B-17 Flying Fortress B-17 42-102703 / Pella Tulip

History of
B-17 42-102703 / Pella Tulip

B-17 42-102703 / Pella Tulip Details

Two minutes before bombs away a flak hit smashed cockpit and nose comp. Pilot Reseigh severely wounded and copilot Dave Rautio knocked unconcious by shrapnel; ice cold air revived him whose oxygen mask, goggles and flak helmet torn away; instruments were all out, while blood from Reseigh’s head wounds, shattered left arm and leg splattered everything, plus the plexi-glass over the navigator Maryan Winicki’s astrodome was shattered. Four hours later frostbitten and nearly blinded by the open cockpit Rautio skidded in at an US base on the English Channel coast. En route home engineer Nushy extinguished the fire, bombardier Paul Smith closed the bomb bay doors, and along with radio op Leon Kaplan, ball turret man Herb Penner and waist gunner Erling Anderson hand cranked the wheels down, and they made it back, just missing out on colliding with another ship.

Photo:
Note the damages by flak, almost directly over the pilot’s head and ripped off part of the windshield and the top of his compartment.

B-17 42-102703 / Pella Tulip Crew