And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Four Crew Members of the 401St Bomb Group in front of their Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress 'Hell's Angel' at an 8Th Air Force Base in England, on January 20, 1945.
Equally so that of RAF Bomber Command flying night shift. Each aircraft downed was 8-10 men killed or in the bag as POW. Casualty rate may have surpassed Marine-Army island-hopping campaigns.
@Anonymous, Lancasters had 7 men in their crew, but they were deathtraps compared to US bombers. Very difficult for most of the crew to escape from, especially in the dark.
I'm a small guy, and it was tight inside a b-17 just wearing summer weight clothing. Dancing around in all that winter, heated outerwear would have been a job in itself.
4 months to go guys... Then you can go to the Pacific & start again...
ReplyDelete93 missions. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteImpossible to measure the amount of courage it took to fly daylight bombing missions in WWII. God Bless them all.
ReplyDeleteEqually so that of RAF Bomber Command flying night shift. Each aircraft downed was 8-10 men killed or in the bag as POW. Casualty rate may have surpassed Marine-Army island-hopping campaigns.
DeleteThe 8th Air Force alone had the highest casualty rate of any other outfit in the war. Yes, even the Marines.
Delete@Anonymous, Lancasters had 7 men in their crew, but they were deathtraps compared to US bombers. Very difficult for most of the crew to escape from, especially in the dark.
Deletewww.americanairmuseum.com/unit/349
ReplyDeleteFrom what I seen on the above link, I'm guessing this planes crew is heading home..................
DeleteAfter flying in a B 17 I gained a huge amount of respect for these crewmen - and even more after I met some of them who served in WW II.
ReplyDeleteI'm a small guy, and it was tight inside a b-17 just wearing summer weight clothing. Dancing around in all that winter, heated outerwear would have been a job in itself.
DeleteDitto. I climbed into one an an airshow in San Diego and was shocked at how small it really was. About the size of a modern King Air.
Delete