During World War II, my father and his brother Ralph were bombardiers flying B-17’s out of bases in England. My father was a member of Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation” and could also be included in that small fraternity/Sorority of “Notch Babies.”
In 1943, it was estimated that one third of all B17 crews would not survive the war and, in fact, 55% of all the B-17’s flying out of England were lost in combat. The life expectancy of an 8th Air Force bomber and crew in 1943 to 1944 was about 15 missions, and the number of missions required for a ticket home was 35. That is why one B-17 navigator, a former insurance company actuary, told his pilot, “Mathematically there just ain’t any way we’re gonna live through this thing.”
The reason for the high losses was due to the fact that the Allies did not have a long-range fighter that could escort the bombers all the way to their targets. The fighter cover for most of the missions had to leave the bombers while they were still over France! Enter, the Flying Fortress (B-17’s). Chin and Nose guns, two Waist guns, top turret, belly turret, and Tail guns! This was their only protection against the German fighters. The huge losses sustained nearly caused a decision to end Allied daylight bombing.
The following is an excerpt from my father’s memoirs that I was lucky enough to write down before he passed away in 2006.
Among the names I remember, of persons in the 401st Bomb Group at Deenethorpe, England is our Group's Medical Officer, Captain Hardesty (first name forgotten). The captain grounded me from flying after I had passed out over Austria on a bombing mission. Unknown to me, my oxygen line had been shot out! Next, is that scruffy Navigator, Paul F. (Puff) Kaiser, who often gave me the maps for "Dead Reckoning" and who also tried to teach me how to read the G-box the British loaned us for navigation.
Just before I left that base, an enlisted man shot and killed 2 officers who had been giving him a bad time. The last I remember seeing him, a young Pollock nicknamed "Whitey," the guard was exercising him around the perimeter track prior to his court martial. I never did learn the results of that incident. The Armament Tech Sergeant named Bradshaw, was killed along with about a dozen others, while unloading the last of the three planes that aborted the mission on D-Day, bringing their bombs back. I was still on the flight line that day and heard sergeant Bradshaw calling for help, but I was too late. Both of his legs had been blown off and he died before I got to him.
On the mission when my oxygen line was shot out, I was flying the tail gunner/Observer position and was watching Captain Lipka’s plane, flying right behind us in formation. As we approached the target I saw one of Lipka’s engines get shot out over Holland and a short time later, he lost another engine. Captain Lipka tried to keep up with the formation, but he was losing speed and altitude and had to decide whether to continue on the mission or abort. He soon disappeared behind us. When we returned from our mission, I found out that Lipka had made it all the way to the target and back to home base. Major William T. Garland was my squadron commander. Another pilot my brother Ralph and I had flown with was Captain Rozelle, whose ship was named "Rosie's Sweat Box." Colonel Bowman was our Group Commander.
The right waist gunner that revived me after being out for 27 and ½ minutes was named Luenberger. I never wanted to forget him, so I wrote him several times after I got out of the Air Corps, after the war, but never got any answers to those letters, or any of those letters returned to me. He may have got shot down later before the war ended. Hope not.
Capt. Lipka's crew shared the same barracks with my brother Ralph and me. On one mission to Bordeaux, France, his plane's tail was shot off with his tail gunner in it, but he managed to turn it around and fly over Spain's Pyrenees Mountains so all the rest of the crew could bail out. Later, he and his crew came back and finished their required missions so they could qualify to return to the states. Ralph was flying that day in another plane alongside Lipka's plane and had witnessed the tail being blown off. He then requested and was granted an assignment to ground crew. I flew a total of 37 missions.
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