My wife gave me the gift of flying in the B-17 Aluminum Overcast. Until you’ve been inside of one you don’t understand just how “flimsy” these things were. The armor plate for the side gunners was about 3/16″ thick. Would only stop shrapnel for a fair distance. Any flak close, or airplane machinegun/cannon shells would go right through it. The skin of the plane felt like it was made of a soda can. It was thicker…but not by much. The “kids” who flew in these things were beyond brave. (Something I only learned recently…in the Might 8th, they didn’t make you fly if you didn’t want to go. They couldn’t risk someone going nuts on a mission. Sometimes a crew member might ask out for a few days, but most of them eventually went back up. Like I said…beyond brave!)
I’ve been inside B-17’s numerous times but never flown aboard. I have a friend who was going to fly with be on “Nine O Nine” but he backed out so I decided to wait and try to get him to do so later but now she’s gone. I did get the opportunity to climb inside the ball turret of “Nine O Nine” several years ago, that was a bucket item for me. Amazing technology for the time.
It’s staggering to realize that the Eighth Air Force alone suffered more men killed in action than the entire US Marine Corps in WWII. Brave doesn’t even begin to describe those men.
My wife gave me the gift of flying in the B-17 Aluminum Overcast. Until you’ve been inside of one you don’t understand just how “flimsy” these things were. The armor plate for the side gunners was about 3/16″ thick. Would only stop shrapnel for a fair distance. Any flak close, or airplane machinegun/cannon shells would go right through it. The skin of the plane felt like it was made of a soda can. It was thicker…but not by much. The “kids” who flew in these things were beyond brave. (Something I only learned recently…in the Might 8th, they didn’t make you fly if you didn’t want to go. They couldn’t risk someone going nuts on a mission. Sometimes a crew member might ask out for a few days, but most of them eventually went back up. Like I said…beyond brave!)
I’ve been inside B-17’s numerous times but never flown aboard. I have a friend who was going to fly with be on “Nine O Nine” but he backed out so I decided to wait and try to get him to do so later but now she’s gone. I did get the opportunity to climb inside the ball turret of “Nine O Nine” several years ago, that was a bucket item for me. Amazing technology for the time.
It’s staggering to realize that the Eighth Air Force alone suffered more men killed in action than the entire US Marine Corps in WWII. Brave doesn’t even begin to describe those men.