The Brutal Reality of Flying the B-17

It is August 17, 1943. The B7s of the 100th Bombardment Group roar over Germany. Their destination is the aircraft and ball bearing factories in Regensburg and Schiner, but also at this time not only the German anti-aircraft crews are preparing to defend their cities. By expert aces from airfields all over Europe they have taken off and are now on their way to intervene in this formation that will soon be at the center of a bloodbath: 1 B7 is simply called perhaps and it is here where we find our three Heroes one co -pilot, a top turret engineer and a wasti gunner, his story shows what it was really like to be a member of the bloody 100th H on one of the deadliest missions of the war, so let's delve into the records, discover the story and relive the mission yes If you enjoy this forgotten history of the 100th Bombardment Group, then you will love it.

A letter written to a member of the 100th group just days before he was shot down and you will only find a story like this with this video sponsor. War Letters War Letters is my personal project where every month I search for and send historical letters and documents from World War II. Each package gives you an inside look at what it was like to serve in the fight and sometimes even lose a loved one during war. Take a look at the handwritten ones. letters, historical records and all kinds of history of World War II heroes sent directly to you and next month's will be this, an additional letter sent to one of the ears.

In this very story, be sure to watch to the end to see exactly what it will be and join the cards for more at the link below so you don't miss out. Now, let's get to the story to start, let's look at these crew members and maybe even pick one and follow him and take off his shoes and see. What fate has in store as we head to the briefing room on August 17, 1943 as we head to the briefing room is very early, much earlier than normal for a mission briefing, but also, as you are prepared for this mission, the crews have received additional rations, as well as blankets and money, this is not something that goes unnoticed, in fact, it is a clear indication that the bomber crews will not return to the airfield after the attack, but will We will continue to some other destination after arriving.

Our objective, it is clear that a long day awaits us, but where are we going? The target of the famous and

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mission on August 17 would be the aircraft factories in Regensburg and the ball bearing plants at Ford. Both are located within Germany. the 100th was specifically assigned to attack Rensburg and then, after the bombardment of this target, would continue south across the Mediterranean and into North Africa, where they would land at a US air base there instead of return to England and, worst of all. They were to do all of this without fighter escort, as this tactic was not used prominently so early in the war and even when the Allied fighters lacked sufficient range to be effective, it was found to be a long and difficult mission, but little they did it.

We know it would be much deadlier than they imagined, since the Germans actually probably knew the Americans were coming as the crews headed to their planes. Our three crew members headed to a B7 with the name perhaps appropriately named for their Navigator who said maybe they'll come back maybe they won't get here the three of our heroes go up first right waist Gunner a young man of 20 years of Syracuse Sergeant Kenneth Toconor on his fifth mission ' Conor was a good-looking member of the crew, but as we will discover later he had a particular fear that would prove to be a problem, then Staff Sergeant Engineer Upper Turret Gunner Richard Teex Balor Tex truly had one of the most interesting stories in the 100th Bombardment Group in the states in which he participated.

Gunnery training preparing to come as one of the aircrew in England, but an arm injury struck him during training and relegated him to the Cruise grounds, however, his heart remained in the sky and after arriving in England , he argued to be given another chance as a gunner; this was eventually granted and he was reassigned to a senior turret engineer. He flew his first mission, no doubt one that filled him with joy to be back in the sky on August 15 and now, 2 days later, he was taking off for his second with the The crew of perhaps replaced one of his gunners who was injured in an accident at the base and eventually Lieutenant Michael Dooski of Long Island, New York, Dooski seen here in a 1943 newspaper was the co-pilot of perhaps and along with his pilot Thomas Hmel was in charge of the plane now With the bombers taking off and starting to form over the channel, we have to pause and look at this.

This is a never-before-seen letter that was sent to Michael Dooski, 350th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, on August 15. 1943, 2 days before this Mission and at that time they were probably loading it on a truck in New York City and heading to the post office Destined for Lieutenant Dooski, but if you notice this letter is marked, return to the Cender, why might it be like this? They are about to find out, perhaps he joins the formation along with the other b7s of the 100th Bomb Group and they slowly cross the English Channel and at approximately 10:00 a.m.

