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B-17 Flying Fortress Gunner: Life You Wouldn’t Want | Unbelievable true stories | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: B-17 Flying Fortress Gunner: Life You Wouldn’t Want
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This content details the incredibly high casualty rates and perilous conditions faced by bomber crews, particularly gunners, during World War II's strategic bombing campaigns, highlighting their crucial role and the extreme dangers they endured.
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bommer Cru had one of the highest
casualty rates in World War II with 51%
lost in combat others were wounded shot
down and captured while 8,000 lost their
lives in training accidents before even
seeing combat only around 20% made it
through unscathed at least physically
since more than half of bomac Cru were
Gunners this is their story The
Unbelievable things that happened and
the extremely dangerous and terrifying
job they had let's begin it was 1943 in
England the British and American Air
Force forces had begun working together
in an around-the-clock bombing campaign
to disrupt Germany's ability to wage war
B7 flying fortresses and Avro lancasters
were the workhorses of this operation
flying from England across the English
Channel and deep into German territory
to bomb key objectives the British
bombed at night while the Americans
during the day and at first this tactic
proved extremely effective obliterating
Target after Target under the lightly
defended Skies of Western Europe at the
start of the campaign it was believed
that no matter how strong enemy air
defenses were massed formations of
bombers with numerous machine guns for
protection would always get through
however this theory was quickly
shattered when the Germans recognized
the new threat and began deploying
experienced Luft buffer fighter units
from the Eastern Front to intercept and
Destroy Allied bombers the results were
catastrophic the Allies suffered
horrendous losses sometimes losing
dozens of aircraft in a single Mission
forcing them to question the entire
strategy even with up to 13 machine guns
in a single B17 and dozens of bombers
flying in tight formation they couldn't
protect themselves against determined
Luft waffer Fighters that waked havoc on
Allied bomber groups the best defense
against Fighters was other Fighters but
as bombing targets were progressively
deeper inside Germany No existing Allied
fighter had the range to escort them all
the way Fighters had far less fuel
capacity than bombers meaning they could
only protect the bombers for part of the
mission before hitting their fuel limits
and turning back leaving the bombers
vulnerable in the most dangerous part of
the mission as bomber casualties kept
mounting an experimental aircraft was
developed to try and solve the problem
the yb40 gunship a heavily armed B17
modified into a dedicated escort gunship
it had an additional top turret a twin
50 caliber machine gun in each waist
window a chin turret an extra ammunition
however once regular b7s dropped their
bomb payloads they became lighter and
faster and the YB 40s struggled to keep
up they fell behind breaking formation
and becoming easy targets for German
Fighters so they idea failed eventually
the solution would be the P-51 Mustang
and the P-47 Thunderbolt with external
drop tanks which finally gave bombers
much needed protection but before
fighter escort became widespread many
bombers and their Crews would be lost
with their Gunners being the only
protection they had fighting even when
their aircraft was burning and going
down to protect themselves from enemy
Fighters bombers needed all around 360°
protection so multiple gun positions
were covering specific angles the B7 car
carried up to 1350 caliber machine guns
depending on the version positioned to
provide overlapping fields of fire so
there were no blind spots guns were
manned by five designated Gunners with
other crew members Manning their guns
when needed the pilot and co-pilot were
the only crew members who didn't have
machine guns while the bombarder
Navigator flight engineer and radio
operator also served as Gunners in case
of an attack b7s defensive Firepower was
broken down into six key positions with
some of them being outright horrifying
to operate the nose Gunner had a turret
with two machine guns positioned at the
very front below the bombadiers window
it could fire forward into the sides
covering the front Arc and was operated
by the Bombadier or the Navigator below
it in later models was the chin turret
also with two guns firing forward and
downward to improve forward protection
the top turret also called the dorsal
turret was located directly behind the
cockpit covering attacks from above and
operated by a designated Gunner it had
two machine guns and could rotate 360°
firing upward and to the sides covering
the complete upper Arc behind it one
more gun could be mounted in an
auxiliary turret two waste Gunners one
on each side had single machine guns and
were in the most exposed position firing
through open Windows they covered the
sides and could fire slightly forward
and backward the tail Gunner and the
infamous ball turret Gunner deserve more
attention and you'll now see why the
tail Gunner was located in the rear of
the aircraft logically and is often
overshadowed by the ball Gunner's
position when it comes to how horrible
their job was he was completely isolated
from the rest of the crew fairly cramped
and difficult to even get into position
having to crawl through the narrow tail
