May 19th 1944

[NineLine]

Bit of an oops over Berlin...

 

http://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=17715

 

[Raven68]

Nice post Sith!!:thumbup: I often wondered how many, if any, of these instances occurred where another bomber was under another during the drop. You answered part of my question.

[cichlidfan]

Holy... :cry:

[Demon_]

Lucky no ones explode. :doh:

[cichlidfan]

Lucky no ones explode. :doh:

 

I guess you didn't read the text on the linked page. :noexpression:

 

I don't think anyone was lucky.

[Charly_Owl]

I'm just wondering: what the hell was the bombardier thinking?

[Scrim]

Can't have been much for him to do. It looks like a lot of bombs have already been dropped in that picture, so the other B-17 must've drifted beneath it during the drop. AFAIK there was no stopping the bombs when you pressed the button.

[Raven68]

Doesn't the pilot hand-off control to the bombardier moments before releasing the bombs? I just wonder if the bombardier of the plane below somehow, someway was unaware of their plane drifting underneath. But still the rest of the crew had to notice what was about to happen, but a few seconds too late to react. :dunno:

[NineLine]

I'm just wondering: what the hell was the bombardier thinking?

 

Sites are looking forward arent they, not straight down, I am not sure he could have seen the other plane drift over, but you think the belly gunner might have....

[Merlin-27]

That stuff can happen so quickly while multitasking and by the time they realized it and tried to react... Damage is done. Really sucks that none were able to bail out.

 

The dangers of tight formation.

 

[NineLine]

Yeah, so I cant imagine the bombardier would have been able to see them, you think one of the 4 gunners could have seen it coming, that said, in the heat of battle, over Berlin in 1944... I can only imagine how chaotic it must have been...

 

[Raven68]

I think I will try to find the movie Memphis Belle on demand this evening...

[NineLine]

I think I will try to find the movie Memphis Belle on demand this evening...

 

Funny you should mention that, I just watched it the other day, I don know how accurate it is, but I enjoyed it for sure.

[Raven68]

Funny you should mention that, I just watched it the other day, I don know how accurate it is, but I enjoyed it for sure.

 

Definitely a great movie! Just makes you wonder how many stories like that go untold or just simply missed by film makers...

[NineLine]

I would imagine just about any B-17, or other bomber crew's story for that matter would make an interesting movie...

[DB 605]

Thats sad sight indeed but it's the civils down in earth who did suffered the most after all.

[NineLine]

Thats sad sight indeed but it's the civils down in earth who did suffered the most after all.

 

 

That goes without saying... There is no precision guidance on any of those bombs...

[Scrim]

Doesn't the pilot hand-off control to the bombardier moments before releasing the bombs? I just wonder if the bombardier of the plane below somehow, someway was unaware of their plane drifting underneath. But still the rest of the crew had to notice what was about to happen, but a few seconds too late to react. :dunno:

 

IIRC that was the case, but only for a few select planes. One plane aimed, and everyone else flew in formation with that plane, and dropped their bombs when he did. Technically speaking, if everyone had aimed at the same spot, the concept of carpet bombing wouldn't have applied. Not to mention that having potentially 1,000 B-17s all maneuvering independently, flown by bombardiers with no notion of where any other planes are could only end extremely badly, on a large scale.

[NineLine]

http://www.303rdbg.com/sop-bombardier.html

[Whiplash]

My grandfather wrote about a similar instance in his memoir. He flew in B-24's for the 720th BS (Cotton Tails)

 

On one of my earlier missions before the bailout/escape mission... I was flying top turret looking aft through the tail area... when a plane above the left wing got a direct hit and people started bailing out... and instead of dropping bombs simultaneously they triggered them to fire sequentially... I watched in horror as one fell just behind the wing root and (I’m looking directly above into the bomb bay now) in a split second I thought: "God whatever happens I want to be with you!" and in a moment the next bomb dropped directly behind the wing root on my left. I had not called the pilot because a slight turn could have put the next bomb into the fuselage. The last man to bailout hadn’t clipped at least one side of his chest pack (if in a hurry you can hook the other side before you pull the rip-cord) when he hit that 190 mile an hour airstream it flipped him half over and the chute went flying into space ... I said: "Oh Lord, let him hit in a deep snow drift" (we were over the Austrian Alps)... and I hoped he could dig himself out of that.

 

-Garth Kanen

[NineLine]

OMG... cliffhanger!!! What happened to the guy who lost his chute? Did they find him?

[Merlin-27]

My grandfather wrote about a similar instance in his memoir. He flew in B-24's for the 720th BS (Cotton Tails)

 

That's pretty amazing, Whip. Thanks for sharing.

[Grim_Smiles]

Definitely amazing, thanks for sharing Whiplash!

 

OMG... cliffhanger!!! What happened to the guy who lost his chute? Did they find him?

 

99% chance he didn't make it unfortunately:cry:

[NineLine]

I know... but I still have to wonder, was he ever found, did he just disappear into the night.... I am sure there are countless similar tails on both sides to this... As I said, any bomber career would make an interesting movie...

[Grim_Smiles]

As I said, any bomber career would make an interesting movie...

 

Definitely, down the road from my parents house there was a guy who was a B-17 pilot. I never had the opportunity to talk with him, but another neighbor did and told me he had some really amazing stories.