re: Anyone related to any B-17s pilots or survivors on here?

A personal friend was a pilot of one, but he died in the late 1990s. Never talked missions, but when I asked him about don't ask don't tell in the early 90's he laughed and said, hell they had gay men in the service in WWII and everyone knew it.

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My grandfather was a b-24 bombardier

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Mine was as well...dropped bombs on the Pacific Islands.

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and wasn’t a great pilot was supposed to be a copilot but when he got there he ended up being the pilot. He told his crew he wasn’t a good pilot,

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FWIW, I bet this dude could fly the absolute shite out of that plane.

Friend of mine Dad was a bomber pilot during WWII. He passed away around 1996. Friend showed me some photos he saved from WWIi. He had some original photos taken from the Enola Gay. He was also stationed on some island in the South Pacific with headhunters. They loved American cigarettes. They offered the Headhunters a carton for every shrunken Jap head. One photo has 6 shrunken heads lined up on a log with the headhunters in the background grinning like possums eating a sweet potato.

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Spot on. The Nazis get an incredibly unfair rap in many respects.

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I disagree. You expect Japanese food to be light. When the Germans starve you, it's more of a surprise and therefore less socially acceptable.

My father flew many different aircraft in WWII. He started flying when he was 14. A cousin took him up in a bi-plane (crop duster) for a ride. After they landed, he said he could do this, and took off for a solo. He did crop dusting in HS.

When WWII started and before America was in the war, he joined the Canadian Airforce which was flying a variety of aircraft to England. Never mentioned a B-17, but he had a lot of B26-B time. Never liked the Lancaster because all of the controls were "backward."

He was up on rotation to fly The Hump, when the base general asked him where he learned to land the B26-B that way and sent him to Tampa as a flight instructor. The whole B26-B program was in danger of being closed because it was hard for new pilots to land thus the nick-name, "the widow-maker." He loved that plane because it was high performance.

Later in life he as in position as an accident investigator and safety director working for the Army that paid him extra to fly helicopters. That was like a kid being paid in a candy store.

My Grand-Daddy was a side gunner on a B-24 in the 15th AF. He was shot down and spent 13 months at Stalag 17-B in Krems, Austria. I was able to interview him and record it on cassette for a school project…pretty special to have his personal recollection.

My grandpa (not a vet) introduced me to B-17’s and the Army Air Corps with the 1986 film Memphis Belle.

I really gotta get around to watching the new Apple show. Ordered the book today.

My grandfather was a B-29 pilot during WWII.