“Uncle Jack" - Great Story of a B-17 Navigator

[Harlan (Deceased)]

Guys, one of my friends in the CAF sent this video link to me and I think it's one of the nicest videos I've seen in along time. Restoring and maintaining WWII aircraft in flying condition and then reuniting veterans with them again has been the most rewarding part of being involved in the CAF to me.

This is a really neat story of the actor Gary Sinise's uncle who was a B-17 navigator over Europe in WWII.

It's 16 minutes long, but a good nostalgic and patriotic aviation story with some very beautiful camera work.
If you have broadband the full screen view is especially nice.

http://www.sleepingdogtv.com/reel/Uncle-Jack.aspx

~ Harlan

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[Tarheel]

Thanks ever so much for that story of Lt. Dan's uncle. I have to get my wife in here so that she can watch that and have a little cry if she wants. Her mother was 7 months pregnant with her when her Dad, a tail gunner on a B-17, was lost along with the entire crew over France near the Belgian border not long after the invasion, so all she has of him are his genes, her Mom's stories, photos, and a set of his gunners wings.

[Bob Womack]

That was great!

Bob

[JimF4M1s (Deceased)]

Nice Harlan.

[Peter Laidler]

What a pleasure to sit and watch on a Sunday afternoon. One day I'll have to repeat what Fl. Lt. Leslie Barham RAF told me of his Lancaster days

[Brian Dick]

My Grandfather's boss for a time, (nicknamed "Brownie"), who worked for the C&O railroad in Canada was a Lancaster pilot and looped one over Chatham, Ontario during a bonds drive. He had some brutal stories. One of losing his copilot to a cannon shell on a night raid and flying back to England, "seat of the pants with the windshield blown out in sub zero temps. Amazing stuff those guys were made of. Another co-worker of my Gramps taught me to shoot using a Crosman air rifle at the C&O car shanty in Sarnia, Ontario when I was kid. He was still carrying shrapnel from the Italian Campaign. Glenn Gowdy was his name. Another Great Canadian. I'll never forget him. He had me shooting pennys at 25 feet in no time! Brian

Peter, Do tell!

[Bill Hughes]

Thanks for the memories. I was in the generation just after "uncle Jack". Born in 1934, entered Aviation Cadets in 1953 and received my wing and commission in Dec 1954., I was 20 years old. My first assignment was flying B-29s in recconnance from Guam. Many of my crew members were uncle Jacks that had been recalled for Korea. I heard many a tale of the big war during those recce flights! I stayed on and retiired in 1973. Was in Nam in 1970 but with a ground job darn it! I can remember many a flight when the oldest crew member was under thirty. Those days were different. Bill Hughes