Did This B-17 Tail Gunner Survive the Impossible?

The is the story of three tail gunners from World War II that cheated death and survived a fall from 20,000 feet in the B=17 Flying Fortress and the B-24 Liberator. This was made using the World War II flight simulator War Thunder. Hope you enjoy! Please like, comment, and subscribe. #WW2 #WWIIHistory #WarThunder

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[artjs]

My father was a tail gunner in an 8th Air corp B 17 fighting over Germany... The tail gunner position was actually sought after by gunners because it was the only gun position with an armor plate between you and the guns. His plane was downed over Germany and my father became a POW. In the camp he met Eugene Moran. My father told me that Eugene suffered from "Battle Fatigue" due to his experience.

[keiththorpe]

One of the most interesting stories I was ever told about the gunners on the B-17 was related to me by my grandfather. He was a captain of an armor unit (having been granted a field commission, first to lieutenant, then to captain) commanding a strike group of Sherman tanks. It was early April 1945, near to the end of the war. He and his column were somewhere in Eastern France, getting ready to cross the river and enter Germany. They were near a recaptured airfield where B-17s could land if they had received damage during their sorties into Germany. One such damaged B-17 was inbound, having had it's landing gear shot all to hell and gone, and it's hydraulics were heavily damaged. They had to land, but their ball turret gunner was trapped inside the ball turret.

Now this happened from time to time, and if the plane had to belly land, it would of course crush the ball turret, along with the poor bastard trapped inside. Anyway, it looked like this was what was about to happen, when suddenly, as the plane came in low and slow to land, my grandfather and his tank crew watched as the ball turret gunner kicked out the glass at his feet, wriggled out of the hole in the center of the turret, and drop nearly 60 feet to the marshy, mucky, swampy ground at the end of the runway. My grandfather and his crew ran in the direction of what they assumed would be a dead ball turret gunner, only to find him lying, flailing in the middle of a huge, nasty, dead cow carcass. The cow had gotten stuck in the swamp and had died there, it's body bloated with decomposition gasses, and this had cushioned the impact enough so the gunner had only a sprained ankle as a result of his fall. Of course, this had also caused the carcass to explode into a rank, filthy, rancid mess. They found this dude trying to get up out of that mess, screaming in what sounded like a thick Brooklyn accent: "DON'T JUST STAND THERE, GET ME THE (BLANK-ETY-BLANK-BLANK) OUT OF THIS (BLANKING) STINKING THING!!!!"

My grandfather shared that story with me when I was 11, 40 years ago, and he laughed like hell when he told me. Damn, it makes me laugh to this day.

[billwilson]

The tail gunners had visitors on occasion since the head was located in the rear of the bombers.
Let's not forget the airmen that fell to earth without a parachute and survived the landing. A GI in France observed the crew of a stricken bomber bailing out as it flew overhead. He watched in horror as one fell with a parachute that failed to open to hit the ground not far from his position. He said the airman landed spread eagle and bounced up a foot then fell back down. He ran over to find the man groaning! He survived the fall by hitting wet ground that helped to cushion the fall but still suffered multiple bone fractures. Then there's one British gunner that bailed out without a parachute that landed the same way except became embedded in the soil. He was found by the Germans that were amazed that he survived falling over 15, 000 feet. The airman had multiple injuries so was taken to a hospital for surgeries and recuperation. Once being able to be moved, the Germans contacted the British so they could send him back home instead of a POW camp since they felt he deserved that after surviving such a fall.

[thomashogan]

Thank you young man for this story. I've had tears in my eyes. Our military family were in WW2. They flew the Corsair, Mustang and the great P47. And my one uncle flew photo and combat missions in The B29. Thank you again made this veteran feel good.

[ericwalter]

My grandfather was on the 301st raid that turned tragic. It was his 50th and final mission and he almost didn’t make it out Alive. Their plane was badly damaged and some of his crew members bailed out . Apparently this is because the pilot and a few others including my grandfather felt obligated to stay in order carry out their final mission and return home. My grandfather and his few crew mates made it back, I’m thankful to say. I’m very proud of my families legacy in WW2. Thanks for sharing the video, it was a surprise to say the least.

