A B-17 WAR STORY
THE "ALL AMERICAN" AIRCRAFT TAIL #- 124406
A mid-air collision on 1, February 1943, between a B-17 and a German fighter over the Tunis dock area, became one of the most famous photographs of W-II.
An enemyfighter attacking a 97th Bomb Group formation went out of control, and then coninued its crashing decent into the rear of the fuselage of a B-17 flying fortress named "ALL AMERICAN", piloted by Lt. Kendrick R. Bragg, of the 414 Bomb Squadron. When it struck, the fighter broke apart, but left some pieces in the B-17. The left horizontal stabilizer and left elevator were torn away. The two right engines were out and one on the left had an oil leak. The vertical fin and rudder were damaged and the fuselage had been cut almost completely through, connected only by two small parts of the air frame and the radios, with the electrical and oxygen systems damaged. There was also a hole over 16 feet long and 4 feet wide at its widest and a split in the fuselage that went all the way to the top of the gunners turret>
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 elevator cable, the aircraft still flew - miraculously! The tail gunner was trapped as there was no floor connecting the tail to the rest of the aircraft. The waist and tail gunners used parts of the German fighter and their parachute harnesses in an attempt to keep the tail from ripping off and the 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, four crew members and ropes made from parachute cord to haul him back into the forward part of the aircraft. 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 stability to the tail section, so he stayed at his position.
The turn torward England had to be very slow to keep the tail from twisting off. They actually covered almost 70 miles to make the turn home. The bomber was so badly damaged that it was loosinf altitude and speed and was soon alone in the sky. For a brief time, two more ME- 109 German fighters attacked "THE ALL AMERICAN". Despite the extensive damage, all the machine gunners were able to respond to drive off the fighters. The two waist gunners stood up with their heads sticking out of the hole in the top of the fuselage to aim and fire their guns. The tail gunner had to fire in short bursts as the recoil was causing the aircraft to turn.
P-51 "Mustang" fighters intercepted the B-17 as it was crossing the Channel to escort it to safety. They radioed the base describing that the tail was waving like a fish tail and they did not think it would make it to shore and send out boats to rescue the crew when they bailed out. The fighters stayed with the Fortress taking hand signals from Lt. Bragg and relayed to the base. He signaled that the parachutes were used to hold the craft together and they would stay with the plane and land it.
Two and a half hours later, the aircraft made its final turn to line up with the runway 40 miles away. It decended into an emergency landing and a normal roll-out on its landing gear.
