how many ww2 bomber crews completed 25 missions

Attacking German cities In 1942 in an attempt to break German morale the RAF began attacking German towns and cities in earnest. My dad, Charles R. Toner, was a B-17 pilot who completed his 35 missions in 1944. ten ARZBtc.com > > > how many ww2 bomber crews completed 25 missions. How many missions did B-17 crews fly? The current total of surviving B-17 bombers located in the United States stands at 40: Nine (9) B-17 planes are airworthy, such as Texas Raiders, Sentimental Journey and Aluminum Overcast. So they parachuted out and spent three days walking back from behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia. Consider for example the Operation Tidal Wave strike by American B-24 bombers against oil reserves in Ploesti Romania in 1943: of 178 bombers and 1,726 men on the mission, 54 aircraft, and nearly 500 men failed to return (310 killed and 186 captured). It does not store any personal data. 4 Which b17 bomber completed the most combat missions? 8 How many B-17s were in the Pacific in 1942? #15: The flak vest developed in 1943 weighs 32 pounds! Nearly half of all the bombs dropped in World War II came from B-17 airplanes. Big and slow, the B-17 delivered twice the payload of its predecessor. Its a great thing for any crew/plane to have completed 25 missions, but I think the 8th flying to the heart of Germany had a tougher nut to crack than the 9th flying against targets mostly in Africa and Italy (although nobody had a tougher target then Ploesti). Alphabetical List Of Names On The Vietnam Wall, In fact, it is believed that Memphis Belle was the third to complete 25 successful missions. He has shared a diary of the 50 missions that will be made public upon his passing.. It completed four more missions to Vegesack, Wilhelmshaven (2) and Rotterdam before being retired from combat on March 31, 1943. How many B17 crews actually managed to complete 25 missions during WW2? Bomber crews needed to complete 25 missions before they were allowed to go home but that numberwas almoststatistically impossible in Europe. The plane's service ceiling of 25,000 to 35,000 feet (7,500 to 10,500 metres), depending on the bomb load, put it above the worst of the German antiaircraft artillery, but, firepower notwithstanding, formations of B-17s proved unable to fight their way unescorted to targets deep inside Germany in the face of determined fighter opposition without The most famous aerial gunner was probably Clark Gable - MGM's biggest earner when WWII began. Nine-O-Nine was a Boeing B-17G-30-BO Flying Fortress heavy bomber, of the 323rd Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group, that completed 140 combat missions during World War II, believed to be the Eighth Air Force record for most missions, without loss to the crews that flew her. More B17s were built than the Lancaster, but some, many, were used in the Pacific Theatre as well. Top Stories For You. It made its first mission on Oct. 21, 1942 over Lorient, France. The plane and her crew was on the return flight to the states for a War Bonds publicity and morale-boosting tour on May 3, 1943, and Lieutenant General Frank M. Andrews, Commander of the European Theater of Operations needed to get back the the states as he had been summoned to Washington DC by the General of the Army, George Marshall. , former Supervised Therapist at Mental Health Facilities. Although crew members were required to fly a minimum of 25 combat missions before returning to the United States, some were called back to duty for another 25. After five such sorties, he moved to the left seat and commanded his own crew aboard a Liberator dubbed Dakota Queen in honor of his . In the Doolittle Tokyo Raid, 15 co-pilots from the 16 B-25B Mitchell medium bomberswere in flight school for less than a year. This website is about the 50 combat missions my father, Donald Wise, flew in 1944 in the B-17 bomber "PIG CHASER". Different sources give varying numbers of Australians killed while serving in Bomber . He, the copilot and two other crewmembers were bumped from the flight back to the U.S. by Lt. Gen. Andrews, his staff and three chaplains. The Memphis Belle was not the first B17 to complete 25 missions. The Germans really dialed in shooting bombers out of the sky with their sophisticated FLAK systems and method. He finished flight school at the age of 18 in 1944. Beautiful Swiss German Words, The 93rd BG dispatched aircraft on 9 of the first 34 raids by 8th BC. Martin Caidin wrote the definitive book on the plight of the bomber crews in Black Thursday, which chronicled in great detail the 2nd Schweinfurt bombing raid of October 14, 1943, where 60 bombers and their crews were lost. Four members of the original crew died in combat as the plane was hit by cannon and machine-gun fire. Brittany Williams Lite Brite Height, My hero. Your chances of completing all 25 missions, at least unscathed, were slim to none. (MAINTENANCE ON KB-29) THIS PROVED TO BE A WORKING NIGHTMARE, SO I MADE TO FLIGHT ENGINEERS SCHOOL AT CHANUTE AFB, IL. So whatever Hot Stuff was doing it wasnt going on raids conducted by 8th BC. GOOD