Wrecked B-17C Flying Fortress at Hickam Field

Image size: 1600 x 1131 pixel. 476 KB
Date: Sunday, 7 December 1941
Place: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States
Photographer: Tai Ling Soo

Wrecked Army Air Corps B-17C (serial 40-2074) Flying Fortress of 38th Reconnaissance Squadron near Hangar 5 at Hickam Air Field, following the end of the Japanese raid. This plane, piloted by Captain Raymond T. Swenson, was one of those that arrived during the raid. It had been the second plane to take off from Hamilton Field, San Rafael, California the previous evening, was now rounding Diamond Head and preparing to land at Hickam. Second Lieutenant Ernest Reid, the co-pilot, was anxious to be on the ground. The whole crew was badly in need of a brief rest after the long flight, and all were looking forward to an afternoon on the sunny beaches of Waikiki. First Lieutenant William R. Schick, the flight surgeon, watched the big island spread out below him from his passenger seat in the aircraft. Second Lieutenant H. R. Taylor, the navigator, was snapping photographs, though he was somewhat mystified by the early morning fireworks he saw in the distance. Captain Swenson assumed the locals were burning sugarcane. He was still unaware of the battle that raged below. The landing gear was lowered and his B-17 dropped to 600 feet for final approach before the crew got a good look at the airfield, now fully under attack. Japanese Zeroes zoomed in to rake the inbound Flying Fortress with a stream of tracers. It was too late to pull up and abort, so the pilot steeled himself against the looming inferno and stayed on course. To the rear Lieutenant Schick cried out, "Damn it! Those are real bullets they're shooting. I'm hit in the leg." The incendiaries ignited the magnesium flares on the plane and they burned furiously. Smoke filled the cockpit as the B-17C dropped earthward, and then hit hard on what was left of the runway. The big bomber broke completely in half. In that moment Captain Swenson's B-17 gained the dubious distinction of being the first American airplane to be shot down in World War II. Lieutenant Masanobu Ibusuki and Lieutenant Commander Shigeru Itaya claimed credit for the B-17C. The nine crewmen scrambled for safety and Lt. Schick was shot in the head by a A6M2 Zero-Sen. Four others were wounded. Swenson and Reid set the parking brakes and shut down the engines on the burning aircraft. Note bicycle parked by the plane. Pith helmet by the case in the left foreground indicates that the photographer was Tai Sing Loo. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1044

B-17G Flying Fortress "Big Yank" of 483rd Bombardment Group

Image size: 1600 x 1285 pixel. 283 KB
Date: Sunday, 25 March 1945
Place: Sterparone, Foggia, Italy
Photographer: Unknown

Douglas-built B-17G-50-DL Flying Fortress "Big Yank" (#44-6405) of the 15th Air Force, 483rd Bombardment Group, 840th Bombardment Squadron, is shown sometime after its 30th mission in March 1945. The names Ken/Jack-D appear on the chin turret. Assigned to the 15th Air Force on August 17, 1944, Italian artist Mario Rucci was commissioned by the plane's crew chief, Irvin H. Davis, to paint the visage of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. On March 24, 1945, this plane was commanded by Lieutenant William S. Strapko for an attack on Berlin, the longest escorted bombing mission of World War II. Jumped by Messerschmitt Me-262 jet fighters, "Big Yank's" top turret gunner, Staff Sergeant Howard Wehner, shot down one and tail gunner, Staff sergeant Lincoln Broyhill, shot down two. "Big Yank" shared credit for a fourth aircraft probably shot down. The aircraft carried crews home from 50 missions before the surrender of Germany. The 840th was disbanded in Pisa, Italy in September 1945 and the aircraft returned to the United States as part of the "Green Project" that returned American servicemen home. Later "Big Yank" was converted for Air-Sea Rescue duty, and dropped a life raft to at least one pilot in the Adriatic. She was scrapped in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas on December 28, 1945.

Source:

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) NLR-PHOCO-A-8658

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii0008

B-17G Destroyed by Bomb Strike From Above

Image size: 841 x 1600 pixel. 441 KB
Date: Friday, 19 May 1944
Place: Berlin, Germany
Photographer: Unknown. Taken from unidentified newsreel

In this remarkable series of still frames from a motion film camera, 1000-pound (453.6-kilogram) bombs dropped by another Flying Fortress wreck the left horizontal stabilizer of a B-17 on May 19, 1944. Operations that day put 888 heavy bombers over Berlin, Kiel, and Brunswick. These two planes, of the 8th Air Force, 94th Bombardment Group, unfortunately intersected over Berlin. Lieutenant John Winslett's Vega-built B-17G-30-VE Flying Fortress, "Trudy" (#42-97791) of the 332nd Bombardment Squadron unloaded its payload on Boeing B-17G-20-BO (#42-31540) "Miss Donna Mae II" of the 331st Bombardment Squadron commanded by Lieutenant Marion Ulysses Reid (November 13, 1920 - May 19, 1944). The bombs had a propeller that were timed so that at a certain altitude, the bombs would arm; so they did not explode on impact. Reid's plane dropped to 13,000 feet (4000 meters) and the stress on the aircraft tore the wing off. As the Fortress disappeared into the clouds, no chutes were seen. All eleven crew members were killed. When this photo was released to the press, it incorrectly claimed the plane returned to base, ahead of the other aircraft. On December 11, 1944, "Trudy" was severely damaged by a bird strike while returning to her base at RAF Bury St. Edmunds. Marion Reid's body was recovered and reinterred at Arlington National Cemetery on April 21, 1949. His father, a Baptist Minister, was honored by his congregation to have a building dedicated in his son's name.

