#bombing campaign

[b17project]

"Alice From Dallas" - Going Down

When continuing to investigate what happened exactly to the B-17F "Alice From Dallas" and its crew during this fateful day on August 17, 1943, I found out what is certainly the most detailed account of what happened this day.

Mr. Dirk Thielens from the Belgian association Task Force Liberty (https://www.taskforceliberty.be/) has written an exceptional account of all the events, especially unfoldind from the moment the aircraft was hit at 10.30 a.m by Flak to the aftermath of the crew landing in occupied territory.

You can find the original text written by Dirk Thielens here : https://www.taskforceliberty.be/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Alice-from-Dallas-deel-1.pdf I thank him very much for having accepted to publish the story he wrote on my blog.

I translated a part of it to English for sharing this incredible story :

"When they had reached the province of Limburg at 10:30 they were fired upon by German anti-aircraft (flak). A heavy shock wave was felt in the aircraft when they were hit by anti-aircraft shells. Immediately the right wing of the aircraft, which was full of fuel, caught fire.

Roy Claytor, the pilot, pushed the nose of the aircraft down to leave the formation. Alice from Dallas began to lose altitude rapidly and threatened to go into a left spin. At that moment Roy noticed that the left wing was also on fire and as a reflex he engaged the autopilot and shouted "bail out!" over the intercom. This was the order for the crew to buckle up their parachutes and bail out. Bombardier Kenneth Lorch did what he had to do in that situation. He opened the bomb hatch and dropped all the bombs, which were still on safe, at once after which he, navigator Oscar Amison and Engineer/top turret gunner John Burgin bailed out of the burning aircraft. While the pilot was still trying to to keep it somewhat under control, co-pilot Raymond Nutting also left the cockpit. Pilot Roy Claytor was meanwhile also standing between the two seats in the cockpit and holding the control column. Suddenly the nose of the aircraft went up and he was sucked into the space behind the cockpit. Roy managed to reach the escape hatch and open it, after which he could jump out of the burning crashing aircraft. He waited to open his parachute to get enough distance to the aircraft, in case it would explode in the air.

Roy saw seven parachutes hanging around him. So two parachutes were missing. These were Edward Musante and William Hinton. Apparently they had not gotten out of the aircraft in time. Musante had managed to jump, but his parachute got caught in the tail of the crashing aircraft and he was dragged down into the depths, to a certain death. Two Focke-Wulf 190s of the Luftwaffe circled the crashing aircraft but they did not open fire. They were probably just looking to see where the plane and the parachutes would land and then alert the German ground troops of the exact location. Roy Claytor opened his parachute at about 1,000 feet (+/- 300 meters) altitude.

He saw the remains of Alice from Dallas come down with a huge explosion a little further away. While hanging from his parachute he was thrown in all directions and landed with a thud in a meadow. For about a minute he was dazed and could not move. About thirty paces further on a dirt road one of his comrades also landed with a thud. Roy Claytor had to shout at him three or four times before he reacted. It was Raymond Nutting, the co-pilot. Raymond had only missed the softer grass field he was aiming for by a few meters because he did not dare to pull the ropes of his parachute at low altitude. They had barely managed to get up and had deployed their parachutes when they were surrounded by a few dozen Belgian civilians from the nearby village. (Probably Schoonbeek).

John Burgin had also jumped from the plane together with bombardier Kenneth Lorch via the forward escape hatch. They had first had to remove some escape equipment and blankets. They jumped from the plane at approximately 12,000 feet (+/- 4,000 meters) and opened their parachutes at an altitude of approximately 2,000 meters. John Burgin took off his flight helmet, goggles and oxygen mask and put them in his overalls. The B-17 circled dangerously in flames in its death throes. For a moment John thought the plane would come their way and drag him down. Fortunately it turned around just in time and left the two crew members unharmed. No detailed account of the facts is available from Kenneth Lorch, but from John Burgin there is. As he was hanging from his parachute and drifting quietly southwards, he saw the Germans busy on the ground. He saw Germans taking up positions on various roads. He was hanging above a forest and when he landed at the edge of the forest, a Belgian civilian was quickly standing next to him. He wasted no time with many words and immediately began to pull the parachute out of the branches of the trees. John quickly took off his flying gear. The parachute and the gear were thrown into old shell craters (probably from the fighting in May 1940) and filled with branches, grass and leaves to camouflage them. They heard a German truck approaching, the Belgian man walked up the forest road to see where the danger was coming from and then signaled to John to quickly walk in the other direction. Waist gunner Charles Bailey also did not hesitate to jump out of the plane when the order came. He always wore his parachute harness loose enough so that he could put his hands in his pockets during the flight. The waist gunner stands to the side of the plane in an opening behind his machine gun.

