Nowadays, if you come across something awful happening, you always think, 'My God, it's just like a movie,' and that's what I thought. Just simply blow up and drop through the sky. Way home, some Focke-Wulfs showed up, armed with rockets, and I saw three B-I7s in the different groups around us suddenly blow up and drop through the sky. Maybe it was the auto-pilot and bomb sight that saw to that, but I'm sure I was cool enough on that first raid to do my job without thinking too much about it. We made our run over the target, got our bombs away, and apparently did a good job. It seemed to me at first that I'd simply moved in on a wonderful show.' I got over feeling sick, there was so much to watch. A bombardier sits right in the plexiglas nose of a Fort, so he sees everything neatly laid out in front of him, like a living-room rug. Once we'd crossed into Germany, we spotted some flak, but it was a good long distance below us and looked pretty and not dangerous: different-colored puffs making a soft, cushiony-looking pattern under our plane. That comes later, when you begin to understand what your chances of survival are. Naturally, not knowing what it was going to be like, I didn't feel scared. "My first raid was on December thirty-first, over Ludwigshaven. After training as a bombardier, he arrived in England in November 1943 and began his combat career on the last day of the year: Hallock dropped out of college to enlist in the Army Air Force in June 1942. Joseph Hallock was a twenty-two-year-old first lieutenant serving as the bombardier aboard "Ginger" a B-17 flying out of its base north of London. Had only a one in four chance of actually completing his tour of duty. Of the hazards they would encounter, it is estimated that the average crewman Prior to 1944, a crewman's tour of duty was set at 25 missions. Parachutes were too bulky to be worn all the time, but crewmen did wear a harness that allowed them to quickly clip on their parachute when needed. Nearing the target, each crew member would don a 30-pound flak suit and a steel helmet designed to protect against antiaircraft fire. Once above 10,000 feet they donned oxygen masks as the planes continued to climb to their operational level that could be as high as 29,000 feet. The crew wore electrically heated suits and heavy gloves that provided some protection against temperatures that could dip to 60 degrees below zero. The planes were unheated and open to the outside air. The bombers were expected to maintain their positions at all costs - in order to provide the most effective defensive fire and to assure the most devastating results once their bombs were dropped.
They could expect attacks by fighters armed with machineguns, canon and rockets as well as heavy antiaircraft fire from the ground and even bombs dropped from above. Missions that penetrated deep into enemy territory could last up to eight hours and be filled with anxious anticipation as all eyes searched the skies for enemy defenders. Once aloft, brightly colored "lead-ships" would direct the bombers to pre-determined points where they would organize themselves into their attack formations. They would then be taken to their planes and await the signal to take off. Trace the weaving path of their fighter escort.ī-17 prompted its nickname, the "Flying Fortress." On days that a mission was planned, the airmen would be awakened in the early morning hours and fed a hearty breakfast followed by a briefing describing the mission. Manned by a crew of 10, the many heavy machine guns that bristled from the front, back, top, bottom and sides of the four-engineī-17s fly in formation. Were made available that losses dropped to an acceptable level. It was not until long-rangeįighter aircraft capable of escorting the bombers to and from their targets The early confidence that the bombers' defenses alone could repel enemy fighterĪttacks was quickly shattered.
In a three dimensional formation in which boxes of aircraft were stacked oneĪbove the other to take full advantage of their combined defensive firepower. Up to 1,000 of these heavy bombers would take part in a raid - the planes flying Launching Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortresses" and Consolidated B-24 "Liberators" from bases in England's eastern countryside, the Americans bombed their targets during the day while the British attacked at night. The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis, 1945Īmerica joined Britain's strategic air campaign designed to destroy Nazi Germany's industrial capacity soon after her entrance into World War Two.
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