pilotbraden wrote:
I've been up in one of those. And a PT-17 and Pt-22, too. The -19 was my favorite.
pilotbraden wrote:
My middle-school athletics teacher was a B-24 pilot in the ETO. He did not fly the Ploesti run, but he told me a lot of hair-raising stories. I read extensively about Ploesti - what a clusterberk.
The Odyssey of Utah Man
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Duke wrote:pilotbraden wrote:My middle-school athletics teacher was a B-24 pilot in the ETO. He did not fly the Ploesti run, but he told me a *lot* of hair-raising stories. I read extensively about Ploesti - what a clusterberk.
My grandfather's older brother was killed on the secon Ploesti run. TSgt Ronald Campbell, flight engineer and top turret gunner. Posthumous Silver Star for that one. Before raid #2 he was officially credited with 3 confirmed kills, 4 probables, and 11 damaged. It seems he had earned a reputation for hitting every last German fighter that ever came within range of his guns. On raid #2 his crew was the lead plane for his entire 3-squadron group. The formation was so low that the nose gunners, ball gunners, waist gunners, and tail gunners were actually "dueling" with the German anti-aicraft gunners. The after action report states that 38 seconds after turning onto the bomb run from the Initial Point, after decending the Group to the bombing altitude of 500 feet AGL, his plane was hit with an 88 shell just outboard of the #1 engine (left outboard engine), knocking it out and setting the fuel tanks in the left wing on fire. The pilot then pushed the power on #2 to War Emergency Power (max RPM, max turbo boost, max prop pitch, max mixture rich) to maintain steady airspeed for the bombardier. Shortly after the first 88 hit, another exploded ajacent to the waist gun position, killing both waist gunners. Ronald was then witnessed by other aircrafts' crews to leave his top turret (which was useless for firing down at German gunners) and move to the waist position. All the while, the plane condinued to take random 20mm hits. In spite of the flames from the left wing which were beginning to swirl into the open waist windows, he manned the left waist gun and began firing into the German FlaK poisitions. When their bombardier dropped their load, the rest of the group dropped on that cue. Immediately after the last bomb was clear of bay, a third 88 shell struck directly amidship, competely blowing the aircraft apart. There were no survivors from his crew. And the refinery suffered a 40% reduction in fuel output. Now, attempt to imagine what it takes for a man to stand his ground and keep fighting and killing the enemy while being blowtorched with burning gasoline.
Unceremoniously stolen from Life magazine.
WWII Glider training.
Donebrokeit wrote:
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