"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
04/11/2018 at 12:00 • Filed to: planelopnik, b-17, world war ii
9
6|
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
04/11/2018 at 12:00 • Filed to: planelopnik, b-17, world war ii | 9
| 6 |
This excerpt hails from Bob Stevens’ “There I was...”, published in the April
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
issue of
Air Force Magazine
:
Battle damage is part and parcel of any air war. We go back to “The Big One” for these stories. It’s not that we’re old fashioned; ghastly new weaponry has made these stories so... final e.g. there are not many crew members from later wars walking around and talking about taking a SAM up the tailpipe!
...
The hairiest flak story has to be the tail gunner who -trapped in the severed tail- “flew”, ala falling leaf, 20,000 ft. to the deck!
(various sources say he landed in a tree, others -a snowbank) -The point is: he lived!
It turns out that I still have an old stack of Air Force mags. It’s not much of a collection, but an assortment of about 40 issues, with dates ranging from 1985-1995. Dunno why these never got thrown out, but man there’s some cool stuff here.
Almost every issue includes Bob Stevens’ “There I Was...” on the last page, and this one was no exception. It was in rough shape though, with the cover and the first/last few pages falling off. Dog-ears and tears all over, too.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
(EDIT: Kinja’s slideshow feature appears to be broken. Here are links to images !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , & !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Jump to #6 for the tail gunner story.)
Details of the incident are sparse here, and it turns out the part about the tail being “shot off” must have been fabricated by my own mind trying to fill in the blanks. Apparently it didn’t fly like a glider per se , but more like a “falling leaf”, which is consistent with the suspicions we were having about its aerodynamics.
There’s also a note that some sources (none of which are cited) disagree over whether the gunner landed in a tree or snowbank. Perhaps there was some confusion between this tale and the story of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , whose fall was softened by both tree branches AND a snowdrift.
I was also starting to question whether the tail pictured was even supposed to be a B-17 at all. That is, until I received !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! from Curly on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! :
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Armed with new search terms, I came upon more sources, corroborating the tale. Here are some links:
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the MTO
Bombing Europe: The Illustrated Exploits of the Fifteenth Air Force
And !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , “the unabridged true story Raley wrote in in 1945 from notes he kept in his journal.”! (Thanks O.C.!)
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Curly2
> Urambo Tauro
04/11/2018 at 14:21 |
|
The second incarnation of my handle, Curly, as I lost my key to post. S/Sgt.Eldon C. “Curly” Steerman of Salina, Kansas was my wife’s Great Uncle and the waist-gunner on B17F - 42-3098. In doing some family history a few years back, I was told that “Curly and James Raley’s plane was shot down over Germany (family lore). After finding his name listed on the crew of that plane, I came accross the story of Sgt. Raley’s incredulous ride in that tail section. So not in Germany and not shot down..
Thank you for posting the original question and knew immediatly the plane in question. I found the declassified post-mission report online. Thanks also to “O.C”. for finding James Raley’s book. I’m hoping to gleen some information and maybe a mention of a particular crew member, from the hard copy I ordered.
The photo below is “Skippy” the mascot pit bull dog of 42-3098 and the nose art inspiration.
|
Urambo Tauro
> Curly2
04/11/2018 at 14:32 |
|
No kidding! This is great, thank you so much for responding!
McMike
> Urambo Tauro
04/11/2018 at 17:36 |
|
I used to love reading those. I always went to the back page first to read that comic.
|
Urambo Tauro
> McMike
04/11/2018 at 17:47 |
|
Same here.
P51B24Matt
> Urambo Tauro
04/12/2018 at 03:57 |
|
Saw the story and the part about landing in snow drift made me want to tell you this:
Talked to a guy once... Tail Gunner in B-24's (not 17's), 485th BG...828th BS. Told me a story of another tail Gunner who was able to get out of a decapitated B-24 tail tail sction after a Me-109 or Focke Wolfe hit the B-24 from over 20,000 feet....over France or Belgium winter ‘44. Anyway, the plane hitting the B-24 disabled his parachute, or the sumersaulting fall did... but somehow he apparently got out of the tail section right before hitting Earth. He landed in an orchard of some kind with snow drifts, falling thru branches, and only broke a leg (and became a POW). The Parachute Co still gave him the Caterpillar Club pin.
P-51Matt
e36Jeff now drives a ZHP
> Urambo Tauro
04/12/2018 at 08:59 |
|
His story is exactly what I surmised could have happened to him in the last thread: https://oppositelock.kinja.com/1825146922
I promise I had never heard this story before today.