This B-17 tail Gunner Was One of the Top Scoring Aces of WWII!

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This is staff sergeant Michael Arooth, and he became a triple ace during WWII0 without ever getting behind the controls of an aircraft.

Most aerial victories in WWII were won by pilots using quick, agile fighter aircraft that could outpace or outmaneuver their opponents.

Not Sgt Arooth.

Arooth was a tail gunner on a B-17 called Tondelayo when the aircraft took part in a raid on Schweinfurt in September 1943. During the mission, he shot down 3 enemy aircraft, but his B-17’s oxygen system became damaged, and Arooth was soon injured. His gun had also jammed during his third engagement. Despite the difficult circumstances, Arooth cleared his weapon just in time to shoot down a 4th aircraft attacking the tondelayo. For his courageous actions, Arooth was awarded the Distinguished service cross.

Due to crossfire from the massive bomber formations of WWII, aerial kills were often impossible to credit to individual gunners on individual planes. As a result, the air force rarely credited gunners with official kills.

Despite this caveat, Arooth scored an incredible 17 officially confirmed victories in just 14 missions, making him the highest-scoring gunner ever. However, because Arooth was only credited with kills that were clearly confirmed, it is widely believed that his actual number of victories was likely somewhere in the 20s. His 17 confirmed kills made him among the 50 highest-scoring American aces of the war.

[Guyfromflorida]

My great uncle was a tail gunner in WWll