B17 bomber crew serial#

If the pilot was incapacitated, the co-pilot would take over the pilot’s duties. The pilot turned on the autopilot, reduced air speed, held the ship as level as possible, and monitored the crew’s evacuation of the aircraft.The pilot used the emergency release handle to clear the bomb bay.The ball turret gunner first had to exit the ball turret and hook up his chute as he did not have room in the ball turret to wear it. The tail gunner, waist gunners, and ball turret gunner bailed out.The pilot called for everyone to put on their parachutes and bail out over the interphone and using bell signals.Once a crewman finished performing his bailout duties, he was ready to bail out: Tail Gunner from the tail gunner’s emergency exit.Īnd, of course, an official system existed for how the bailout should go.Ball Turret Gunner and Waist Gunners from the waist door.Pilot, Co-Pilot, Top Turret Gunner/Enginner, and Radioman from the bomb bay doors.Navigator and Bombardier from the door below the nose.If the crew were in their normal combat positions and needed to bail out, they would exit this way: An emergency exit door in the tail of the aircraft.The waist door near the rear of the aircraft on the right side.The B-17 had four exits from which the crew could bail out: …that has a very nice graphic and explains it very well. Watch our “Inside “Swamp Ghost” at Pearl Harbor” video here.In researching Floyd Vevle’s final mission, I became curious about how an air crew left a B-17 Flying Fortress if they needed to do so. Please visit “Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress Swamp Ghost” blog post for more information on this aircraft. Stored for a time in California, the B-17E “Swamp Ghost” returned to Hawaii in 2014. The wreckage spent four years on the docks in Lae pending the New Guinea government’s approval to export it. The arduous process required the bomber to be disassembled in the swamp and the pieces flown out by helicopter. Australian Army pilots who glimpsed it from overhead dubbed it the “Swamp Ghost.”Īviation enthusiast Alfred Hagen supervised the recovery of the Swamp Ghost in 2006. The Flying Fortress splashed into Agaiambo Swamp, settling into five feet of water and thick grass, and there it lay for more than a half-century. He brought the B-17 down on what he mistakenly thought was a flat, green field in the jungle. But with mountains ahead and the B-17’s fuel tanks nearly empty, he knew he’d have to put the crippled bomber down. Eaton was running for Port Moresby, on the other side of New Guinea. A6M “Zero” and A5M “Claude” fighters swarmed the bomber after a half-hour running battle, the frustrated fighters gave up. Anti-aircraft fire punctured the wing fuel tank. The bomb bay doors stuck on Eaton’s first run, so he came around again.

They were separated by storms en route, and B-17E #41-2446, piloted by Fred Eaton, eventually arrived over the target - Japanese ships in the harbor at Rabaul. Navy, and a mission was hastily planned to strike at the invasion fleet. Army bombers were put under the command of the U.S.

The Imperial Japanese Navy had seized the Australian base at Rabaul, in New Britain. The following February, it was assigned to the 22nd Bomb Squadron of the 7th Bombardment Group in northern Australia.

B17 bomber crew serial#

Our B-17E, serial #41-2446, arrived in Honolulu 10 days after the Pearl Harbor attack.

They fought valiantly for months, piecing together airframes from wreckage and scrounging bullets, bombs, and fuel while battling fatigue, illness, and malnutrition. Operating out of primitive jungle airstrips, the B-17’s crews were on their own, receiving no supplies, parts, or money from the United States. Japanese fighter pilots were amazed at how much damage the B-17 could endure and keep on flying. Although best known for leading the war against Germany, Boeing’s “Flying Fortress” was the primary bomber during the opening moves of the Pacific War. The rugged dependability of the B-17 allowed its crew to take the fight deep into enemy territory. In 1935, the Boeing Airplane Company created a long-range bomber that became an icon of strategic air power.