PART OF THIS IS THAT THE WING H Q WAS AT HICKAM FIELD HAWAIIALWAYS A PLEASURE THERE FOR THE ANNUAL FLIGHT SIMULATOR AND CURRENT GROUND TRAINING EDUCATION. I think, though, that the best answer is the one difficult to accept. It flew in both the ETO and North Africa. After some time of ineffective high altitude bombing, some of the B-17 bombers adopted skip bombing, a technique usually practiced by medium bombers rather than heavy bombers. There is some report that 25 missions was a full tour with that group, which would indicate more than three tours. Fortunate me I discovered your site by chance, and Im stunned why this twist of fate The 25-mission milestone becomes harder to pin down when considering changing crew members due to rotation, death, injury, illness, leave and equipment failures leading to spare planes pressed into service, errant wartime record-keeping, etc. The reason for this misinformation seems to have been to obscure the fact that the Supreme Commander was absent the theater. Juni 2022. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. So, the answer is YES, if anyone ever asks you if the might 8th AF ever bombed Japan. View military histories of over 2 million, If you are a veteran, reconnect with people. He was 85. The demonstration aircraft was completed on May 8, 1945 at the end of hostilities in the European theater of World War II. The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is one of America's most prolific heavy bombers of WWII and the backbone of allied strategic bombing missions before the introduction of B-17 and B-29 WW2 bombers. Hot Stuff was in the 8th Air Force 2nd Air Division, 93rd Bombardment Group, 330th Bomb Squadron. Why is this significant? We would love to see some images from that log book if you feel comfortable scanning and sending them along! In February 1943, the 93rd BG B-24 Hot Stuff became the first Eighth Air Force heavy bomber to complete 25 combat missions. William Waldock is a professor at ERAU and he says that Hot Stuff flew her final and 25th mission in February of 1943, which was over three months earlier than the Memphis Belle completed her 25 missions. The B-29 Missions From 3 Feb 1945 to 14 Aug 1945, the 6th Bomb Group officially flew 75 missions. That the Memphis Belle and her crew had a more storybook quality to their military careers that better fit with the narrative that the government desired for home-front consumption is obvious. The pilot, co-pilot, bombardier and navigator, as commissioned officers, were seated at the front of the plane, with the navigator positioned at a desk below the cockpit. Wreckage of a Wellington bomber shot down by flak over the Netherlands, lost in a raid on Bremen, 13-14 September 1942. Behind every successful air mission are two things: powerful war birds and skilled crewmen. My brother and I were having a disagreement over how many missions bomber crews had to fly (was this figured by individual? Or even 16 aircraft, which would be 28 percent of the Air Force's current fleet of 58 B-52Hs. Your email address will not be published. Because his leg got tangled up in heavy wreckage, he couldnt move. He got a certificate for The Lucky Bastards Club for flying at least 30 missions and includes a list of all his missions. The first to complete 25 combat missions was the crew of B-24 Liberator named Hot Stuff dropping bombs on Naples, Italy on February 7, 1943 three-and-a-half months before Memphis Belle flew her 25th mission. Of the 3,885 crewmen aboard B-17 Flying Fortresses that went down, 2,114 (54.4 \%) did not survive; 866 of the 1,228 on B-24 Liberators (71.3\%) died; 190 of the 236 (80.0\%) fighter pilots who went down perished. If you don't want to receive these emails in the future, please, Mike, we thought you'd like these 6 standout issues. In 1942-43 it was statistically impossible for bomber crews to complete a 25-mission tour in Europe . MG Carl "Tooey" Spatz assumed command in May 1942 and established a headquarters at Bushy Park about 15 miles west of London on June 25, 1942. Robert Hanson, the last surviving crew member of the famed Memphis Belle B-17 bomber of World War Two, has died of congestive heart failure. Hot Stuff and her crew went on to fly five additional missions before she and her crew were recalled to the United States, where they were scheduled to go on a War Bonds Tour. Upon impact, the aircraft disintegrated except for the tail gunners turret, which remained relatively intact. How many B-17s were in the Pacific in 1942? There were nine crew members on a B-17 bomber. 25 missions On May 17, 1943, the crew of the Memphis Belle, one of a group of American bombers based in Britain, becomes the first B-17 crew to complete 25 missions over Europe and return to the United States. How often did bomber crews fly in ww2? Memphis Belle is a well-known World War Two bomber, which was made famous by the Hollywood movie of the same name back in 1990. Very broadly, a typical fighter pilot might rack up 250 - 500 combat missions from 1941 to 1945; a bomber pilot, perhaps 50 - 100 if they survived (considering Bomber Command losses were averaging 5% at times, completing one tour, let alone more, was statistically unlikely). Last month, through his fundraising efforts, Lux returned to Iceland for a 70th anniversary memorial service attended by some of the descendants of the crew of Hot Stuff and a plaque was installed telling the story of Andrews, Hot Stuff and her last, ill-fated flight with a granite monument planned to be installed at a future date. #11: Missions would often last for 8-10 hours. