WWII B-17 Log Book
Get the file here
A B-17 navigator's world War II log book. Please see
attachment:
Once you start reading this, you can't stop - these guys were amazing! The
logbook records the daily activity of a B-17 navigator and his 24 missions
flying out of England from September 1943 through February1944. The daily
courage and total commitment of these airmen and their British counterparts
is beyond comprehension.
The 8th AF in England suffered 71% casualty rate for its aviators.
Seventy-seven percent of the Americans who flew in combat
against the Reich prior to D-day wound up as casualties, and over the course
of the war 1 in 10 of the 350,000 Americans who served with the Eighth Air
Force were killed flying combat missions. If you add to those deaths battle
wounds and those shot down who became POWs, the Eighth Air Force suffered
the highest casualty rate of any group in the American armed forces in
WWII (and still not counting a very large number of psychiatric
casualties). In October 1943 airmen in the Eighth Air Force had worse than a one in four
chance of surviving a tour of 25 missions, and in specific outfits it
was worse. Only 14 percent of those who arrived in 1943 and served with the
Hundredth Bomb Group made it to 25 missions.
If you don't read anything else, at least read the last
page.
A B-17 navigator's world War II log book. Please see
attachment:
Once you start reading this, you can't stop - these guys were amazing! The
logbook records the daily activity of a B-17 navigator and his 24 missions
flying out of England from September 1943 through February1944. The daily
courage and total commitment of these airmen and their British counterparts
is beyond comprehension.
The 8th AF in England suffered 71% casualty rate for its aviators.
Seventy-seven percent of the Americans who flew in combat
against the Reich prior to D-day wound up as casualties, and over the course
of the war 1 in 10 of the 350,000 Americans who served with the Eighth Air
Force were killed flying combat missions. If you add to those deaths battle
wounds and those shot down who became POWs, the Eighth Air Force suffered
the highest casualty rate of any group in the American armed forces in
WWII (and still not counting a very large number of psychiatric
casualties). In October 1943 airmen in the Eighth Air Force had worse than a one in four
chance of surviving a tour of 25 missions, and in specific outfits it
was worse. Only 14 percent of those who arrived in 1943 and served with the
Hundredth Bomb Group made it to 25 missions.
If you don't read anything else, at least read the last
page.
