5 Things You Never Knew About the B-17 Flying Fortress

My 9th grade Geography teacher was a tail gunner in a B17 in 1944. All we had to do to get out of taking a lecture, quiz, or test, was ask a question about the B17 and then sit back and take a nap while he went off for the rest of the class. Being immature young teens, we never realized how hard it was for him to talk about it and he often got emotional. Being a Veteran myself now, I regret how we treated him.🤔😕🇺🇸

My dad was a tail gunner and his plane was shot down on Black Thursday when they bombed the Schweinfurt ball bearings factory. He was taken prisoner and served two years in the infamous Stalag 17 prison of war camp. He didn't talk about it often but when he did the stories were fascinating as well as scary. I still have a book he gave me that he smuggled into the camp and managed to hold on to the entire time until he was liberated. It has drawings, quotes, and other notes and musings from many prisoners in the camp. I treasure this book dearly and will pass it on to my son.

My mother worked on B-17s at the Seattle Boeing plant. She said the ladies autographed the inside of the wings, so every time in my Air Force career, when I saw one on static display,I wondered if the plane on display was one of “her’s”. And she had a picture of the B-17 on the wall in her house for the rest of her life.

My father was the left waist gunner in a B17 G in the 99th Bob Group stationed in Foggia, Italy. On his last mission – bombing munitions factories in Germany – the 17 was shot up quite badly, and they lost an engine. During the return flight, they lost two more engines, during which time the pilot realized they wouldn't make it back to Foggia. He then headed towards the part of Yugoslavia that is now Croatia, hoping for a safe landing, and the opportunity to fall in with Marshal Tito's partisans there. They actually made a wheels-up landing in a field between two steep hills with that single engine still running, and no crew injuries. After destroying the super-secret Norden bomb sight, he crew broke up into three groups, but only one group made it out to Sweden and then, England. My dad and the others were eventually captured and force-marched to Luft Stalag 17ß, all the way back in Krems, Austria, where they spent the duration of the war. The 17 was stripped of its aluminum skin by locals for patching their roofs. A nice you man from one of the local villages, tracked down my dad a couple of decades ago, and in his letter included a couple of photos of the 17 and about 20 villagers. The B17 G had flown for in excess of 200 nautical miles, full of holes, on a single engine, and landed 10 men safely in some god-forsake field! Kudos, Boeing. Kudos!

The prototype B-17 didn't crash because of mechanical issues, it crashed because the crew failed to remove the control surface locks before takeoff, rendering the plane uncontrollable. Operation Aphrodite also included the use of B-24s. One of these 24s was piloted by John Kennedy's brother Joe who was killed when his plane exploded in the air before he could bail out.

My uncle was a B-17 ball turret (AKA: belly) gunner during WWII. He was selected for this role because he was a small guy and could fit into the ball turret. He was a great man and lived to be 95.

My late father, Gene Roberts, was a B-17 pilot. He often told me of the day a German Me-109 did exactly what you describe in your video about attacking head on. With guns blazing, the German pilot got so close my dad swore he would recognize him to this day. But fortunately for my dad, the German hit nothing but the plane. And my dad was able to continue the mission. But he was so mad at his crew for missing as they fired back at the fast approaching fighter, that after he landed his B-17 back in England, my dad marched his whole crew out to the gunnery range for some extra practice. Swearing he'd never go thru that hair raising experience again.

My dad was a radio operator and 50 cal machine gunner on the B17 35 missions over Germany he was a member of the Lucky Bastards Club i tried to take him up for a ride when the Wings Of Freedom were here he wouldn't go i have his complete diary of all his missions they were the Great Generation RIP Dad Thank You For your service

This was my Dad He was a decorated World War II Army Air Corps Veteran, serving in the 97th Bombardment Group as a Staff Sergeant. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with six Oak Leaf Clusters for flying 51 missions as a tailgunner on B-17s over Europe.

My father was a tail gunner on a B-17. He was good at it and was lucky enough to come home alive from it after flying more missions than they were suppose to. He earned a bronze v star for all his efforts.