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Peak US Army Air Forces inventory, in Aug 1944, was 4,574 worldwide. For the survivors, there wasn't much time for contemplation of those lost. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Which colour is the best colour in iPhone? My father Thomas Jack Showers served in the 330th of the 93rd from December 1943 to some time after July 25, 1944, when he completed his last combat mission. Handwritten caption on reverse: 'Unknown crew of 392.'. Robert A. Lewis. During the interwar years, American bomber crews were taught aerial gunnery in a generalized way at US Army Air Corps schools. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Very cool story. He was lost on his 25th mission, the low-level raid on Ploesti, August 1, 1943. I guess the RAF must have had it much easier than the 8th Airforce. B-17F Hells Angels How do you identify neurotypical disorders? how many ww2 bomber crews completed 25 missions. The 303rd Bombardment Group 358th Bombardment Squadron, B-17F Flying Fortress Hells Angels, after which the Group later named itself, completed its 25th mission on May 13, 1943. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". TogetherWeServed.com Inc. All Rights Reserved | Not a U.S. Government Website. How many B17 crews actually managed to complete 25 missions during WW2? Why are saturated fats solid at room temperature and unsaturated fats liquid at room temperature? We were having some drinks and I was listening to some of his war stories when he told me he had flown 137 missions. Jewish Organizations To Donate Furniture, Famous American artists, including Norman Rockwell, created a series of illustrations that became the centerpiece of war bond advertising. The aircrews of RAF Bomber Command during World War II operated a fleet of bomber aircraft carried strategic bombing operations from September 1939 to May 1945, on behalf of the Allied powers. I am trying to find information on my uncle, Joseph Farese, who was a bombardier/navigator and flight officer in the 5th BG, 72nd BS, 13th AF and was in the Pacific Theater, Philippines, etc. And, although air and ground crews rarely mingled, there was a special bond between crew chief and pilot. THE GREATEST GENERATION OF AMERICANS!!! WAS ALWAYS INTERESTED IN FLYING AND THE GREAT MACHINES.SO MUCH SO THAT I ENLISTED IN AIRFORCE AT 18 AND 1/2 YEARS OF AGE.FORTUNATELY WAS ABLE TO GO TO 3 TECH SCHOOLS PLUS FLIGHT ENGINEERING SCHOOL.JUST MISSED FLYING STATUS IN KOREA AS I WAS CLEARED FOR FLIGHT IN KOREA JUST AFTER I MADE THE LIST FOR ROTATION BACK TO US IN 3 MONTHSI BELEIVED IN LONGEVITY SO DEEPLY THAT I QUICKLY CHANGED OUR MINDS ABOUT FLYING STATUS IN THE WAR ZONE. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. 2LT Richard McNamara. B-25, also called Mitchell, U.S. medium bomber used during World War II. How many missions would it take to complete a WWII bomber mission? Imagine trying to move around? The consensus in this discussion is that WWII bomber crews were rotated home after 25 combat missions. 12 December 1942 This mission is composed of two elements. I live by HAFB museum and visit every Memorial Day. He was also involved in one of the Ploesti fields mission. However, some missions were much more brutal and some squadrons had few survivors of whole tours. A total of 350,000 men served in the Mighty Eighth during World War II. THEN TO JAPAN WHERE WE SUPPLIED ALL THE FAR EAST WITH CARGO GOING AS FAR EAST AS BANGKOK THAILAND, IN COUNTRY NAM, PHILLLIPINES, KOREA AND OTHER POINTS THERE IN. My uncle, by marriage, was a waist gunner with the 8th, I believe. Memorial Day in United States is observed on 25 May. Instructing had its dangers, too, as it involved flying with inexperienced recruits in old aircraft. First element: The German air depot at Romilly-sur-Seine, France is the Primary (P) target for a force of 78 B-17s despatched from 91BG . The old saw goes the first casualty of war is truth, and it is entirely likely that there were other planes and/or crews between Hot Stuff and Memphis Belle that completed the vaunted 25 missions that constituted a completed tour of duty, a bar that was moved at various times to 25, 30, and 35 missions, depending on the overall loss rates, the degree of mission difficulty, as well as the conditions that they were operating in. Setting aside all the caveats for the moment, the research performed and documentation provided by Jim Lux seems to conclusively show that the 93rd Bombardment Group, 330th Bombardment Squadrons B-24 Liberator Hot Stuff and her crew flew their 25th mission on February 7, 1943 dropping bombs on Naples, Italy, and went on to fly five additional missions thereafter, before Hot Stuff and her crew were recalled to the United States, where they were scheduled to go on a War Bonds Tour, a home front publicity junket, where combat aircraft and crews of significant accomplishment were sometimes pulled from frontline service and flown back to the United States to serve as the stirring personification of the heroism of Americas military, helping move the paper and boosting public morale. It is mentioned that the units flying out of Africa and Italy had no such standard mission tour cap . Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. This website is about the 50 combat missions my father, Donald Wise, flew in 1944 in the B-17 bomber "PIG CHASER". One reason it survived was the tail gunner had six confirmed kills and several more unconfirmed. They took over the aircraft from the original crew of Jerk's Natural, which had completed its 25 missions. how many ww2 bomber crews completed 25 missions. He completed his initial training when he was 17, and was called up to active duty before he graduated from high school. The crews were men from the United Kingdom, other Commonwealth countries, and occupied Europe, especially Poland, France, Czechoslovakia and Norway, as well as other foreign volunteers. How many B17 crews actually managed to complete 25 What happened to the German Waffen SS soldiers aft My adult daughter disowned me. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the bonds became known at War Bonds. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. The 328th. Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation CA-18 Mustang A68-104 (VH-BOB) arrived at Avalon Airport in Avalon, Victoria on Friday March, 4th 2023, touching down just before 10am. The 314th BW needed replacement crews and the 8th AF crews were to absorb experience, which they could later pass on to their fellow crews. What does the B stand for in B-17 and B-24 and the P in P-38 stand for? "Hi. How many missions did ww2 bomber crews fly? Bomber crews needed to complete 25 missions before they were allowed to go home but that number was almost statistically impossible in Europe. Battling flak and enemy fighters over the skies of Europe during World War II, the US Army Air Force Martin B-26 Marauder bomber named Flak-Bait? With a crew of 10, the bomber usually carried . It was powered by two 450 hp Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior engines, but conditions were changing rapidly in 1937, due to events in the Chinese and Spanish wars. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". To put this into sobering perspective - the 8th Air Force in Europe lost more men than the entire US Marine Corps did in World War Two - both horrible thoughts to consider. Norwegian Wood is a song about John Lennon's infidelity, John Lennon wrote that song because he wanted to tell his first wife, Cynthia indirectly that he had affair with ot Why won't my daughter let me see my granddaughter? Martin Caidin wrote the definitive book on the plight of the bomber crews in Black Thursday, which chronicled in great detail the 2nd Schweinfurt bombing raid of October 14, 1943, where 60 bombers and their crews were lost. how many ww2 bomber crews completed 25 missions 10. Based on a true story, the film concerns the famous B-17 bomber Memphis Belle, which delivered 25 successful missions before the plane and its sterling crew retired from the skies. Your chances of completing all 25 missions, at least unscathed, were slim to none. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. This in mind, the US Army Air Force decided that 25 missions while serving in a heavy bomber of the 8th Army Air Force would constitute a completed tour of duty because of the physical and mental strain on the crew. While the 25 Mission edict was a tall order when it was made, it was a number crews could believe in, and provided some hope of a light at the end of the tunnel, particularly necessary with the grim statistics bomber crews faced early-on, before long-range fighter escorts significantly improved mission survivability when they arrived later on in the course of the conflict. The 'lucky' Lancaster bomber, called EE136, was taken on 109 missions, including 14 raids to Berlin, Germany. Why do restaurants throw away food instead of giving it away? Hells Angels completed its 25th mission on May 13, 1943 and the Memphis Belle on May 19, 1943. How do software engineers solve problems? Interesting question. I guess flying a P-47 doesnt count, only B-17 & B-24 when it comes when it comes to keeping records. General Andrews, considered to be the father of the modern USAF, was replaced by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower. For nearly four months, he flew out of Foggia, Italy, on 50 missions that usually took between 5 and 8 hours each. ok how combat flights did the guys did before beening sent home ..for i know it most crews where 25 mission or 50 misson before beening sent back home to train new crews ..i have read that some people flew 25 misson or 50 misson before going home ..so was it 25 or 50 missions ..along with did they fly once a week or twice a week or every two weeks in a one year tour as a air crew.. