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.
Initially, the mission count was set at 25, which was more than the life expectancy of a crewman. It was raised somewhat later on, but I don't think it ever got to 50 for B17 or B24 crews. I think it was raised to 35. Jimmy Stewart didn't fly the full amount in his B24 squadron, but he was the XO, or similar level position, so it was difficult to get the time to fly that often. I tried to check on his war history, but Wpedia has totally screwed up his wartime history, making it seem that he did nothing. Guy had at least one flight over North Vietnam in a B52 prior to retiring as a Brig Gen, IIRC.
Appears to have been renamed a few times during its career.
"...survived 19 months of air battles overseas, and 1,058 combat hours. Her scoreboard reads, one destroyer, one merchant ship, one oil tanker, and 23 enemy aircraft destroyed. She dropped 297 tons of bombs, and never lost a crewman in combat. The plane required 19 engines, two new wings, one new rudder, and many aluminum patches to keep her flying during her career."
514th bomb squadron, 376th bomb group
ReplyDeleteVery impressive a "D" model got that far.
ReplyDeleteBrave me, each of them.
Washington monument in the background
ReplyDeleteThat "monument" appears to be a blade of one of the port engines' propellers.
DeleteYou be sure that these particular crewmen did not fly 110 missions. by late war the "heavy" crews were to fly 50.
ReplyDeleteYeah. That tally was probably over five crews.
DeleteThe planes weren't expected to last more than 20 missions anyways.
Initially, the mission count was set at 25, which was more than the life expectancy of a crewman. It was raised somewhat later on, but I don't think it ever got to 50 for B17 or B24 crews. I think it was raised to 35.
DeleteJimmy Stewart didn't fly the full amount in his B24 squadron, but he was the XO, or similar level position, so it was difficult to get the time to fly that often. I tried to check on his war history, but Wpedia has totally screwed up his wartime history, making it seem that he did nothing. Guy had at least one flight over North Vietnam in a B52 prior to retiring as a Brig Gen, IIRC.
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DeleteSome impressive kill marks on the fuselage. That's more than just being lucky, that's a distinguished crew.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/136
ReplyDeleteAppears to have been renamed a few times during its career.
"...survived 19 months of air battles overseas, and 1,058 combat hours. Her scoreboard reads, one destroyer, one merchant ship, one oil tanker, and 23 enemy aircraft destroyed. She dropped 297 tons of bombs, and never lost a crewman in combat. The plane required 19 engines, two new wings, one new rudder, and many aluminum patches to keep her flying during her career."
Survived combat to end up on a "War Bond Tour."
Two new wings.... tough times!
ReplyDelete