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Sunday, March 7, 2010

B-17 Bomber Under Attack

"They're coming at us, look out", stated the voice heard through the earphones of Staff Sergeant Charles R. Batdorf, U.S. Army Air Force, as he nervously scanned the skies for the approaching German fighter planes. He could hear the bursts of machine gun fire coming from the forward crew positions on the plane as his fellow crewmen attempted to fight back against the head-on attack of the German Me-109 fighter planes. Only seconds passed before he saw several of the German fighters fly by the right waist gunner window, which was his assigned crew position. They passed by so fast that he was not able to get off a shot. Immediately he knew something was wrong for he felt the plane slow and start to lose altitude. Over the intercom he heard the terse exchanges between the pilot and co-pilot. The head-on pass made by the fighters had set fire to the B-17's number two engine. The pilot of the bomber named "Sleepy Time Gal", Lieutenant Theodore MacDonald, had to drop out of formation and feather the prop of the burning engine.


The damaged aircraft soon found itself alone and vulnerable in unfriendly skies. The crew knew that falling behind would draw the attention of the Luftwaffe pilots who tended to always prey on the stragglers. The crew didn't have to wait long. With the number two engine feathered and on fire, the German fighters formed up for another pass. Before any of the crew could react, bullets riddled the nose and radio room and set fire to the number three engine. As Lieutenant MacDonald struggled to keep control of his aircraft he spoke to his crew over the intercom. "O.K., bail out". His statement ended with the alarm bell sounding inside the aircraft. A moment later, the voice of the navigator. Lieutenant John Moskowitz, came over the intercom, "Mac, the fire destroyed both our chutes." The plane carried only one spare parachute, which meant that with the two damaged chutes of the navigator and bombardier, the crew was still short one. MacDonald's voice was again heard over the intercom. "Stand by." The intercom was silent only for a second as co-pilot John Godsey's voice was heard "Mac, I think we'd better do something. We're on fire and with two engines out, we're losing altitude fast." MacDonald called over the intercom for Moskowitz to come back to the cockpit and take his chute and again issued orders for the rest of the crew to bail out. "Mac," Moskowitz called back to MacDonald, "I'm not taking your chute." "John, I'm in command of this aircraft and if anyone can make a crash landing with the ship in this condition, I can." MacDonald's tone of voice indicated there would be no further discussion. And there wasn't. Godsey, Moskowitz, Hams and engineer Technical Sergeant Merle Cline all exited the stricken plane through the hatch in the nose.



Coinciding with the activities of the four officers and the engineer in the forward section of the plane, were the activities of the five enlisted crewmen in the rear section of the plane. S/SGT Batdorf scanned to his left, toward the front of the aircraft, and noticed the radio operator, T/SGT Willie Rowden, busily making preparations to bail out. The radio room was badly shot up and Batdorf wondered how Willie could have escaped injury. S/SGT Wendell Dowell, the left waist gunner, and T/SGT Rowden realized that the ball turret had lost power and that the hatch allowing S/SGT William Valigura to get out o^ the ball was not facing the interior of the aircraft. The man inside the ball turret, located on the under side of the aircraft, was dependent on his buddies to unlock the hatch and allow him to get out. Without then-help he was essentially trapped inside the turret. Rowden and Dowell manually cranked the turret around to allow them access to the hatch from the interior of the aircraft. They released the locking levers and opened the hatch enabling S/SGT Valigura to climb back into the main part of the aircraft.

While Dowell and Rowden were working to get Valigura back into the aircraft, S/SGT Batdorf happened to glance out his right waist gun window and notice that the German fighters were attempting to come around again. He saw an Me-109 coming right at him. He grabbed his .50 caliber machine gun and pointed it straight at the nose of the oncoming German fighter and held down the trigger. A steady stream of bullets headed toward the fighter, but the German kept up his attack. Batdorf s pulse raced as the German drew closer.



Though the fighter had not yet opened up on the American bomber, Batdorf realized that at any moment he might be seeing German tracer bullets headed directly for him. The heavy machine gun continued to shudder in his hands, sending more bullets toward the attacking German Me-109. Suddenly there was an explosion as Batdorf saw the German plane erupt in a ball of fire. He had made his first kill, though he would never receive credit for it as no other American aircraft was around to witness the event. Batdorf let out a sigh of relief, then returned to the task of getting ready to bail out. As he turned to his right, and looked back in the direction of the tail gunner's position, he noticed the body of tail gunner, S/SGT Robert Alien.

Wounded in the hand, Alien had disconnected from the plane's oxygen and had attempted to crawl to the door next to the right waist gun position. As the plane was still at approximately 30,000 feet, he had passed out from lack of oxygen before being able to open the door. He now blocked the door and the remaining crewmembers were not able to get out. Recognizing that time was running out and that the burning, bomb-laden aircraft could potentially blow-up at any minute, Batdorf and Dowell rolled Alien away from the exit, opened the door and pushed their fellow crewmember clear of the doomed aircraft. Valigura, the ball turret gunner was next out of the door. Willie Rowden, the radio operator, headed toward the bomb bay, his designated exit station when he realized that the bomb bay was still fully loaded. He turned around and headed back toward the waist door and made his exit. Dowell was next to go. He moved to the tiny door, crouched down placing his hands on the sides of the doorway and jumped clear.

Batdorf then moved toward the door and as he prepared to exit, realized he had not yet put on his chute. He had been so preoccupied with the German fighter and then with moving Bob Alien out of the way, that he forgot to put on his own chute. He headed back to his station to get his chute, clipped it to the rings on the front of his harness straps, and looked around the aircraft. He saw no one. He was alone. Batdorf moved toward the waist door to make his exit He crouched down in the same manner as Dowell had and prepared to propel himself through the door. Just before he shoved himself out, the 19 year old kid from Pennsylvania thought to himself "Whose gonna tell Mom and Pop where I am?" With that, he buried himself through the door and into the cold, blustery sky above Nazi Germany.


An Airman


An Airman's Odyssey: Charles R. Bardorf - An Aerial Gunner and Prisoner of War in World War II


Staff Sergeant Charles R. Batdorf
Armorer-Gunner, 8th Air Force
731st Bomb Squadron, 452nd Bomb Group

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