Interesting War Stories

[_AH_DarkWolf]

I recently read a book called The Fall of Fortresses, written by a B-17 navigator who flew both the big Schweinfurt raids. At one point he talks about returning from a mission where his plane was quite shot up. The next morning they learned that an unexploded 20mm shell had been found in one of their gas tanks. So the pilot goes to see the a/c crew chief to see if he can get the shell for a souvenir. He finds out then that it was'nt just 1, but 11 unexploded 20mm shells found in the tanks. The crew chief says no he can't give him one, they were all sent off to the armoury to be defused. So the pilot heads off to the armoury and talks to one of the armourers to see if he can get one of the shells. The armourer tells him no he can't give him one, the intelligence officer came and picked them all up and no he can't tell him why. Undaunted the pilot heads off to the see the intelligence officer. Once again he is told no you can't have one and I can't tell you why. The pilot stays and continues to chat with the officer and finally he relents, swearing the pilot to secrecy on the matter. He's told that when the armourers opened up the shells to defuse them they found they were empty, all except one which had a small note rolled up inside it. On it was a short message in czech. It took the officer 3 hours to find someone on the base who could translate it, it read "This is all we can do for you now".

I thought that was pretty remarkable.

DW

[_AH_Gonzo]

Cool story DW!

[_AH_Hornet]

Good story.

The best book I've read is Samurai!, a biography of Saburo Sakai, one of the best Japanese Aces in WWII. He had 64 confirmed kills and flew over 200 missions without ever losing a wingman.

Japan destroyed most of the Allied Air Force in the Pacific in just a few months and Sakai's Tainan Squadron became known for destroying the most Allied planes in the history of Japanese military aviation. On August 7, 1942, 18 Zeroes received the order to attack Guadalcanal. The range from Rabaul was 560 miles, barely within the range of the Zero fighters. Sakai shot down 3 F4F's in this battle and then found 8 enemy planes in the distance, which he presumed to be F4F's as well ... he was wrong.

They were SBD Dauntless dive-bombers, with eager rear machine gunners. Sakai's Zero became a target for 16 guns. Never the less, Sakai shot down 3 SBD's before being hit in the forehead by a .30 caliber bullet, blinding him in the right eye. The Zero rolled over and headed upside down toward the sea. Unable to see out of his remaining good eye due to blood flowing from the head wound, Sakai's vision started to clear somewhat as tears cleared the blood from his eyes and he was able to pull his plane out of the steep seaward dive. Finally the cold air blasting into the cockpit revived him enough to check his instruments, and he decided that by using a lean fuel mixture he might be able to make it back to the airfield at Rabaul.

Although in agony from his injuries (the .30 cal bullet had passed through his skull and the left side of his brain, leaving the entire left side of his body paralyzed, and was left blind in one eye) Sakai managed to fly his damaged Zero in a four-hour, 47-minute flight over 560 nautical miles back to his base on Rabaul, using familiar volcanic peaks as guides. When he attempted to land at the airfield he nearly crashed into a line of parked Zeros but, after circling four times, and with the fuel gauge reading empty, he put his Zero down on the runway on his second attempt. After landing, he insisted on making his mission report to his superior officer before collapsing.

That's one helluva pilot.

[_AH_Boosher]

I recently read a book called The Fall of Fortresses, written by a B-17 navigator who flew both the big Schweinfurt raids. At one point he talks about returning from a mission where his plane was quite shot up. The next morning they learned that an unexploded 20mm shell had been found in one of their gas tanks. So the pilot goes to see the a/c crew chief to see if he can get the shell for a souvenir. He finds out then that it was'nt just 1, but 11 unexploded 20mm shells found in the tanks. The crew chief says no he can't give him one, they were all sent off to the armoury to be defused. So the pilot heads off to the armoury and talks to one of the armourers to see if he can get one of the shells. The armourer tells him no he can't give him one, the intelligence officer came and picked them all up and no he can't tell him why. Undaunted the pilot heads off to the see the intelligence officer. Once again he is told no you can't have one and I can't tell you why. The pilot stays and continues to chat with the officer and finally he relents, swearing the pilot to secrecy on the matter. He's told that when the armourers opened up the shells to defuse them they found they were empty, all except one which had a small note rolled up inside it. On it was a short message in czech. It took the officer 3 hours to find someone on the base who could translate it, it read "This is all we can do for you now".

I thought that was pretty remarkable.

DW

That's a pretty cool story DW, was there a footnote for that story? I'd love to check it out myself. I don't remember where the footnote for this one is, I'll dig around. It might have been in Caidin's "P-38!"

Returning from a long mission one day, a
bunch of P-38s, all flying on fumes, were jockeying to land first when a firm
voice came over the radio:  "I'm coming in on one engine!"  Naturally he got
priority clearance, and everybody looked around to see who was in trouble.
What they saw was a Tac Recon smart @$$ in a P-40 slipping in on final.
Everybody started swearing--and then started laughing.

[_AH_Moggy]

...He's told that when the armourers opened up the shells to defuse them they found they were empty, all except one which had a small note rolled up inside it. On it was a short message in czech. It took the officer 3 hours to find someone on the base who could translate it, it read "This is all we can do for you now".

I thought that was pretty remarkable.

DW

Wow!  Talk about a "message in a bottle!"  I guess this was from a Czech slave-laborer in a German armaments factory.  Too bad he wasn't working in an '88 shell factory!