Â· RUEL SK

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54 C<strong>RUEL</strong> <strong>SK</strong>Y was too busy. By this time, the enemy fighters had closed in. The bombardier saw an FWft 190 colored light blue a few hundred feet below the nose of Fridget Bridget. He called 2nd Lt. William E. Flickner in the nose turret who pointed his twin 50 calibers down. Dowling saw hits all over the wings and the plane spun in. The MERCER crew Copilot, Lt. Leo Pouliot, had noticed that the tail gunner of the lead ship was firing at something. Then their own plane started to quiver as the gunners opened fITe. Simultaneously, small puffs of smoke appeared throughout the formation. The copilot had his radio tuned to the fighter channel. "I called for escort: Balance 3ft 1, 3-2, and 3-3. They acknowledged immediately. 1 said bandits were attacking us. Before I could switch the jackbox to interphone to get our position from the navigator, we were hit and the radio went out. I saw the German fighters as they broke away past us, black crosses standing out on wings and fuselage. Our plane shook like a leaf in a blizzard from the guns all frring at the same time." The left waist gunner, S/Sgt. Harry L. Wheaton, saw an FW-190, coming from behind the tail fm. "His fITst 20-mm shell came in just to the right of me and blew the oxygen system out. His next shell went through the comer of the bomb bay. His third shell went into our No.2 gas cell, but did not explode. We survived his attack, but he did not survive mine, I downed him." The MOWAT crew Sgt. Frank Plesa says, "I was a little short in keeping my eyes focused on the sight which made me sit up and stretch up more than normal." This caused the right waist gunner, S/Sgt. John B. Neher Jr., to ask, 'What's wrong Frank?'" "The planes of both Lt. Seeds and Lt. Elder were on fire. The wings of one of them blew right off and the fuselage just dropped down like a big ball of fire and black smoke. Lt. Fromm's plane was on fITe too. I was mad."
The fight 55 The SEEDS crew A flight of FW -190s had closed on the low-left squadron, raining hell at point~blank range, In a few seconds, they transfonned the two ships composing the low-left element into burning twins. Second Lieutenants Andrew G. Seeds and Michael 1. Luongo began to have trouble controlling Steady Hedy. When the frrst engine erupted in flames, the copilot hit the propeller feathering button, moved mixture control to "IDLE CUT -OFF," closed the throttle, turned the ignition switch to "OFF," and finally turned the fuel supply to "dead engine OFF" at the main selector valve. A second engine was crippled and fires spread quickly on both wings, the fuel cells threatening to explode at any moment. When the pilots tried the controls, they found them loose, almost unresponsive. They knew that the flames were doing their destructive job, consuming everything in range, from the aluminum skin to the structure itself. The airfoil could break in midair without any warning. As things quickly deteriorated from bad to worse, the young skipper felt a gripping fear and near panic as his mind anticipated a ghastly future. But there was no time to waste. The crew had to be called and given the order to bailout. The copilot tried the intercom while the pilot hit the bailout bell. Emergency alarm bells rang in the nose turret, navigator-bombardier's compartment, rear fuselage compartment, and tail gun turret. Suddenly the wings blew up. Needing no further explanation about the status of the ship, the crewmen scrambled to get their chutes on. Struggle for dear life ended when the wingless fuselage nosed down and fell to earth. The men were thrown to the ceiling. Hard as they tried, they were unable to overcome the force pinning them. Then, slowly, the fuselage flipped on its back and started to barrel. The nose and tail turrets fell off the metal rings on which they were mounted. The crew was in the middle of a maelstrom of pieces of equipment, ammunition boxes, spent cases, and bags. Happy those who had been killed instantly. It was only a matter of time until what was left of their B-24 would slam into the ground. Some resigned themselves to the fact that their time had run out. Others did not give up the struggles to escape their rotating coffm, the escape hatches were so close and life was outside. Death caught them all when the fuselage exploded.
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· RUEL SK .......~, , .
