Whizzer II

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 11/20/2019 at 12:35 • Filed to: wingspan

6

17

In the raging skies of WWII, airmen faced not only the menace of enemy fighters, but also anti-aircraft artillery (AAA, or Triple-A), notably the dreaded German “ !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ,” a powerful and accurate weapon that hurled deadly !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! into the air and brought down aircraft either by an explosion in close proximity or by a devastating direct hit, which usually resulted in death for all those inside the bomber. There is no shortage of dramatic photographs of bombers being transformed into wheeling masses of flaming wreckage, and this photograph of B-17F Flying Fortress Whizzer II , caught by another bomber flying in formation, is no exception.

Whizzer II (42-5786, 840th Bomb Squadron, 483rd Bomb Group, 15th Air Force) was on a bombing mission over the rail yards at Nis in the former Yugoslavia on 15 April 1944 when it suffered a direct hit by AAA. The shell detonated the main fuel tank between engines 3 and 4 while the bomber was flying at 21,000 feet. The round ignited the fuel into a raging inferno, the outer portion of the wing broke off, and the bomber, with its entire crew trapped inside, spiraled into the ground. The destruction took place in a matter of seconds. With no opportunity to bail out, the entire ten-man crew was killed.

History tends to remember bombers by the nicknames given to them by their crew: Enola Gay , Memphis Belle , Bockscar . In many ways, that nickname came to symbolize the bomber and the mission while overlooking the fathers and sons and brothers who served inside them. We might remember Paul Tibbets as the commander of the Enola Gay , but few can name a single man who served on the famous Memphis Belle .

The Army, though, does keep records. These are the men who lost their life when Whizzer II was shot from the sky:

2LT James O. Preston, Pilot
2LT Harry L. Johnston, Co-pilot
2LT Jesse D. Gresham, Navigator
2LT Gordon G. Lindholm, Bombardier
SGT John C. Toutant, Engineer and top turret gunner
SGT James E. Cooper, Radio operator
SGT Harold J. Pierce, Ball turret gunner
SGT Albert H. Cline, Waist gunner
S/SGT John T. Cieslak, Waist gunner
SGT Jack Brown, Jr., Tail gunner

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the 15th Air Force lost 3,364 aircraft and 21,671 personnel killed, wounded or missing and taken prisoner. Of that number, 20,430 were bomber crewmen while the rest, 1,187, were fighter pilots. And the 15th was just one of four numbered air forces serving in the European and Mediterranean theaters. Thousands more airmen fought and died in the Pacific. Sadly, far too many to list here.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

For more stories about aviation, aviators, aviation history, and aviation oddities, visit !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > ttyymmnn 11/20/2019 at 12:37

1

I'm beginning to suspect that you like airplanes and/or history

For Sweden > ttyymmnn 11/20/2019 at 12:54

1

I’m always amazed that they gave an entire bomber to a few 2nd Lieutenants and sent them off to Berlin

ttyymmnn > For Sweden 11/20/2019 at 13:31

0

Most of the officer pilots were in their mid to late 20s. Crew were mostly 18 year old recruits. 

ttyymmnn > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 11/20/2019 at 13:32

0

Has it taken you this long to figure that out?

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > ttyymmnn 11/20/2019 at 13:36

1

RacinBob > ttyymmnn 11/20/2019 at 13:47

1

His active war duty was 3 takeoffs and 2 landings.....

RacinBob > ttyymmnn 11/20/2019 at 13:50

1

Buried 50 miles from my home town. Aged 21.

ttyymmnn > RacinBob 11/20/2019 at 13:52

0

Ideally, your takeoffs and landings match. Didn’t realize how green they were. I imagine there were plenty of guys who bought it on their first mission. 

Pixel > ttyymmnn 11/20/2019 at 15:43

1

Tere is a video game on Steam called Bomber Crew that is a very gamified and none-realistic game of being a British bomber doing missions over Europe. The first time i loaded it up i ended up getting very into it and played for several hours. I wasn’t very good and lost a lot of crew members (including a few planes lost with no survivors). At the time i didn’t think much about it aside from the annoyance of having to replace them with raw recruits.

The next time i booted the game it put me in the loading menu, which has a fake WW2 memorial as a backdrop. I noticed some panels on the wall that hadn’t been there before. Clicking on them, they were an 'In Memorium' list of all the crew members lost in my various missions.

Oof.

I had to close the game and take a break from it for a week.

RacinBob > ttyymmnn 11/20/2019 at 18:23

0

Interesting, this is from a German site, info also found here  http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/8322 .

It was delivered in Long Beach, 1/28/43, Damaged 3/20/43, Assigned 5/5/43, damaged 9/16/43, Assigned 4/44, Lost 4/15/44.

RacinBob > ttyymmnn 11/20/2019 at 18:27

0

SGT John C. Toutant, Engineer and top turret gunner
SGT Harold J. Pierce, Ball turret gunner
S/SGT John T. Cieslak, Waist gunner

ttyymmnn > RacinBob 11/20/2019 at 18:30

0

I saw both of those sites when I was researching this. Not exactly a stellar career. Some might wonder how come they couldn’t bail out. I have climbed through a B-17, and it’s super small inside (at least for a fat guy like me, those kids were skinny boys). The spinning forces of the aircraft also would have made it practically impossible to move. Must have been a hell of a ride, sadly. 

ttyymmnn > RacinBob 11/20/2019 at 18:32

1

Does that suggest they were buried together? I’m surprised they found much to bury. Thanks for the additional info on this.

I came across that lead image some months ago as I was surfing a military photos site, and was stunned when I saw the list of names. I’ve seen so many dramatic photos of bombers getting blown up, but I had never given a thought to the men inside.

RacinBob > ttyymmnn 11/20/2019 at 18:35

1

Neat website http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=ForumsPro&file=viewtopic&t=14428&start=260&finish=20&printertopic=1

ttyymmnn > RacinBob 11/20/2019 at 18:38

0

I’ve been surfing that site for a long time. It’s a fabulous collection of photos. God bless Poor Old Spike.

RacinBob > ttyymmnn 11/20/2019 at 18:48

0

I wonder if its something they did for the crew KIA/MIA where the family did not have a preference for a “burial” location. I assume the service happened after the war as remains would not have been available during the war.

All I have to assume is that the wing came off almost immediately and then the G forces would have been horrible if spinning at say 20 RPM or more at 200 mph.....

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > For Sweden 11/22/2019 at 11:35

0

Or kids in Sherman tanks.