Posted by Dave Maher on Friday, September 21, 2007 at 17:31:19 :
In Reply to: Re: Ops posted by Gary Troxel on Friday, September 21, 2007 at 15:57:12 :
Gary, Strangely enough, he was one of the very few who didn't mind sharing his wartime experiences, bullet by bullet! One of the strangest stories was his accounts of the transition from the B-17 (a taildragger) to the B-24 (tricycle gear), and his being the tailgunner. He used to tell of the many times that the war-weary, and sometimes wounded pilot forgot the landing gear configuration, and proceeded to set the B-24's down on their tails, until they heard metal scraping away! It seemed like combat was the easy part of the mission, until coming in for a landing! He didn't appreciate the fact that, after having survived anti-aircraft fire, and numerous attacks by enemy aircraft, that he might be ground to death on the home runway! There were many frantic calls to "get the nose down"! Yes, I too wish he had written it all down! Dave Maher
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