In 2000, I flew in a B17. It was the nine-o-nine. We went up to 5k feet for 20 minutes. Amazing. The noise from 4 big engines was deafening. The skin of the plane was as thick as a cereal box. A bullet would have no problem going right through. Those men were incredibly brave. Thank you for your dedication.

My late stepfather was a waist gunner on B-17s (from their first runs). At first, the waist guns did NOT have any kind of arrestor, to avoid the gunners from shooting their own planes. After his second or third sortie, the service crew for his plane realized that the back end of the B-17 was LOADED with unusual bullet holes, something like 100. My stepfather complained the "the damn Germans were just unbelievable" that day. According to my stepfather, his service crew man replied "ya silly bastard, that was YOU that shot up this plane". According to my stepfather, they showed him that all of the holes mushroomed OUT in the aluminum. Supposedly, arrestor suddenly arrived at bases, to be installed on the waist gunners, within a week. Apparently, my stepfather was NOT the only one to do this. My stepdad has been gone for 8 years now, and I never thought to verify this story with professionals, but I can say this. That story was repeated repeatedly (decades ago), with his remaining flying crew by many of the members of his flight crew, at the get-togethers of his WWII reunions. My stepdad did 39 missions. Never a scratch. Not many crewmembers could say that...

My father was a B-17 pilot. After each mission, he would dig a piece of flak out of the plane and keep it in a utility belt. I still have that utility belt with all the pieces of flak today. It’s a prized possession.

Gus, my father in law, flew 35 missions as a ball turret gunner on "Patent Pending", 5 more missions than the required 30 to end your tour and get shipped back to the US. One of his last missions was on February 15th 1945 over Dresden Germany a mission that arguably broke the back of the German invasion. He kept a private log/scrapbook of all his missions that my wife and I had bound and keep as a treasured memory .

My grandmother's neighbor John Mass, was an aircraft mechanic on B-17s, he was offered many aircraft jobs after the war. He chose to work on boats. He saw too many aircraft full of blood and body parts, haunting him till the day he died!

My father was a B-17 pilot in WW II. During a mission over France, his plane was hit and both engines on the right wing were lost. My father was the only member of the flight crew that was not injured. He single handedly brought the plane and crew back to England safely. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. My father was a true hero. You mentioned that once a B-17 was able to return with just 2 engines. I wonder if you were referring to my father's plane.

My Uncle Irving flew in a B-17 over the Pacific in WW 11 , was shot down and was rescued 3 X and returned home and lived to 92 in the Bronx NYC.

Thanks for making this video! My dad was a B-17 belly gunner. If you saw him you would know why, he was about 5’5”. Little guy gets screwed. He passed away before I was 10 yrs. old, so I only heard a few of his stories. I remember my mom, brother and I took a plane to a small vacation spot up north in California when I was around 7. My dad drove up and met us there the next day. So I asked him why he didn’t fly with us when we came north. That’s when he told me what he experienced in WW II as a belly gunner. Two stories were about being stuck in the ball turret due to damage. The ball turret has to be orientated properly to enter and exist the turret. Damage caused to the turret ring prevented him from moving the turret, the crew couldn’t use the hand crank to move the turret, only after frantic attempts with hammers and crow bars could they get him out. A similar situation happened on another mission, this time the hydraulics were out and the landing gear was damaged. They were going to have to belly land the plane with him still stuck in the ball turret. With less than five minutes before they had to land they were able to get him out of the turret. He said those planes were held together with bailing wire and duct tape. If the plane could get off the ground it was considered operational. He retired from the Air Force in 1967 and since WW II he never flew again. Again, thanks for this video.

The head on attack of the German fighters, according to my father, a B17 waist gunner, was often done with a barrel roll through the B17 formation. My father thought they were showing off until he spoke with a German pilot after the war. It turned out that the fighters had little to no armor on the sides, but did have some protection underneath, so they rolled with the belly of their plane toward the B17 as they passed by them.