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#1
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04-24-2011, 06:59 AM
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B-17 With Wing Blown Off
This is B-17G #42-31333 "Wee Willie" of the 322nd BS, 91st Bomb Group. It was shot down on 8 April 1945. The pilot, Lt. Robert Fuller and some of the crew managed to parachute to safety |
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#3
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04-24-2011, 10:09 PM
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Re: B-17 With Wing Blown Off
That my dear Sharon is what we in the business call an Ahhhh Shit. Glad some of the Crew got out ok. Most people don't even know what a B-17 is now days let alone what a tough bomber it was . For every one story like this post there are quite literally hundreds of stories in which a horribly damaged B-17 remained airworthy and got Her crew back home in one piece. They were beautiful birds and the combat air crews who manned them had some serious balls. Hey Sharon you might like to know this little bit of history. Do you know who the first person was who usually got to fly a B-17 was after it was made? A FEMALE W.A.S.P pilot. There were over 1,000 female Womans Air Service Pilots in world war two. Their job was to ferry the completed bombers from the boeing factories to the Airbases where they would turn the plane over to its combat air crew. Sadly these ladies and their service to this country have gone greatly unnoticed and unappriciated for many years. These woman were flying as comerical rated pilots in an era when the things a woman was allowed to do in the work world was very limited. One story I remember was of a W.A.S.P pilot who came home from the war and went to one of the post war Airlines to apply for a job as a comercial pilot. She was fully licensed and instrument rated and had several hundred hours of flight time. She was told by the hiring man at this airline that they did not hire female pilots but he would be glad to hire her to do office work. The W.A.S.P pilot became enraged by this and told the hiring man to shove his job and his airline straight up his ass. Like I said they were some gutsy Ladies. |