Flying at that altitude with an open door is a guarantee for freezing temperatures. When Charles opened his parachute, he was hit hard by the rather loose harness. So hard that he thought he was going to be torn to pieces. He pulled off his oxygen mask and dropped it. For a moment he thought he was going to land in a pond, but luckily he drifted off. As he descended, he realized that he should have paid more attention in the courses on what to do when landing behind enemy lines. Luckily, he remembered that you should try to hide your parachute as quickly as possible. Charles landed in a garden and his parachute got stuck in a pear tree. The landing itself was pleasant and easy. At least 50 people gathered around him in a circle.

They asked him if he was English or German. When he made it clear that he was American, they spontaneously started hugging and kissing him. He had not yet had breakfast and was spontaneously offered pears from the tree. After his parachute was lowered, he took off his leather jacket and his coverall. There was a piece of shrapnel in his leg and he tried to treat it with a piece of his parachute. While he was administering first aid to himself, the people made it clear to him that he had to get out of there and hide. The people took his equipment and he hid in a ditch. There they brought him food and civilian clothes. The people hung around in the area and strangely enough no Germans showed up. About an hour later they brought him a bicycle and from there his journey was organized.

Of the ten crew, eight managed to escape by parachute. Two crew members, Edward Musante and William Hinton, were killed. Charles Bailey later recalled: “Musante was the right side gunner and I was the left side gunner. I kept a close eye on him at all times because I was older than he was and he seemed to depend on me a great deal. He always had trouble understanding what was said on the intercom and I always made sure he knew what was being said. Also when the pilot gave the signal to jump I checked Musante and he got ready. We both went to the escape hatch and I pulled the lever and Musante went forward to jump. But suddenly he changed his mind and signaled me to go first. Two engines were on fire and the plane was descending very rapidly so I saw no reason to lose any time and jumped. After my parachute opened I tried to keep my eyes on the plane and count the parachutes but I could only see eight.” So what actually happened to Musante is not really clear.

Did he hesitate to jump at the last moment and thereby seal his fate? It is certain that he got caught in the tail with his parachute. Also William Hinton the ball turret gunner could not leave the plane in time. His body was found after the crash among the wreckage. Both crew members were temporarily buried in Genk on 20 August 1943 and were reburied in their home country after the war."

[trendynewsnow]

Escalation of Israeli Bombing Campaign in Southern Beirut

Intensified Bombing Campaign in Southern Beirut The Israeli military has intensified its bombing campaign south of Beirut on Saturday, targeting a densely populated Shiite district on the outskirts of Lebanon’s capital. Despite ongoing hostilities, the prospects for a cease-fire remain uncertain, leaving many residents in a state of anxiety and fear. As of now, there has been no immediate report…

[zekuto]

i was obsessed the first time i saw someone post leon on that stupid panda rocker but i was never able to find raw footage of it lol, so i decided to compile leon with all the playground interactions because i love him <3

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"ARCS OF DOOM CLOSE IN ON HITLER'S FORTRESS FROM THREE SIDES," Toronto Star. September 29, 1943. Page 3. --- THREE MIGHTY AIRCRAFT carriers are in place ready to carry the bombs of retribution to Hitler's fortress. From three sides, Britain on the west, Russia on the east and Italy on the south the big bombers can carry the war to every nook and corner in the Reich and the satellite lands. The capture of Italy's famed Foggia fields gives the Allies an "aircraft carrier" inside Europe. From Foggia it is only 500 miles to Munich. 470 to Vienna. 450 to Budapest. 580 to the already-battered Ploesti oil fields in Rumania. When the Allies take Bologna, big base in northern Italy, the range of the arcs of doom are even smaller and it means fighters can protect the death-carrying bombers every inch of the way there and back.

[captain-price-unofficially]

The iconic image of tail gunner Lawrence Benner, in a Lancaster bomber, Royal Canadian Air Force, RAF Bomber Command, 1943.

[littlebitofdnd]

Sandra-Lynn and Sklonda are having a "What Do We Do About Kristen" phone call as we speak

[undead-knick-knack]

[pocketgalaxies]

crazy how in c2 they'll have three extensive convos checking in with each other while traveling like an hour in-game meanwhile in c3 they've been on the moon for days and still haven't discussed the following:

laudna fucking ate a guy

imogen's mom is a mythical legend amongst the enemy

orym vs. laudna's response to imogen giving into predathos

how did chetney suddenly learn to make hypnotizing toys

delilah briarwood

"some of us are expendable, we should get captured"

anything and everything they said during the trust exercise, including but not limited to:

laudna not being able to distinguish her thoughts from delilah's

imogen's disgust at delilah's inevitable presence

chetney's fear that his new family will leave him

orym's feelings about dorian

fcg relieving stress through murder

fearne's insecurities about their chances of success

ashton's guilt about the shard

and more!

