{"id":5682,"date":"2018-01-05T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2018-01-05T11:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/?post_type=b17database&p=5682"},"modified":"2022-06-12T12:31:35","modified_gmt":"2022-06-12T10:31:35","slug":"42-5846-tinker-toy","status":"publish","type":"b17database","link":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/b17\/42-5846-tinker-toy\/","title":{"rendered":"42-5846 \/ Tinker Toy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo shows #42-5846 \/ Tinker Toy<\/strong><\/em> after returning from the October 8,1943 mission to Bremen, Germany. A German fighter attacking the bomber hit it in the cockpit with 20mm cannon shells, decapitating the pilot, 1st Lt. William J. Minerich (O-795807), and wounding the copilot, 2nd Lt. Thomas D. Sellers (O-678337), in the left arm. The cockpit was completely covered in blood and brain matter but Lt. Sellers, with the help of T\/Sgt. Henry L. Miller – Engineer\/Top Turret Gunner (33206929) flew the plane home and kinda safely landed her, ground looping it. The plane was such a bloody mess that the top turret gunner couldn’t stand in his turret without slipping… Sellers had to fly the plane for probably 3 hours in that cockpit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/18532986@N07\/4851640230\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lt.
Lt. Thomas Duncan Sellers aka “Dunc” is far left<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Delivered Long Beach 19\/3\/43; Pueblo 10\/4\/43; Smoky Hill 6\/5\/43; Presque Is 21\/5\/43; Assigned 535BS\/381BG [MS-X] Ridgewell 26\/5\/43 with Capt Landon Hendricks, Capt John Hamilton, M\/Sgt Marshall Peavey line chief, M\/Sgt Rhea Rutherford radio, Lt Ernie Murray, Lt Gerald Platz HQ, Lt George Kelly HQ, S\/Sgt Mike Duffy HQ, T\/Sgt Gerald Reisen HQ; Missing in Action 19+m Bremen 20\/12\/43 with Dorman Lane, Co-pilot: John Johnston, Flight engineer\/top turret gunner: John Peanoske (3 Prisoner of War), Navigator: Everett Anderson, Bombardier: Dick Mitchell, Radio Operator: Alphonse Melchiorre, Ball turret gunner: Henry Cramer, Waist gunner: Bill Hrapsky, Waist gunner: Joe Fecko,Tail gunner: Frank McDonald (7 Killed in Action); coll with Me109, crashed Ganderksee, three miles W of Delmenhorst, near Bremen, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 1723. (A\/c shown in film shot in Hers To Hold, with Deanna Durbin). TINKERTOY.","protected":false},"featured_media":5683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"airplane-status":[468],"status-date":[163],"status-day":[1887],"status-month":[1865],"status-year":[1894],"production-block":[81],"manufacturer":[144],"delivered":[],"project-number":[],"bomb-group":[272],"bomb-squadron":[328],"raf-service":[],"b17tags":[],"class_list":["post-5682","b17database","type-b17database","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","airplane-status-mid-air-collision-with-enemy-aircraft","status-date-20-12-1943","status-day-1887","status-month-december","status-year-1894","production-block-b-17f-25-ve-42-5805-42-5854","manufacturer-lockheed-vega","bomb-group-381st-bomb-group","bomb-squadron-535th-bomb-squadron"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"en","enabled_languages":["de","en"],"languages":{"de":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":true},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":true}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17database\/5682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17database"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/b17database"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"airplane-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/airplane-status?post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"status-date","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-date?post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"status-day","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-day?post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"status-month","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-month?post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"status-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-year?post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"production-block","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/production-block?post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manufacturer?post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"delivered","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/delivered?post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"project-number","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project-number?post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-group?post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-squadron","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-squadron?post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"raf-service","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/raf-service?post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"b17tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17tags?post=5682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}