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Originally Posted by Rain Man
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B-17 #20 – Sky Chief
Pilot DenverChief (8)
Copilot Sky (8)
Bombardier Lzen (8)
Navigator AustinChief (8)
Engineer Michael Michigan (7)
Radio Op. DJay23 (8)
Tail Gunner UMKC 1L (8)
Ball Turret Gunner mlyonsd (8)
Right Waist Gunner PennyWise (8)
Left Waist Gunner MrBlond (1)
Target: Rotterdam
Mid-formation horizontally, high vertically
Zone 1 Out: Britain
No enemy
Zone 2 Out: English Channel
No enemy
Zone 3 Out: Channel North Sea
No enemy
Zone 4 Out: France Belgium Netherlands (Entering Target Zone)
1 Fw190 attacks
djay23 fires, misses
Fw scores 1 hit
-superficial damage to radio room
Fw circles, attacks again
Michael Michigan fires, misses
Austinchief fires, kills Fw190
2 Me110s attack
Michael Michigan fires, misses
Mlyonsd fires, kills Me110
Mr. Blond fires, misses
Me misses, breaks off attack
Entering Bomb Zone
Good Weather
Medium Flak – 1 hit
-In an instant, Sky Chief’s world turns upside down – literally. An 88-mm flak shell nails a direct hit on the starboard wing and explodes. The starboard wing fuel tanks go up in a huge fireball and the wing disappears. Skychief begins rolling out of control and starts an augur into the earth that will never be stopped.
Pilot DenverChief (8), Copilot Sky (8), and Navigator AustinChief (8) are killed in the massive initial explosion.
Bombardier Lzen (8) and Left Waist Gunner MrBlond (1) are knocked unconscious in the initial blast and ride the plane until it breaks apart at 12,000 feet. They then hurtle to the ground amidst the debris.
Engineer Michael Michigan (7) and Tail Gunner UMKC 1L (8) are knocked unconscious in the initial blast and are thrown from the plane through their canopies. They hurtle to the ground as well.
Radio Op. DJay23 (8) is thrown out of the plane on fire. He is able to deploy his chute, but it’s also burning. After a long two minutes of being on fire, he finally meets his end when the burning parachute fails.
Ball Turret Gunner mlyonsd (8) survives the initial blast, but can’t get out of his ball turret. He rides the plane down until it breaks apart, at which point he is disoriented and doesn’t have a parachute.
Right Waist Gunner PennyWise (8) was thrown out of the plane immediately upon the explosion, as his position disintegrated. Stunned and flash-burned, he alertly counts to ten before deploying his chute, and comes to a soft landing on an urban street in the middle of Rotterdam. Dutch citizens mill about to prevent the Germans from reaching the scene, and the Dutch underground grabs him and runs. In the basement of a Rotterdam townhouse, his minor burns are treated by a comely blonde Dutch girl. Over the coming days, he heals quickly, and the girl eventually sneaks him out and lets him plug a hole in a dike with his finger, creating a memory that will last a lifetime. After a week of hiding and planning, the Dutch underground gets him on a ship to Denmark, and from there to Norway, where he crosses by car into the Swedish frontier and hooks up with a supportive cargo ship to England.
No bombing run
Aftereffects
Alas, Sky Chief has become a statistic in this horrible, horrible war.
Eligible for next mission
Pilot XXX
Copilot XXX
Bombardier XXX
Navigator XXX
Engineer XXX
Radio Op. XXX
Tail Gunner XXX
Ball Turret Gunner PennyWise (8), promoted
Right Waist Gunner XXX
Left Waist Gunner XXX
Lost a lot of veterans on that flight.
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