B-17 Crewmen Remember the German Missions.
![Bomber Crew: A Day In Their Lives](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/3316/361475/5d3b898dc362c/Flight-World-War-I-World-War-II-History-German-Mission.jpg)
Ex communi periculo fraternitas‘
FROM COMMON PERIL, BROTHERHOOD’
Aboard each of the thousands of b-17 Flying Fortresses that left the soil of England bound for targets in Europe were 10 young men. outwardly, they were no different from any late-teen or early-twenties boy you’d meet anywhere in America. Same faces, same names, same youthful vigor and sense of invincibility. but on their shoulders rested the hopes of a nation, a world at war. this article relates missions over Germany through the personal accounts of men no longer young. they have little in common but their memories and that they once flew high in the deadly skies over Hitler's Germany to deliver destruction to the nazi war machine. bombardiers and navigators, pilots and copilots, radio operators, flight engineers, ball, waist and tail gunners. Some were officers, most were sergeants. they came from factories and farms, small towns and big cities, and ended up in a narrow aluminum tube with four roaring cyclone engines, a dozen machine guns and four tons of high explosives. the air temperature was far below freezing even when it was woven with red-hot shrapnel and exploding cannon shells. Very few of them knew one another during the war, but they are forever bonded in blood and duty. Kids then, old men now, they tell their stories of life and death inside b-17s over Germany.
An Uneasy Sleep
Long before dawn reached the cold sky of East Anglia, a lone man entered the barracks where the aircrews rested in uneasy slumber. Then he began waking them up. Radio operator Don Hammond, who flew 28 missions with the 100th Bomb Group, recalls, “The Charge of Quarters came in and said, ‘Hey, you’re flying. Breakfast at five, briefing at six, takeoff at seven.’ Then they picked us up in a truck and took us to the Mess Hall. We had fresh eggs, served to anyone who was flying.”
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة 2019 Special Issue: WWII Air War من Flight Journal.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة 2019 Special Issue: WWII Air War من Flight Journal.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
![STARFIRES Over Korea](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/3316/1736048/UopcreZr61719497143073/STARFIRES-OVER-KOREA.jpg)
STARFIRES Over Korea
F-94 pilots tangle with MiGs
![Training Mission](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/3316/1736048/K_ifr5nmz1719497032337/TRAINING-MISSION.jpg)
Training Mission
BY THE TIME THIS TRAINING SCENE WAS RECORDED in Canne, Italy, in July 1944, Allied Yugoslavian airmen had several years of experience working side by side with the RAF.
![KC-46A PEGASUS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/3316/1736048/nH-BmKool1719496592542/KC46A-PEGASUS.jpg)
KC-46A PEGASUS
Next generation aerial refueler
![The Corsair Maker](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/3316/1736048/lzgox8pxF1719496475329/THE-CORSAIR-MAKER.jpg)
The Corsair Maker
BRINGING THE VOUGHT CORSAIR to the fleet was a daunting challenge that spanned nearly three years.
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"SATAN'S ANGELS" ACE - Tales from a P-38 pilot in the South Pacific
\"AS A KID GROWING UP on the bow of my father's tugboat, hauling oil from Seattle to Alaska, I had a lot of time on my hands.
![WACO YKC - Stunning and Ultra Rare Golden Age Cabin Flier](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/3316/1736048/eaJkFwyou1719495112664/WACO-YKC-STUNNING-AND-ULTRA-RARE-GOLDEN-AGE-CABIN-FLIER.jpg)
WACO YKC - Stunning and Ultra Rare Golden Age Cabin Flier
BETWEEN THE IMPLEMENTATION of the Air Commerce Act of 1926 and December 31, 1948, all U.S. registered flying machines sported an N-number, much as they do today, the \"N\" being an internationally recognized identifier for the United States. During that period, however, an additional letter-identifier followed the \"N.\" Depending on their category, they were registered in the NC (Commercial), NG (Glider), NL (Limited), NR (Restricted, usually meaning race airplanes), NS (State government), and, finally, NX (experimental).
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BADER'S HURRICANES
Double amputee fighter ace Douglas Bader and his Battle of Britain Hurricanes
![KEEPING 'EM FLYING!](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/3316/1736048/w6tZ-_h3n1719493453426/KEEPING-EM-FLYING.jpg)
KEEPING 'EM FLYING!
The new generation of warbird pilots, restorers and mechanics
![Scourge of the Allied Fighters](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/3316/1475372/UEQpfsR001697541156372/SCOURGE-OF-THE-ALLIED-FIGHTERS.jpg)
Scourge of the Allied Fighters
IT HAD TO BE THE MOST HELPLESS FEELING in the world: you're at 25,000 feet over Europe knowing that your primary function is to drop bombs-or flying escort for the bombers while being a slow-moving target for some of the world's finest shooters. However, you have John Browning's marvelous .50 caliber invention to give some degree of protection. Unfortunately, you're absolutely helpless against flak. Piloting and gunnery skills play no role in a game where sheer chance makes life and death decisions. For that reason, the Krupp 88 mm Flak 18/36/37 AA cannon could be considered WW II's ultimate stealth fighter. You never saw it coming.
![ZERO MYTH, MYSTERY, AND FACT](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/3316/1475372/lZpmaiEzo1697540697014/ZERO-MYTH-MYSTERY-AND-FACT.jpg)
ZERO MYTH, MYSTERY, AND FACT
A test pilot compares the A6M5 Zero to U.S. fighters