They begin to see France below them, the calm air would not last long, however, as almost immediately specs German fighters were seen on the horizon and today they would appear in full force and hungry for blood. These first groups would be fighters from jg26 and shortly after jg1 and then jg3, all of which were groups of experienced fighters with expert Aces at the time. In 1943 when the attacks came and the formations began to take damage things seemed strange, the attacks were almost perfectly synchronized and as the idiots advanced it was as if one group finished their attacks and another was ready there to take its place. the Germans operated almost as a shuttle service escorting the bombers from the coast of France to Regensburg as time passed and the bombers defended the attacks continued almost ceaselessly aboard perhaps as they crossed France Michael Dooski was hard at work exchanging pilot responsibilities with Lieutenant Hmel to keep his plane in formation fighting hard to avoid the chaos and debris

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in all directions around him, teex Bal at the same time as Manning, his upper turret firing at the fighters that never seemed to take a break after much arguing to become part of a bomber crew again.

Now he was getting everything he wanted and then just a few feet behind him, Sergeant Kenneth 'Conor was also unloading everything he had on his first four missions that he had never seen. In fact, something like this, an interception like this that lasted this long was totally unheard of at this point, the two of them hadn't stopped firing for almost an hour, but with the bombers falling from the sky and

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in all directions, maybe it wasn't the only. What was desperately trying to reach his destination and had just begun its long journey across the Atlantic was the letter to Michael.

The writer would be Helen Dooski. Michael's older sister. Here she was, controlling her little brother. August 15, 1943. Dear Mike. I keep writing to you. I hope you receive my letters. I think a little news is better than none. We are all fine and I hope you are well. Safe and happy. John called mom last night. Everything is fine at home. Unfortunately, at this moment, everything could have been fine at home. but things were not at all good with the 100th Bombardment Group as they continued and crossed into Germany the fighter defenses only became heavier the fighter opposition was so dense in fact on this mission that some have theorized that the Germans could having known or correctly guessed the direction and route of this bombing raid, in fact we can see here how

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this flight route was by looking at one of the post-mission maps of the Schiner force that flew right next to the 100th Bombardment Group in On this map, each dot represents an attack. by a different group of German aircraft identified by their color below and as you can see the attacks were constant and relentless in an almost organized manner and the results showed that by 11:30 the Regensburg Force had already lost more of 10 aircraft. bomb groups of the Air Force eth and simultaneously the Germans intensified their attacks by launching all types of fire against the force and these were not only mmed 109 and false 190, the Germans had already launched everything possible to attack the attacking Force , including twins. m110s engine and ju88 fighter-bomber with every passing minute it seemed like things were getting worse at a time like this, one crew member could really use some good news, new news like what was in your letter from thousands of miles away , well, I'm happy to say that.

Mrs. Olowski feels better now. Johnny, from the other family, is the father of twin daughters, but things are looking bad for the father, perhaps soon John will have to be in the army. I know quite a few married men from Southampton who have arrived safely in England, but I must also share that unfortunately Ray Green is not in action in the Pacific, but at least the weather today is beautiful and clear and quite cool for August. John and Teddy are busy at the club and little Robert is taking a nap. Michael and the crew are no doubt longing for a cool nap on a calm August day, but instead they were here 18,000 feet above Germany in trouble, although May's crew was doing their best to defend the ship at the time.

They simply couldn't stop the attack forever. sergeant ok, Conor at the waist continued to fire and was probably low on ammunition at this point, meaning he could do very little to stop the attacks coming wave after wave. Teex Bower on the top turret was probably in a similar location, but unfortunately he would find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time just after 11:30 AM. m., an EM 109 stopped at the 2:00 high position at maybe and dived depending on the time and location of this claim, the German pilot was probably Ernest Florian, a young Ace with 10 kills to his name , the L bafa pilot pulled the trigger and his rounds pierced The Fortress in the center and left wing and one of them found Tech Bower in his position in the upper turret and began to slowly bleed very profusely. but the B7 was still awake in this same attack it caught fire on the left wing and slowly The Fortress turned to the left and began to dive towards the German field immediately Captain Hummel recognized that perhaps it was finished they had received a fatal blow and The fire would not go out, the rescue ring sounded and the crew was ordered to exit the plane.

Well, Mike, we continue to pray for your safety. I hope you don't have to endure too much hardship. John Teddy Robert and I offer you our best regards and hope that you can soon return home safely and in the best of health. God bless you. I love Helen and her family. Mike's health at this time was not looking very good and he was no doubt praying that God would keep him alive as well. Perhaps now engulfed in flames they plummeted, the first members of the crew emerged safely, one after another, the tail radio operator Gunner Bombadier and the rest began to slowly jump from their exits, but before everyone could After leaving, the plane exploded in the air, becoming one of the nine lost planes. by the 100th Bombardment Group that day, the pieces of perhaps floated to the ground while burning another victim of the Dead attack that occurred a few miles from Regensburg, but what happened to his crew was that Kenneth OK Conor was able to get out of the On the plane, Tex Balor was repaired and Michael Dooski would live to eventually read his letter.