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Picture credit Front cover: Aircraf
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CRUEL SKY 4 PREFACE My name is Luc
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CRUEL SKY 6 I had to wait until Mar
Page 9 and 10: CRUEL SKY 8 disposed than others to
Page 11 and 12: 10 CRUEL SKY Also: Bill Dewey, Pres
Page 13 and 14: 12 CRUEL SKY But Gotha had been in
Page 15 and 16: 14 CRUEL SKY The crews scheduled we
Page 17 and 18: 16 CRUEL SKY civilians living near
Page 19 and 20: 18 CRUEL SKY Second Lieutenant Carr
Page 21 and 22: 20 CRUEL SKY The navigators got a d
Page 23 and 24: 22 CRUEL SKY had just been repacked
Page 25 and 26: · The Pearson crew before leaving
Page 27 and 28: 24 CRUEL SKY Crew integrity was som
Page 29 and 30: 26 CRUEL SKY "I introduced myself a
Page 31 and 32: 28 CRUEL SKY pencils, plotter, and
Page 33 and 34: 30 CRUEL SKY then, for McCormic~ th
Page 35 and 36: -----4.__. " ["""""" ..,....,.."'..
Page 37 and 38: 34 CRUEL SKY props through and chec
Page 39 and 40: 36 CRUEL SKY Pilots were now increa
Page 41 and 42: 38 CRUEL SKY In the distance, other
Page 43 and 44: High-right element High-right eleme
Page 45 and 46: •••-T ••• High-high-r
Page 47 and 48: 40 CRUEL SKY leveled off at 23,000
Page 49 and 50: 42 CRUEL SKY tower. The officer in
Page 51 and 52: 44 CRUEL SKY turret. There was a sm
Page 53 and 54: The fight 47 Chapter 3 THE FIGHT (I
Page 55 and 56: The fight 49 disbelief of what was
Page 57 and 58: J Thejight 51 The ship went down ea
Page 59: The fight 53 seconds as the plane w
Page 63 and 64: The fight 57 Sergeant Charles Graha
Page 65 and 66: The fight 59 When an FW -190 attack
Page 67 and 68: Thejight 61 time to bailout." "The
Page 69 and 70: The fight 63 The force of the explo
Page 71 and 72: The fight 65 The BRUCE crew Twenty
Page 73 and 74: The fight 67 to look at the holes i
Page 75 and 76: Thejight 69 coming down from the fl
Page 77 and 78: The fight 71 brought confinnation,
Page 79 and 80: The fight 73 from going out of cont
Page 81 and 82: Thejight 75 bullets and then he sud
Page 83 and 84: The fight 77 shell hit the top turr
Page 85 and 86: The fight 79 the fuel transfer cont
Page 87 and 88: The modem knight A waist gunner re
Page 89 and 90: The Bail Out 81 Chapter 4 THE BAILO
Page 91 and 92: The Bail Out 83 Pilot Raphael Carro
Page 93 and 94: The Bail Out 85 "The jailer was qui
Page 95 and 96: The BailOut 87 Left waist gunner Wa
Page 97 and 98: The Bail Out 89 "About 40 minutes l
Page 99 and 100: The BailOut 91 to dump my chute. He
Page 101 and 102: The Bail Out 93 cord which would op
Page 103 and 104: The Bail Out 95 godly. With reinfor
Page 105 and 106: The Bail Out 97 "The questioning be
Page 107 and 108: The BailOut 99 Tail gunner Frank T.
Page 109 and 110: The Bail Out 101 "After a few minut
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The Bail Out 103 obviously a projec
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The Bail Out 105 the Jerries wanted
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The Way Back 107 Chapter 5 THE WAY
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The Way Back 109 navigator. Everyth
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The Way Back III flak opened up on
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The Way Back 113 storm of shells. A
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The Way Back 115 landing. Pilot Jac
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The Way Back 117 The SWOFFORD crew
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The Way Back 119 calling out all la
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The Way Back 121 MORE AFTERMATH Lie
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The Way Back 123 could not sleep. A
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The Aftermath 125 Chapter 6 THE DA
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The Aftermath 127 33 out of39 (sic)
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The Aftermath 129 Raymond Ray: (A p
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The Aftermath 131 sounded like ciga
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The Aftermath 133 most I could eat
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The Aftermath 135 later that I had
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138 CRUEL SKY The survIvors of the
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140 CRUEL SKY LEAD SQD 700 TH BS -
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142 CRUEL SKY ~Q~~02ndBS-~ 1 st Lt
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144 CRUEL SKY HIGH-HIGH RIGHT SQD 7
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l46 CRUEL SKY LOW LEFT Second eleme
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148 CRUEL SKY Annex II: "A navigati
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150 CRUE1JSKY There is one major ar
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152 CRUEL SKY S/Sgt. 1. A. Reardon,
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Â· RUEL SK

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