WW2 B-24 bad weather

[cadetat6]

Hi Again Art

When we were flying phase training at Chatham Fld. Sav. Ga. We were training formation flying and hit a weather front , I didn?t see it, but one plane crashed. The only person who got out was the ball turret man. There is no room for a chute so you have to leave it on the deck, now this man climbed out of the ball , got his chute on , saw the guys in the waist pinned by centrifugal force to the side of the plane, and had no idea how or where he left the plane. He was the only person to survive. When we were flying missions we could see the B-17s off to the right or left of our bomber stream and would see them spin in then they might come out of the spin for a minute and you would see some chutes pop out., then it would start to spin again sometimes the rest of the way to the ground. I would imagine some would get out thru the bomb bay, or the waist window , or the back door on the B-17, or the bottom hatch at the back of the B-24. This was a awful feeling seeing these planes going down. We were very lucky that no 262?s hit us, as they would come thru the formation and knock down 2 or 3 planes with one pass. If the Germans would have had more time to build these jet?s it would have made one hell of a difference to the AF. I was 5-8 tall and weighed 150 lbs---a good size for the ball. I think any one taller would have had a hard down there as even with my size it was crowded.

[Keith_Hixson]

My Brother in Law flew B-25s in WW II. While in High School he took flight lessons and was good in math. After he graduated from High School (a year early) he joined the Army barely 17 years old. Since he had a pilot license pilot they sent him to flight school after basic. He was flying B-25s as a co-pilot and was a senior pilot first lieutenant before he reached his 18th Birthday. One of the youngest pilots in the service. It amazes me what kids did in WW II. He passed away with cancer about 12 years ago. I use to look at his pictures when I would visit my older sister. A great man.

Keith

[usmcsgt65]

A good read on B-24s is "The Wild Blue" by S. Ambrose. He is relating the experience of Senator McGovern and his group during WW2