section of the bomber usually he would
detach his parachute and keep it behind
him during the mission and if he needed
to bail out he had a small door that he
could release strap on his shoot and
jump out but try doing that in a burning
bomber spiraling out of control the
enemy fighter was most likely to attack
from behind and the tail Gunner was
their first Target because he was firing
from the aircraft's tail he didn't need
to compensate as much for bullet
deflection as waste Gunners for example
this made his fire much more accurate
and enemy Fighters knew that very well
so the tail Gunner had to constantly
stay on the lookout and remain alert for
hours during a mission he had two 50
caliber machine guns Manning them while
kneeling forward on a bicycle style seat
he had some armor in front of his chest
and an armored glass panel to the front
but it didn't provide much protection
against the 20 mm Cannons of German
Fighters we have to mention one tail
Gunner Nicholas alade although he didn't
serve on a B17 but on an Avro Lancaster
his bomber was attacked by a German
night fighter and a catastrophic fire
broke out his parachute was engulfed in
flames along with the rest of the bomber
and the fire spread quickly toward him
seeing that this was it he chose to jump
out rather than burn to death despite
having no parachute and being at 18,000
ft altitude however he hit pine trees
and a thick layer of snow somehow
surviving the fall with only a sprained
leg he was captured by the Germans and
survived the war perhaps perhaps the
only worse position to be in than the
tail was the ball turret it was the most
effective protection for the bomber
electrically operated moving quickly and
covering a full 360° around and even 90°
down this way it covered the entire area
below the aircraft the ball turret was
definitely the most cramped
claustrophobic dangerous and
uncomfortable position in a ball just 4T
in diameter there were controls two
machine guns and a gunner curled up in
the fetal position he aimed the gun
sights between his knees and used his
hands and legs to Traverse the turret
the position was the most dangerous of
all he had only plexiglass around him
and most of the threats Came From Below
either Flack or fighters who knew that
the ball gunner was one of the biggest
threats to them the Gunner needed to
align the small hatch on the turret with
the bomber's fuselage so he could enter
or exit and he would get into position
only after the aircraft took off because
if anything happened the turret could be
crushed on impact as it was mounted on
the bomber's belly and was the first
thing to hit the ground there was a
hydraulic system designed to retract the
ball in case of Landing with damaged
landing gear but it was not desirable to
be in the turret in that situation he
also couldn't wear his parachute due to
the lack of space so it had to be kept
in the fuselage if anything bad happened
he had to align the hatches hopefully
without the turret being jammed then
climb inside strap on his parachute and
jump out he also needed help from other
crew members just to get in or out and
again try doing that in the chaos while
the bomber is going down many of them
went down with the aircraft or were so
badly hit by enemy figh or flire that
what was left of the Gunner literally
had to be washed from the turret with a
hose turrets also had cut off systems
that prevented the guns from firing if
they were pointing at part of the bomber
especially the engines and wings here we
have to mention another Gunner Alan Mii
this B7 ball turret Gunner was on a
mission when his bomber was hit by Flack
fire his ball turret became inoperative
so he climbed inside the fuselage only
to find that his parachute had been
completely torn apart by a hit then a
second Flack explosion blew off an
entire section of the right wing and the
bomber went into a deadly spin toward
the ground Allan lost Consciousness and
was thrown from the aircraft at an
altitude of 22,000 ft without a
parachute he fell through the glass roof
of a train station in France and somehow
survived the fall although with severe
injuries however he would recover and
survive the war even if we take away the
enormous risk of enemy Flack and
Interceptor Fighters simply serving on
bombers in World War II was an extremely
dangerous and uncomfortable experience
for crew members flying at high
altitudes in unpressurized cabins
temperatures would drop to -50° F so
Airmen had to wear electrically heated
suits and oxygen masks just to stay
alive if their equipment failed they
could suffer severe frostbite and if
their oxygen supply was cut they would
fall asleep without even realizing it if
no one noticed within a couple of
minutes they would never wake up the
cold was so extreme that Gunners could
lose their fingers just by touching the
Frozen metal of their machine guns
without gloves and if they were hit by
shrapnel their blood would would freeze
as it left their body parachutes weren't
very reliable and Crews had to bail out
through narrow Escape hatches while
wearing bulky flight gear all while
their aircraft was spiraling out of
control or burning only 25% of Airmen
managed to bail out and successfully
deploy their parachutes while some
bombers like the Avro Lancaster had an
even lower survival rate of just 15% due
to smaller and poorly positioned Escape
hatches around 10,000 crew members who
survived being shot down became
prisoners of War enduring horrific
conditions in prisoner camps for months
or even years before being liberated and
many of them never live to see the end
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