. All I could hear was the sound of the breeze through my parachute. I was drifting backward in a strong wind. …The German fighter that had been circling me buzzed low over me. The pilot gave me a salute and flew away. Again it was very quiet.”
Not all Jerry pilots were that sporting when it came to our parachutists.
