so how much damage can...

[jdbecks]

Not to hi-jack the thread but i do have this pic of a lanc with several holes in it. It wasn't missing any controls though.

(Image removed from quote.)

I put 5 30mms in a lanc with my k4 the other night...bits came off, and she still flew  I'm not going to attack buffs with the k4 no more 

[W7LPNRICK]

My dear ol' AH B-17 Soozy Poo made it home once missing all her ailerons and elevators; the rudder remained effective and was enough to initiate and hold gentle turns, and funky throttle control established just the right rate of sink to grease her onto the runway.

 

WTG Soozy Poo!  I flew a lanc home with 1/2 wings (both) broken just past the engine mount. very hard to control but had to make it to land kills for greasing a CV.  

[oakranger]

This was actually a story relating to a British rear gunner in a Wellington bomber, although you could be referring to a similar event, I read the newspaper clipping from 42/43 i believe, that was in a glass case at the Visiting Aircraft Section, at RAF Shawbury in England. It referred to a rear gunner who's a/c had been hit close to the English coast by a German night fighter, the a/c caught fire and the gunners parachute was burned, he chose to bail without it, saying he would rather die hitting the ground than burning to death.

Anyway, as i remember he bailed at 20000ft and he recalled the stars spinning around him, when he subsequently opened his eyes, the stars were static and he had landed almost uninjured in a freshly ploughed field.

There are a few stories of people jumping out of their bomber at 20k and survived. One i read that the guy fell through the stan glass of a church and only had a broken hip (i believe).  what luck.

[stealth]

Well I heard it takes just about 7 30mm to destroy or disable a B17 to keep flying plus I was in a B17 I dove from 15k but the time I was about at 8k i was 350mph. My back tail fins ripped off then all of them rudder everything then my whole tail wings then finally spun couple times and it just ended sortie saying you've been killed.Fun fact I was in a P40-E I dove from 15k with wep on straight down started pulling hard G's at about 3k or less and It was like nothing happened to my plane.

[Nemisis]

Compression and structural failure occure at different speeds for different aircaft. Bombers tend to have lower structural limits.

[W7LPNRICK]

There are a few stories of people jumping out of their bomber at 20k and survived. One i read that the guy fell through the stan glass of a church and only had a broken hip (i believe).  what luck.

Later parachutes on bombers and ejection seats had aneroid altimeters to pop the chute below 14,000ft where the oxygen is more plentiful and you're less likely to freeze to death. The early one's the 80lb. spring loaded and had to be wound and tested every 120 days. The newer ones have a blank 38 caliber cartridge to pull the rip-cord at 14,000ft. 

[oakranger]

Later parachutes on bombers and ejection seats had aneroid altimeters to pop the chute below 14,000ft where the oxygen is more plentiful and you're less likely to freeze to death. The early one's the 80lb. spring loaded and had to be wound and tested every 120 days. The newer ones have a blank 38 caliber cartridge to pull the rip-cord at 14,000ft. 

Yea, but some of the ppl that jumped out, their parachutes never open.  They just simply hit the earth and survived. 

[manurin]

Few stories on this website relating gunners going down with their bomber wreckage but survived:

http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/wreckage.html

Few stories off free fall survivors with no chute:

http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/ffallers.html



 

[Nemisis]

Yea, but some of the ppl that jumped out, their parachutes never open.  They just simply hit the earth and survived. 

You talking about that ball gunner who fell out and landed on the glass just as a bomb was exploding near by? Appearently he landed on an intact section of glass and the bomb blew that section off, causing him to fall a mere 15 ft to the ground.

[jay]

ball gunners dont have parachutes to stuffy in the ball lol

[Nemisis]

Some carried them, but most chose to go without because, as you said, it was cramped inside the turret, and on an 18hr flight, comfort matters.

[W7LPNRICK]

Few stories on this website relating gunners going down with their bomber wreckage but survived:

http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/wreckage.html

Few stories off free fall survivors with no chute:

http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/ffallers.html
 

In late WWII Germany through their troopers out over pastures at 50-60ft as slow as possible because they had ran out of parachutes.

[Nemisis]

Lol, that must have sucked. Landing on the hard ground from 50-60 ft up going at 100 something mph.

[colmbo]

Lol, that must have sucked. Landing on the hard ground from 50-60 ft up going at 100 something mph.

Can you say "not survivable"?

[jay]

Lol, that must have sucked. Landing on the hard ground from 50-60 ft up going at 100 something mph.

"on your way down spell expendable!!"