[SoCal]

All 3 of these stories were amazing. Hard to believe that these 3 tail gunners could live through something like that but they did. Unbelievable!

[roberthicks]

Years ago, I read of a tail gunner who was in a plane that was hit. He lost communication with the rest so he started to go forward to see what was going on, but the tail began to pitch forward, making him thing the plane was not stable. So he road it out, as the plane appeared to be coming in for a belly landing. After it stopped, he climbed out and was shocked to find out that the rest of the plane was missing. The tail had glided in on its own. He stated that he never heard from any of the rest of the crew, so he assumed they were all killed in an explosion. Other aircraft had reported that his plane had been hit and exploded but no one saw the tail fly off on its own.

[collinsup]

My grandfather was the only survivor of his B-17 going down (he was also a tail gunner) - unfortunately he didn't talk about it much, and lots of records were lost in a warehouse fire. I'd love to know more about it.

[MarijaBabic-klhd]

Have you ever heard the story of Andy Mynarski? A Canadian
Lancaster pilot. His plane was shot down and after everyone bailed out he realized that the rear gunner was trapped. After several failed attempts to free the gunner, the gunner insisted he bail out. The gunner remarkably survived but Andy died of severe burns, he received exiting the burning plane. If you do not know the story check it out. There is much more than I have explained. I would love to see you do a story on this flight.

[francoislancon]

I had heard of a crew member falling to the ground without parachute and surviving landing on snow covered pine trees but these three stories are also incredible!

[robertallingham]

Andrew Mynarski VC. The plane broke up after all the crew except the tail gunner, Brophy, escaped. He survived the crash. But what Andy did before he jumped earned him his posthumous VC. Quite an amazing story.

[gazlyno]

Another one about a British Lancaster(ED614) that had its tail section severed. The tail gunner glided it down to earth using the force of firing the 303 machine guns to gain stability. During the decent he was still being attacked by a Me 109. Tail gunner Sgt Pattrick Craymer although injured survived the fall

[howardsmith]

There is also an account from the 1960s of a Yugoslav airliner that broke up mid flight, and the only survivor was a stewardess in the tail section. She rode it all the way down, and survived with serious injuries, eventually returning to work.

[jamalwilburn]

I have two diaries. One from a 100th BG pilot who was very detailed and saw lots of combat between July - Oct 1944, including a shuttle mission and two to Berlin. Also have a diary to a 19yo Tail Gunner who didn't see much action over MTO, but he was brutally honest in how scared he was. Could share if you were interested

[bernardedwards]

About 40 years ago a civilian airliner in USA suffered a catastrophic structural failure and broke up at high altitude. The tail section broke away and fell relatively slowly to the ground with a member of the cabin crew inside it. She was seriously injured but made a full recovery. I forget the more intricate detals, but that is the gist of the story. During the war, a small number of aircrew, about two or three, fell thousands of feet without a parachute and survived. A few bullets can easily go through your parachute without doing serious damage or greatly increasing your rate of descent.

[timothymcdonnell]

Thank you so much for this, & moreso, for helping our next generations appreciate what our "Greatest Generation" did for us. My Dad volunteered to be a tail-gunner on a B-17. He & 4 of 5 uncles served in WWII (the 5th in Korea), & their mothers, fathers, & sisters served & sacrificed so much at home. I chose a career to teach history to honor of them & all our generous ancestors who deserve so much of our humble gratitude.

[petemiller]

The tail gunner had interphone communication with the rest of the crew. Amazing story for an amazing generation that defended the free world. Thank-you for your service and sacrifice.

[jimbecker]

Keeping It Real: B-17's had an intercom system for the crew to communicate (if not shot out from battle damage). It was used for each individual crew member to call out
the positions of attacking enemy fighters, etc.

[rmsteutonic]

Dude, the quality of these videos has gone up drastically. Major props to you

[davidhobson]

There's another similar story that was to do with a Lancaster bomber that had its tail cutoff too, though this in this incident the tail section didn't tumble to ground but actually glided to ground, apparently enough of the fuselage remained that it countered the weight of turret, the gunner himself even kept shooting at passing German night fighters, then he noticed each time he fired the gliding sped up so in a sense he flew his tail section to the ground, not sure of outcome for gunner himself after landing because he was apparently pretty badly wounded