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. I was completely unaware that Hot Stuff had beaten Hells Angels and Memphis Belle to the 25 mission mark. So you see, whether youre the pilot or tail gunner, surviving never meant being comfortable while at it. Daily life The everyday lives of most aircrew, unlike other servicemen, were a unique mixture of danger and normality. The B-17 and B-24 were both great airplanes. After returning to the States in June 1943, the bomber and many of its . completed a remarkable 201 combat missions, a feat that made it the highest mission scorer of any Allied medium or heavy bomber. The B-17, dubbed the Flying Fortress as a result of her defensive fire power, saw action in every theater of operation during World War II. , former Teacher by Profession, Teacher by Soul. I have the Bombardier Bob Abbs flight log book.straight from his widows hand to mine twenty years agountouchedunmolestedand he recorded it in ink in his own hand. Thunderbird is the name given to a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress. Copyright 2017 - Warbirds News. A high-wing monoplane with a twin tail and tricycle landing gear, it was powered by two 1,700-horsepower Wright radial engines, had a wingspan of 67 feet 7 inches (20.6 metres), was 53 feet 6 inches (16 . Just imagine how hard it is to complete tasks in uncomfortable clothing from the mask to the boots. #13: Bomber crewmen werent trained to jump out of airplanes with parachute. Apple says hackers may have exploited security flaws on iPhone, iPad, and Macs - BBC News BBC News 143K views 2. It establishes hearing as the norm or standard to which we are compared, and then indicates that we are "defective" accord Japan was completely impoverished, on the verge of mass starvation, and reeling from nearly an entire generation of men wiped out. In fact, its main practical use is for protecting your neck against the wool material of theuniform which will likely cause blisters. Whistle Stop Rail Trail, See object record. And yes, I have some unofficial photos of the B-25 aircraft and activities in Italy. Vulcan to the Sky Trust Works to Keep Last Flying Avro Vulcan Aloft, Dornier Do 17 Retrieved From Goodwin Sands Arrives at RAF Museum Cosford. 2 How many crew members did the b17 have? Your email address will not be published. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Interestingly, this raid was the Belles 24th combat mission as the original crew occasionally flew missions on other planes and other crews took the Belle on missions as well. Of the 120,000 who served, 55,573 were killed including over 10,000 Canadians. AFTER THAT I WAS SENT TO KB-29 AIR REFUELING SQ IN LOUISIANA. Suzy-Q nose artthe circled areas highlight combat damage repair. There will always be those who subscribe to particular yardsticks though, so to summarize: Hot Stuff was the first B-24/crew and the first heavy bomber to complete 25 missions on February 7, 1943. In the end the significance of specific mission counts are completely arbitrary. 25 There was an similar earlier raid that included Regensburg that cost the same.. I have amended the B-24s loss on the Wikipedia article List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (194044) to reflect this. Although the risk for hypoxia, altitude and decompression sickness, and barotrauma was high; bombers were only given oxygen masks. In 1943, having flown over France, Belgium, and Germany, the Memphis Belle crew became one of the first to reach that goal. Average age of air crew member is 19 or 20 years old. For those members of the RAAF serving in RAF Bomber Command, more than one in three were killed; amounting to 20 per cent of all Australians combat losses in the Second World War. how many ww2 bomber crews completed 25 missions. All onboard were killed except the tail gunner when Hot Stuff crashed into mountain in Iceland on May 3, 1943. How many crew members did the b17 have? I told him he was telling lies. As the son of one of the Hot Stuff crewmen bumped from the ill fated final flight, I was unaware of the fate of Gen Andrews, his entourage, and remaining crew. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. More than 50,000 Airmen lost their lives in the four years of WWII and the majority of those losses were on bomber missions over Nazi Germany in B-17s and B-24s. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Closing in of Reykjavik, they ran into snow squalls, low clouds, and rain. So dangerous was flying heavy bomber combat missions, the USAAF had a policy that when an aircrew wrapped up 25 missions, it was deemed to have completed their tour of duty. The War Department would then bring the bomber and its crew home to conduct nationwide promotional tours to sell war bonds to help fund the war effort. Pilots need to take flash photographs after dropping the bombs otherwise, it might not be included in the required number of missions for a single tour.

Petite Hailey Tutu Dress, Does Imperial College London Give Scholarships To International Students, Articles H