B-17 FLYING FORTRESS BOMBERS RETURN WITH COMBAT DAMAGE AND WOUNDED HD COLOR [ WWII DOCUMENTARY ]

Compilation of Color HD film reels from WWII showing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers returning from missions with various amount of damage and wounded crew from fighters or flak.

#B17 #combat #damage

Footage has been:
- Researched
- Digitally restored
- Upscaled to FHD
- Edited together from various archive film reels
by Look in The Past channel.

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry (prototype Model 299/XB-17) outperformed both competitors and exceeded the Air Corps' performance specifications. Although Boeing lost the contract (to the Douglas B-18 Bolo) because the prototype crashed, the Air Corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation. From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances, becoming the third-most produced bomber of all time, behind the four-engined Consolidated B-24 Liberator and the multirole, twin-engined Junkers Ju 88. The B-17 was primarily employed by the USAAF in the daylight strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial, military and civilian targets. The United States Eighth Air Force, based at many airfields in central, eastern and southern England, and the Fifteenth Air Force, based in Italy, complemented the RAF Bomber Command's night-time area bombing in the Combined Bomber Offensive to help secure air superiority over the cities, factories and battlefields of Western Europe in preparation for the invasion of France in 1944. The B-17 also participated to a lesser extent in the Pacific War, early in World War II, where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields.

[robertjohns]

My father was shot up pretty badly in Jan '43, stationed in Chelveston with the 305th. After his passing in 1994 we found an article in the "Family Heirloom Trunk"...an article from Stars and Stripes. It detailed how his plane had taken a lot of damage and plunged from 10K feet to 3K feet after the pilot and the co-pilot had been blown from their seats, spiraling out of control, all the while taking fire from the trailing fighters. Somehow the pilot got to the controls and pulled out of the spin and brought the plane home...Dad spoke VERY little of the war, especially the years of being a POW after being shot down in Feb '43. That same article detailed that my father, while in the tail, took a hit that blew his headgear off and knocked him back into the fuselage...but not before he was given credit for two kills that day. My stepmother attended a 305BG reunion with dad and heard that he spent two weeks in the hospital and was pissed that they wouldn't let him get back to his crew sooner, when he did it was to take over the ball turret position.

[JamesObertino]

Odds of survival for combat crew in the 8th Air Force were smaller than for Marines in the Pacific.

[thforcon]

Nowhere to run or hide. You were in it till the end. Must have been hell.

[Slithey]

What a frightening hell it must have been to be inside those aircraft. Incredible bravery. I always wonder how many of those guys made it home alive.

[dougscott]

It's amazing that some of these heroes made it back alive at all.

[muserock]

@3:07 B17 "Dame Satan" was shot down returning from a raid on Schweinfurt on the 17 August 1943. The pilot, Jack Hargis, and the ball turret gunner, Starr Tucker, were killed. The remaining crew bailed out and were either captured or evaded capture.

[christopherwelch]

It’s amazing that these bombers could still fly.

[alangood]

I'm a Brit.
Heroes. Incredibly brave young men.
Thank you gentlemen.
We're eternally grateful.

[sblack]

Those squadrons must have had some brilliant structural repair people by the end of the war

[stephendoing]

These brave men went on these missions knowing the odds were against them from returning

[lineshaftrestorations]

So much owed to so few by so many. Sad most of today's yoots don't have what it takes to demonstrate the same courage and bravery those air crews did. 😢

[xavierolle]

The feelings of those men are simply, unimaginable...

[hansvandijk]

My country owes its freedom to these heroes!
Greetings from the Netherlands 🇳🇱.

[CogentConsult]

Incredible footage. Thank you for bringing this to light.

[Jleed]

When you squeezed into the ball turret, every trip must have felt like a suicide mission

[adamlee]

Thanks for sharing this video, my grandfather and a family friend were both navigators in the RAAF and RAF in Lancasters and both survived the war. The brave men in the air don't get enough respect and honour IMO. This videos is massively important in keeping alive the memory of those who flew and the efforts they made.

[dhouse-dl]

Not everyone smiling....see the fear in their faces even tho they've returned....I cant imagine the horror.

[jaysonstyles]

10:24 That Fort with the stabiliser and rudder damage is the famed "Memphis Belle" (DF-A, tail ID 124485).

[paulofreitas]

They were just kids! The greatest generation

[dalecrummie]

My uncle was a Bombardier on one of these, he made it home.