</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Gained even more respect for the WWII vet's who flew in them. I also understand why a lot of men went down with the ship when hit. )</font>
jfh230, thanks very much for the photos and story. My late dad flew in the B17 as a waist gunner during WWII. He was a member of the "LUCKY BASTARDS CLUB" as he flew 30 missions. He actually received a 'diploma' type award indicating his membership to the club. I believe crew members of the 17 only had to fly 20 missions but he survived 30. So so proud of him. I found out after his death that his plane made a crash landing into **** occupied Belgium. Never did find out how he got outta there. I do have a small notebook that he kept of all his missions indicating weather, bomb load, target, etc. Once thing I do remember is he said that if the plane ever got hit, hit enough to make it go down, everyone on board agreed to try to crash land than to parachute out. I guess until it happens you don't know for sure what you would do. Some of his records indicate many, many hits from e/a (enemy aircraft), lost engines, but what they hated the most was the flak. And to think I'm a little scared to fly in a commercial jet. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif They were all so brave. Again thank you for the photos and story. Stanley