This B-17, the "All American," was flying over
the dock area in Tunis, 1 Feb 43, when it was
struck by a German fighter.

The collision nearly chopped the entire tail off of
the B-17. . When the fighter struck, flying out of control,
some pieces of the fighter stuck in the fuselage
of the B-17. . The left horizontal stabilizer and
elevator were lost from the 17. . The two right
wing engines were out, and one of the left engines
had a serious oil leak. . The collision cut a 16-foot-long,
4-foot-wide gash in the aft fuselage of the 17,
from the top gunner's turret to the bottom of
the rudder. . The tail gunner was hanging on
for dear life.

The B-17's tail bounced and swayed in the wind,
and all of the control cables were severed except
one single elevator cable. . The airplane still flew.

The tail gunner was trapped because there was
no floor connecting the tail to the rest of the plane.
The waist and tail gunners used parts of the German
fighter and their own parachute harnesses in an attempt
to keep the tail from ripping off and the two 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 were opened, the wind
turbulence was so great that it blew one of the
waist gunners into the broken tail section. . It took
several minutes and four crew members to
pass him ropes from parachutes and haul him
back into the forward part of the plane. . 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 some stability
to the tail section, so he went back to his position.

The turn back toward 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 losing
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 of the machine gunners were able
to respond to these attacks and soon drove off
the fighters. . The two waist gunners stood up
with their heads sticking out through the hole in
the top of the fuselage to aim and fire their
machine guns. . The tail gunner had to shoot
in short bursts because the recoil was actually
causing the plane to turn.

Allied P-51 fighters intercepted the "All American"
as it crossed over the Channel
and took one of the pictures shown. They also
radioed to the base describing that the empennage
was waving like a fish tail and that the plane
would not make it ... and to send out boats to
rescue the crew when they bailed out.

The fighters stayed with the Fortress, taking
hand signals from Lt. Bragg and relaying them
to the base. . Lt. Bragg signaled that 5 parachutes
and the spare had been "used," so five of the crew
could not bail out. . He made the decision that
if they could not bail out safely, then he would
stay with the plane to land it.

Two and a half hours after being hit, the aircraft
made its final turn to line up with the runway
while it was still over 40 miles away. . It descended
into an emergency landing and a normal roll-out
on its landing gear.

When the ambulance pulled alongside, it was
waved off because not a single member of the
crew had been injured. . No one could believe
that the aircraft could still fly in such a condition.

The Fortress sat placidly until the crew all exited
through the door in the fuselage and the tail
gunner had climbed down a ladder, at which
time the entire rear section of the aircraft collapsed.

Like my old Harley, that was a machine which
just wanted to run. -- j

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