Co-pilot Position

[49Dallas]

From what I was told by some of the old heads when I was in, the Navigator, bombardier   and radio operator were all pilots to some degree, most of whom had washed out of flight school for one reason or the other. I knew of one person, W.L. Swanson, from my home town, received the silver star for landing his B-17 because the two pilots were wounded and could not fly the aircraft and the navigator and bombardier were killed, all by a head on attack from a FW-190.

Wow! Is his account written anywhere? Book, online, ect?

[bustr]

From what I was told by some of the old heads when I was in, the Navigator, bombardier   and radio operator were all pilots to some degree, most of whom had washed out of flight school for one reason or the other. I knew of one person, W.L. Swanson, from my home town, received the silver star for landing his B-17 because the two pilots were wounded and could not fly the aircraft and the navigator and bombardier were killed, all by a head on attack from a FW-190.

By far the largest killer of flight crews was the bomber being straffed. You didn't need to kill the engines or try to blow the bomber to pieces which took a lot of rounds. Just kill the crew. Bomber's had very little armor for crew members and the 20mm ammo fired by MG151\20 had many variations on the AP and HE theme. Micro shrapnel was the biggest killer of crew. The nose compartment and flight deck were small contained spaces which amplified the effect of a 20mm.

[Arlo]

[earl1937]

cute video, I wonder who May is???

[Arlo]

May? Dunno. It's a scene from "Heavy Metal". Saw it in the theater, shortly before shipping out. Some don't realize how many characters were voiced by SCTV greats such as Candy, Levy and Flaherty.

Hiyas, Earl!

[Wiley]

May? Dunno. It's a scene from "Heavy Metal". Saw it in the theater, shortly before shipping out. Some don't realize how many characters were voiced by SCTV greats such as Candy, Levy and Flaherty.

Hiyas, Earl!

Still can't fly a B17 without hearing that song in my head.

Favorite scene is still, "You gotta just realize your perspective's messed up, and let your hands work the controls like you're straight."  That line has saved me many a time RTBing while drunk in this game.

All for people being able to move around/copilots/whatever.  I still don't think it would happen that often that the copilot would survive a cockpit strafing.

Wiley.

[Arlo]

Favorite scene is still, "You gotta just realize your perspective's messed up, and let your hands work the controls like you're straight." 

With the meds they put me on, I may take that to heart.