[sillyguy-supreme]

i think far too many of you do not realize that if the democratic party loses in november it will be because of their failure in campaigning and refusal to listen to their constituents and not because the Tumblr Leftist Furries abstained from voting or voted third party

[essektheylyss]

Okay but can Caleb PLEASE call Essek to take a look at Ashton's head so a) SOMEONE can see it and not immediately look at Ashton like they're some bizarre source of radiation poisoning and b) Essek can be like, "You'd kick my brother's ass so badly. Do you want to try? You know, for science."

[b17project]

A B-17F is under attack from 6' o'clock by a twin engine German fighter, somewhere above Germany in late 1943. Legend of the original picture states that this aircraft is from the "Bloody Hundredth" 100th Bomb Group. Anyone has additional info on this picture?

[scourgeofshadows]

All Imma say is TRUMP IN PRISON 2024!!!

[acoldghostlypresence]

Someone get them some prozac

[soaring-trash]

IM BACK IN THE GROOVE(kinda)

here’s Imogen girl failure, outrageously lesbian, atomic bomb Timult for you

[bitchb0ybunny]

Brand New City

(Keegan P. Russ x Reader)

COD men are my roman empire, PLEASE SEND ME ASKS IM BEGGING- I NEED SOMETHING TO WRITE ABOUT SO I CAN GET OUT OF MY OWN SKIN (this is a cry for help, I'm supposed to be focusing on finals but I cant get these scrunkly ass military men outta my head, so enjoy this spew from the depths of my sleep deprived mind..)

Keegan wasn't sure how he got here.. One minute, he was fighting Federation soldiers alongside Hesh, Merrick, and the Walker brothers and now he was... God, where even was he right now?? It was dark and cold.. He still had his mask, tactical gear, and weapons, but it was like he had been transported to an entirely new goddamn universe.

The city looked clean, it was something he wasn't used to. The Federation had destroyed everything years ago, back when he was in his late 20s or early 30s, he couldn't quite remember, but this place.. It was completely spotless, besides the normal city trash and critters wandering the dark alley he found himself in. He definitely did not miss this air quality, he had only been wherever here was for less than 5 minutes and he was already feeling like his lungs could collapse at any moment.. But the more he stands here, confused, the more.. Familiar this gets. Cautiously, he steps out of the alleyway he was in, ending up on a city street lined with shops that twinge with familiarity for reasons unknown to him. The sidewalk was empty besides himself, and the street was mostly empty besides a few cars that drive by every five or so minutes as he walks down the pavement in a random direction- the direction that just felt right. He didn't know where he was, but being a Ghost for most of his life has gotten him to trust his gut no matter what.

And he does just that.

He heads in whatever direction he feels like he's supposed to go, turning down side streets and such whenever he feels like he's supposed to, it's.. Almost concerning how his gut knows this city but his mind doesn't. Everything is in-tact, theres no destroyed buildings or cliffs that clearly hadn't been there when the roads were paved and parking garages made, it looked like a city from before the Federation bombed the States.. Had he gone back in time? No, no, that's not possible. Had he died? Was this his version of hell, or maybe heaven? How did he even get here?

He wasn't sure of anything anymore.

It took about two hours of walking until he stopped, suddenly the feeling of familiarity vanished and everything was so unfamiliar that it made him feel sick. Made him feel like he was going to vomit all over the pavement.. But then a jingle of a bell rang out as a door opened across the street, voices rang out in the night as people bid each other goodbye and went on their separate ways. The sounds of talking and jingling didn't seem to help curb this feeling of sickness, uneasiness, in fact the voices made him feel worse. He felt dizzy, his vision was spinning and he couldn't stand right, whatever was making him suddenly feel ill was getting worse. His legs gave out beneath him, and suddenly one of the voices from before got louder.. The last thing his vision managed to focus on was an all-too familiar face, the face he saw in his dreams and the face that haunted his nightmares, staring down at him with an all-too familiar concerned expression that made his heart clench.

It was you. You, who had become one of the many casualties caused by The Federation the day they bombed the United States. You, who had plagued his mind for years. You, who he kept a picture of on his person all the time so they could be with him all the time. You, who loved him dearly, even with your last breath.

[captain-price-unofficially]

A B-25 Mitchell lands on only two wheels, WWII