B-17 in WW II - Crew stories

I can not separate the B-17 from the crew who flew her on the bombing runs, nor can I separate the B-17 from the ground crew (aka crew chief) who kept the plane running.

I offer you a couple of websites where I found crew stories.

The Jesse Woffard B-17 Crew (text) and photos of Woffard's crew.

Dwayne Bennett, pilot.

I found a nice book called The Bomber Boys: Heros who Flew the B-17’s in World War II (2005) by Travis Ayres. Ayres interviewed five surviving WW II veterans who served as crew on B-17’s. Three of these veterans whose stories Ayres tells are George Ahem, Art Frechette, and Anthony Teta. George Ahem was a Ball Turrett Gunner from the 351st Bomb Group, 509th Bomb Squadron. While on leave in London he and his crew mates missed being killed by a German V-2 rocket strike only because they stopped to take pictures of Big Ben. Their cab driver told them that if they had not stopped to take pictures, he would have turned down that street at the precise moment the rocket hit.

Art Fretchette, Navigator, 301st Bomb Group, 419th Bomb Squadron managed to get out of his B-17 while unconscious just before the B-17 blew-up. He did not have time to pull the rip cord before landing on a mountain in the snow covered alps. He fell 15,000 feet. Four of his crew mates died. Art was captured by the Germans along with five of his crew mates at least some of whom were at different POW camps. The Germans treated Art’s wounds. Art and his crew mates were released by the Germans at the end of the war.

In a story Ayers calls "The Lucky Bastards Club", Ayers tells the story of Anthony Teta, Navigator, 305th Bomb Group, 366th Bomb Squadron. Tony Teta made it home, surviving 35 missions. Surviving 35 missions was not always easy. By the time Tony and his crew got to England, P-51 Mustangs and P-47 Thunderbolt fighters escorted the bombers on their bombing runs.

On one bomb run, they got to the target, the bombardier dropped the bombs, and they turned around to head back to base. The flak from the anti-aircraft guns was very heavy. Jerry Chart, the pilot, took evasive action in an effort to avoid the flak. Suddenly, things got complicated when the word came to the cockpit that they had five bombs stuck in the bomb bay. A little later, Tony felt a sudden impact followed by the propellers of the inside engine on the right wing stopping. Ayers tells what Tony does next:

The interphone was dead . . . .He climbed quickly up the little ladder in the back of the nose compartment, emerging right behind the pilot's seat. A cold wind swirled blue smoke around the cockpit, sparks were spewing from a fuse box next to the top gun turret. Tony could see blue sky. Flak had ripped away a sizable pice of the bomber's roof. . . . (Ayers, 2005, 46).

Chart told Tony to plot a course to neutral Sweden, just in case. He knew that it was only a matter of time when they would have to drop out of formation and lose the protective cover of the other bombers. They finally had to drop out of formation,and the pilot in the lead B-17 wished them luck. Chart and his crew were on their own. All the crew, especially the gunners, were on the look-out for German aircraft. Being on their own, they were quite vulnerable.

Suddenly, two fighter planes were spotted. At first the crew could not tell whether they were Allied fighters or Germans.

‘I think they're ours,’ Robinson announced from the top turret. Then when he could make out the fighters' distinctive shapes, he added, ‘Yeah, its two little friends.’ Moment's latter two shiny P-51 Mustangs pulled alongside of Chart's number 015 Fortress--one cruising just feet away from each of the bomber's wingtips. Chart returned a friendly wave from one of the fighter pilots, and then everyone on board found himself smiling and waving.

Tony was not surprised when their skipper announced his intentions. They would be continuing back to England. Whether it was the friendly fighter escort that had tipped the scale, Chart did not say, and Tony would never know. Chart had made his decision and his men trusted him. (Ayers 2005, 50)

Tony, Robinson, Chart and the rest of the crew made it back to England, not without more adventure as their earlier encounter with flak damaged the electrical system, and remember they did still had five bombs stuck in the bomb bay. The damage to the electrical system meant that they had to do some jury rigging to the electronics to lower the flaps and the landing gear.

I have only given you a taste of the stories that Ayers tells, and there are two other stories that I have not mentioned. One is of Peter Seniawsky (Peter Scott), Left Waist Gunner, 384th Bomb Group, 547th Bomb Squadron. Peter baled out of his crippled B-17 over Germany, evaded capture by the Germans and walks to Spain over several weeks before making it back to his base in England. Then there is the story of the crew of the Stork Club who participated in food and supply drops in German occupied Holland right around V-E day. The drops were arranged by the Allies and agreed to by the Germans. German guns were supposed to be quiet. Problem was that for an unknown reason a German soldier manning an anti-aicraft gun fired his gun. The Stork Club was hit, resulting in a large hole in one of her wings. She made it back to base with her crew.

I found Ayers’ book at my local library, and I’d recommend the book to those of you who want a taste of the experiences of B-17 crews in WW II.

References:

Ayres, Travis A. 2005. The Bomber Boys: Heros Who Flew the B-17's in World War II. NY: New American Library Group, a division of Penguin Group (U.S.A.)

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