This would take a while to piece together, as the information took time to gather and the reports were varied. Captain Bernard DeMarco of B7, our baby also in the 100th H bomb group. who saw the plane explode but only saw three parachutes, this would fortunately be incorrect, but for weeks that is all the information that was available until the Germans reported that eight8 PWS had been captured with the two remaining crew members perhaps killed in action fortunately for Helen Dooski one of the shots that landed safely on the ground would be her brother Michael but he would see quite a bit before landing and it would be his testimony that would shed light on the two casualties of your plane here we are You can see the missing aircrew report with casualty forms signed by none other than Michael Dooski.

Here he writes about Victim First Sergeant Kenneth 'Conor. The report says the last confirmed location I saw was that Sgt.Oconor was aiming his gun here about 5 minutes before the A German fighter shot us down. He reported that everything was fine once they caught up with us. He strangely acted very calm and remained with his gun firing but he did not have his parachute and shortly after the plane exploded. This last information was reported to me by the ball turret gunner, who was the last to leave the plane from the rear and, unfortunately, I think he had no plans to rescue himself, since he himself told me that he was afraid to leave the plane. plane before the mission, in addition to Michael's report, another was given by one.

Of the other surviving crew members who testified after being captured, crew members stationed at the rear of the plane said he appeared unharmed but stared out the window at the fire on the left wing, if he was afraid to jump. or he was dazed from lack of strength. Oxygen. I can't say that this would also line up with one of the other statements that say that, well, Conor may not have had enough oxygen because he always had trouble getting his mask to fit, but regardless, tragically, Sergeant Kenneth Conor would be left with the bomber dying in the explosion or when the wreckage of the plane hit the ground, he would be the first member of the crew, maybe that would be lost, but what about the second sergeant?

The loss of Tex balor would be a little more complicated since he was the only crew. He member was hit and injured when the fighter attacked and again this can only be pieced together from the crewmates' reports of him at the time of rescue. I contacted Sergeant Bower's shoulder and told him to get out of trouble. He appeared to be slumped over and seemed to be disconnecting the accessories from him when I left the plane. However, I believe that Sergeant Bower was injured as he passed him in the bomber. I brushed against it before. I got into trouble on landing.

I noticed there were blood stains on my flight suit and the back of my legs, but I wasn't hurt there. This could only have come from Bower. I think when the 109th came and attacked us at 2:00, it missed. the front of our bomber and hit the upper turret where Sergeant Bower was. I believe this wound was fatal and he was never saved because of it again signed Michael Dooski in this after action report. Lieutenant Dooski once again tells everything he knows trying to put to rest the story of what happened to Sergeant Balor but since he left the plane he had no more details after that moment so the truth would not be known until Another report came from Lieutenant Hummel, the ship's captain.

I know he jumped because in doing so he grabbed my parachute. I used his ouch when touching the ground after jumping. I counted eight shots still in the air. He was seriously injured and there was a lot of blood inside his position apparently when Hummels was about to jump. Sergeant Balor took the shot of him showing that he did indeed exit the ship, but also counted eight parachutes after landing. Because of this, it was eventually concluded that Sergeant Richard Teex Balor likely died from his injuries during The Descent or shortly after impact. On the ground, this would be the tragic loss of a hero from the 100th Bombardment Group who desperately tried to be returned to an aircrew only to die on his second mission after his request was granted in those few minutes after the attack. he maybe he fell to the ground and here a famous photo was taken.

This is the tail section of B17 42-30 311, also known as perhaps, and standing on the tail of it, a German pilot looks over the prey of it. It would become a famous photo and one that would show. everything that was left after the massacre of August 17, 1943 for Michael Dooski, his letter would be marked return to Cinder, since he was no longer at the air base. On the back of the envelope we can see why a month later he was officially registered as a Prisoner of War captured by the Germans, he would remain here until the end of the war, 20 months later, perhaps he would be one of the nine aircraft lost in the Schiner attack from Regensburg and this mission would be one of the deadliest of the war for the eth.

Air Force and you may have read that before, but I can guarantee you've never read this. A small card also written to Michael Dooski on August 15, 1943, was included in Helen's envelope, but this one from her nephew, Helen's young son. I'll be sharing this one as part of my Letters From War project, so if you want to read this touching letter written to Uncle Mike days before he was shot down, join Letters From War at the link below and get all kinds of great stories. Right to you thanks for watching and see you next time.