Source :

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii0006

B-17 Flying Fortress "Invasion 2nd" of 91st Bomb Group, 401st Bomb Squadron

Image size: 1600 x 1299 pixel. 489 KB
Date: Wednesday, 17 March 1943
Place: Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, England
Photographer: Unknown

Boeing B-17F-30-BO Flying Fortress "Invasion 2nd" (42-5070) of the 8th Air Force, 91st Bombardment Group, 401st Bombardment Squadron, at the training session held in Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, England, 17 March 1943. In the waist gunner positions are Staff Sergeant Eldon R. Lapp of Fort Wayne, Indiana (May 17, 1920-October 2, 2001) and Staff Sergeant William D. King (January 18, 1923-August 30, 1952) of Imperial, Texas operating the Browning .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns for a Signal Corps photographer. It's likely this photo was made as part of Major William Wyler's efforts to document B-17 operations; when "Invasion 2nd" Was shot down, he focused on "Memphis Belle" which became very famous in "The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress" a 1943 documentary. Note the still prop in the right window; "Invasion 2nd" was on the ground in Bassingbourn, England at the time of the photo. Master Sergeant Jack Gaffney, a member of the crew, painted the nose art on "Invasion 2nd" and several other aircraft. The waist gunners in B-17Fs could collide with each other during combat, disrupting their oxygen supply. This was corrected with staggered waist gun positions on the B-17G. On April 17, 1943, "Invasion 2nd" was shot down near Oldenburg, Germany, on a bombing run on the Focke-Wulf factory in Bremen. "Invasion 2nd" formed the lead plane of the first element of six aircraft making up the lowest squadron. Taking flak hits and attacks by German fighters over the target, the number two engine was completely shot away. The left wing caught on fire and spread to the fuselage. Captain Oscar D. O'Neill called for the crew to bail out but Lapp and King were prevented from leaving by a stuck escape hatch. The ball turret gunner, Technical Sergeant Benedict B. Borostowski, came up into the fuselage from the ball turret and went to the partly open waist door. He found Lapp and King unable to force the door and used his foot to push both of them through. All of the crew members were able to leave the aircraft and survived the jump. Lapp and King were taken to Stalag Luft XVII-B. King was liberated on May 17, 1945; Lapp was liberated on May 19. The other crew members were back in Allied hands by July 3. "Invasion 2nd"'s wreckage was reprocessed by the Germans into raw steel. The 401st Bomb Squadron lost six of nine planes over Bremen on April 17, 1943. King was killed on August 30, 1952 in a Boeing B-29A Superfortress of the 344th Bomb Squadron, 98th Bomb Wing, that crashed four mile north of Taegu, South Korea. All twelve crew members were killed.

Source:

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) NRE-338-FTL(EF)-2700(5)

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii0002

B-17F Flying Fortress at Douglas Aircraft's Long Beach Plant

Image size: 1600 x 1295 pixel. 382 KB
Date: Thursday, 1 October 1942
Place: Long Beach, California, USA

Photographer: Alfred T. Palmer

Workers at the Douglas Aircraft factory in Long Beach, California check out a completed B-17F Flying Fortress. Note that the censor has blacked out not only the tail number but also the number on the nose of the aircraft! One of 605 built by Douglas in a $12 million facility built for military aircraft production. Boeing coordinated B-17F production with Douglas and Lockheed's Vega subsidiary through the BDV committee, which provided example aircraft and blueprints and tracked all of the various aircraft modifications so the B-17 could be properly serviced in the field. Boeing, Vega and Douglas made 3,405 B-17Fs, the second most produced model. While externally the same as the previous B-17E, it had a one-piece plexiglass nose and upgraded Wright R-1820-97 Cyclone engines, which made the B-17F the fastest fortress model. Almost all B-17s were sent to Europe for the 8th Air Force. At modification centers stateside and in England, fortresses were modified, adding additional armor and machine guns. As the German Luftwaffe began to favor frontal attacks to kill the pilots and bombardier, the original .30 caliber (7.62 mm) machine gun in the nose was replaced with a .50 caliber (12.7 mm), and other machine guns were added or moved to fire forward. Eventually these modifications were added to the assembly line. This early model B-17F lacks the additional machine guns that would be later added before combat. Noses of Douglas A-20 Havocs are found lined up on the floor waiting for assembly.

Source: 

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) NLR-PHOCO-A-66121(13) 

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii0004