Dateline: Tunis, Tunisia February 1, 1943
Background: The Tunisia Campaign – November 17, 1942 – May 13, 1943 – (also known as the Battle of Tunisia) was a series of World War II battles that took place in Tunisia in the North African Campaign of World War II, between Axis and Allied forces. The Allies consisted primarily of American, British Imperial Forces and the French Army. The battle opened with initial success by the German and Italian forces, but the massive supply and numerical superiority of the Allies led to the Axis’ complete defeat. Over 230,000 German and Italian troops were taken as prisoners of war, including most of the Afrika Korps. (Source)
Ground Crew Chief - Hank Hyland
B-17 in 1943
A mid-air collision on February 1, 1943, between a B-17 and
a German fighter over the Tunis dock area, became the subject of one of the
most famous photographs of World War II. An enemy fighter attacking a 97th Bomb
Group formation went out of control, probably with a wounded pilot then
continued its crashing descent into the rear of the fuselage of a Fortress
named "All American", piloted by Lt. Kendrick R. Bragg, of the 414th
Bomb Squadron. When it struck, the fighter broke apart, but left some pieces in
the B-17. The left horizontal stabilizer of the Fortress and left elevator were
completely torn away. The two right engines were out and one on the left had a
serious oil pump leak. The vertical fin and the rudder had been damaged, the
fuselage had been cut almost completely through connected only at two small
parts of the frame and the radios, electrical and oxygen systems were damaged.
There was also a hole in the top that was over 16 feet long and 4 feet wide at
its widest and the split in the fuselage went all the way to the top gunners
turret.
Although the tail actually bounced and swayed in the wind
and twisted when the plane turned and all the control cables were severed, except
one single elevator cable still worked, and the aircraft still flew -
miraculously! The tail gunner was trapped because there was no floor connecting
the tail to the rest of the plane. The waist and tail gunners used parts of the
German fighter and their own parachute harnesses in an attempt to keep the tail
from ripping off and the two sides of the fuselage from splitting apart. While
the crew was trying to keep the bomber from coming apart, the pilot continued
on his bomb run and released his bombs over the target.
When the bomb bay doors were opened, the wind turbulence was
so great that it blew one of the waist gunners into the broken tail section. It
took several minutes and four crew members to pass him ropes from parachutes
and haul him back into the forward part of the plane. When they tried to do the
same for the tail gunner, the tail began flapping so hard that it began to
break off. The weight of the gunner was adding some stability to the tail
section, so he went back to his position.
The turn back toward England had to be very slow to keep the
tail from twisting off. They actually covered almost 70 miles to make the turn
home. The bomber was so badly damaged that it was losing altitude and speed and
was soon alone in the sky. For a brief time, two more Me-109 German fighters
attacked the All American. Despite the extensive damage, all of the machine
gunners were able to respond to these attacks and soon drove off the fighters.
The two waist gunners stood up with their heads sticking out through the hole
in the top of the fuselage to aim and fire their machine guns. The tail gunner
had to shoot in short bursts because the recoil was actually causing the plane
to turn.
Allied P-51 fighters intercepted the All American as it
crossed over the Channel and took one of the pictures shown. They also radioed
to the base describing that the empennage was waving like a fish tail and that
the plane would not make it and to send out boats to rescue the crew when they
bailed out. The fighters stayed with the Fortress taking hand signals from Lt.
Bragg and relaying them to the base. Lt. Bragg signaled that 5 parachutes and
the spare had been "used" so five of the crew could not bail out. He
made the decision that if they could not bail out safely, then he would stay
with the plane and land it.
Two and a half hours after being hit, the aircraft made its
final turn to line up with the runway while it was still over 40 miles away. It
descended into an emergency landing and a normal roll-out on its landing gear.
When the ambulance pulled alongside, it was waved off
because not a single member of the crew had been injured. No one could believe
that the aircraft could still fly in such a condition. The Fortress sat
placidly until the crew all exited through the door in the fuselage and the
tail gunner had climbed down a ladder, at which time the entire rear section of
the aircraft collapsed onto the ground. The rugged old bird had done its job.
Source: Anonymous email
Source: Anonymous email
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