On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 12:56:09 -0700, "gatt"
wrote:

So close I could see the glint off
the plexiglass turret and the black traction tape and red gas caps on her
olive wings. 60 years ago, I'd be thankful I wasn't German. Today I am
simply thankful.

I'm thankful I didn't have to fly one in combat. B-17's are beautiful
airplanes but during WWII, they were big slow targets. The Germans
swatted them out of the sky in huge numbers. Several missions
resulted in 60 airplanes being shot down out of about 300 that made
the mission. During another mission in which more bombers sortied,
over 80 were knocked down.

That era is gone forever. All those guys could count the number of
people lost and calculate their chances for staying alive till their
tour was over, they weren't good. Yet most went anyway. Some didn't,
a lot of men cracked up psychologically and a number of bombers were
flown to neutral countries to be interned rather than complete the
mission or bail out over enemy territory. Can't say I blame them, the
psychological stress of having to sit their and be shot at without the
ability to maneuver to escape the fire must have been enormous.

Overall, some 12,000 heavy bombers from both Britain and the US were
shot down during the war. Mull that number over for a second, it
represents an incredible effort and loss of life.

Corky Scott