Intermission Stories (19)

The 414th Squadron, 97 Bomber Group

WWII B-17 SURVIVAL STORY

This amazing story of courage, ingenuity and survival of the B-17 “All American” 414th Squadron, 97BG Crew was given to me by my dear friend Scott Brady, who also gallantly served in the U.S. Air Force.

 A mid-air collision on 1 February 1943 between a B-17 and a German fighter over the Tunis dock area became the subject of one of the most famous photographs of WWII.  An enemy fighter attacking a 97th Bomb Group formation went out of control, probably with a wounded pilot, then continued its crashing descent into the rear of the fuselage of a Fortress named “All American” piloted by Lt. Kendrick R. Bragg.  When it struck, the fighter broke apart, but left some pieces in the B-17.  The left horizontal stabilizer of the Fortress and left elevator were completely torn away.The two right engines were out and one on the left had a serious oil pump leak.  The vertical fin and the rudder had been damaged, the fuselage had been cut almost completely through connected only at 2 small parts of the frame and the radios, electrical and oxygen systems were damaged.  There was also a hole in the top that was over 16 feet long and 4 feet wide; the split in the fuselage went all the way to the top gunner’s turret.

Crew of the “All American”

Although the tail actually bounced and swayed in the wind and twisted when the plane turned and all the control cables were severed, except one single elevator cable still worked and the aircraft miraculously still flew!  The tail gunner was trapped because there was no floor connecting the tail to the rest of the plane.  The waist and tail gunners used parts of the German fighter and their own parachute harnesses in an attempt to keep the tail from ripping off and the two sides of the fuselage from splitting apart.

While the crew was trying to keep the bomber from coming apart, the pilot continued on his bomb run and released his bombs over the target.  When the bomb bay doors opened, the wind turbulence was so great that it blew one of the waist gunners into the broken tail section.  It took several minutes and four crew members to pass him ropes from parachutes and haul him back into the forward part of the plane.

When they tried to do the same for the tail gunner, the tail began flapping so hard that it began to break off.  The weight of the gunner was adding some stability, so he went back to his position.  The turn back to England had to be slow to keep the tail from twisting off.  They actually covered almost 70 miles to make the turn.  The bomber was so badly damaged that it was losing altitude and speed and was soon alone in the sky.

For a brief time, 2 more Me-109 German fighters attacked the “All American”.  Despite the extensive damage, all the machine gunners were able to respond and soon drove off the fighters.  The 2 waist gunners stood up with their heads sticking out through the hole in the top of the plane to aim and fire their machine-guns.  The tail gunner had to shoot in short bursts because the recoil was causing the plane to turn.

Allied P-51 fighters intercepted the All American as it crossed over the Channel and took one of the pictures shown.  They also radioed to the base describing that the appendage was waving like a fish tail and that the plane would not make it and to send out boats to rescue the crew when they bailed out.

The fighters stayed with the Fortress, taking hand signals from Lt. Bragg and relaying them to base.  Bragg signaled that 5 parachutes and the “spare” had bee used, so 5 of the crew could not bail out.  He made the decision that if they could not bail out safely, then he would stay with the plane to land it.

Two and a half hours after being hit, the aircraft made its final turn to line up the runway while it was still over 40 miles away.  It descended into an emergency landing and a normal roll-out on its landing gear.  When the ambulance pulled alongside, it was waved off because not a single member of the crew had been injured.  No one could believe that the aircraft could still fly in such a condition.  The Fortress sat placidly until the crew all exited through the door in the fuselage and the tail gunner had climbed down a ladder, at which time the entire rear section of the aircraft collapsed.

The old bird had done its job and then gave up!

Pilot – Ken Bragg Jr. – Born: 24 March 1918 – Died: 13 October 1999

Navigator – Henry C. Nuessle – Born: 18 January 1917 – Died: 27 June 1991

Bombardier – Ralph Burbridge – Born: 19 February 1920 – Died: unknown

Radio Operator – Paul A. Galloway – Born: 6 August 1917 – Died: 27 November 2011

Ball Turret Gunner – Elton Conda – Born: 6 September 1920 – Died: 21 April 2006

Waist Gunner – Michael Zuk – Born: 18 August 1917 – Died: 3 June 2002 (Riverside Nat. Cemetery)

Tail Gunner – Sam T. Sarpolus – Born: 21 April 1917 – Died 10 January 1988

I was unable to locate information on the co-pilot, G. Boyd Jr, engineer Joe C. James or the ground crew chief Hank Hyland.

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Farewell Salutes – 

Betty Qualls Black – Twin Falls, ID; WAVES, WWII

Never Forget

John Carmichael – Whangaparaoa, NZ; RNZ Navy #4202, WWII

Jerome Czar – Granite City, IL; US Army (20 years), Vietnam

Allan Ferrin – Palm Beach, FL; US Army, WWII

Robert Hart – Florence AL; US Army, Korea

John Knost – St. George, KS; US Army, WWII

Murray Smith – Albany, NZ; RNZ Air Force # G74181, Flight Lt.

Don Willis – Scarborough, Can.; Korean War veteran

Forrest Winfree Jr.; W.Palm Beach, FL; US Navy, WWII, North Africa

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Lt. Manion and Lt. Looney; friends and fellow graduates of the US Naval Academy, now lay side-by-side at Arlington Cemetery.

Please click on images to enlarge.

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