Jim, When I was about 15, I read "Flying Forts" by Martin Caidin. I was truly impressed by the punishment that the plane could endure and still bring her crews back. Two stories from that book stick out in my mind. One is about an English gentleman that witnessed a B-17 land in an open field - away from any air bases. The plane rolled to a stop. When the Englishman approached to greet the crew, there was no one on board. The second is about a B-17 that was cut virtually in half by an Me-109. It managed to fly back to base where it landed safely, then broke in two. You can see pictures of the plane and other incredible stuff at: http://www.daveswarbirds.com/b-17/fuselag2.htm I found an old copy of "Flying Forts" recently and I scarfed it up.
Mark -----Original Message----- From: Jim Porter [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 4:05 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [RCSE] The SHORTENED Runway War stories: My father related this incident about a takeoff in a fully loaded B-17 about to embark on mission forty-something over Europe. He was lead in the second group to take off and was well into the takeoff roll when a gas truck, apparently thinking either everyone had left or that he had sufficient time, started to cross the active runway. Things were definitely not looking good when my father jammed full down elevator, compressed the gear, hauled back on the yoke and literally bounced over the gas truck. They left the tailwheel somewhere behind them on the runway after it hit the gas truck. The brief contact with the gas truck and the subsequent touchdown did enough damage to the tail cone that they did not make that mission. My father also had DFC, but I have no idea what it was for as he rarely talked about his actual combat experiences. He did, however, rather enjoy relating the fun stories. One of which was that occasionally they could find an excuse for a check flight. After fueling, they'd load up with the fixin's for ice cream, climb high enough to freeze the mix, make the ice cream and then quickly land and share with the other flight and maintenance crews. I think these were the things that provided the comic relief that enabled them to cope with what they experienced over Europe. regards, Jim Porter, soon to be Johnston Iowa Neckargemund-Dilsberg Germany "The airplane stays up because it doesn't have the time to fall." Orville Wright RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. ******************************************************************************** This message is intended only for the use of the Addressee and may contain information that is PRIVILEGED and CONFIDENTIAL. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please erase all copies of the message and its attachments and notify Space Imaging immediately. ******************************************************************************** RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
