US WWII 401st Bomb Group, B-17 Bombardier Lot, Crash Landed, Crew Walked Away
This item is listed for historical interest only. It was listed on our site previously but has been sold and is no longer available for purchase.
Sold for: $1295.00

Original era manufacture. From a local Arizona estate is this wonderful, un-plundered grouping of a USAAF Bombardier, who saw combat in the skies of Europe in a B-17.  Serving as a Navigator/Bombardier with the 614th Bombardment Squadron, 401st BG, Lieutenant Bruce served in 33 combat missions, his 15th misson, the strike on Euskirchen Germany, 10 January 1945, would prove to be his most memorable. After losing two engines over the target because of Flak damage, the crippled B-17 "Hard Seventeen" headed for home. The crew discussed their options, some wanted to fly all the way back to Deenethorpe UK, but the thought of not making it, and ditching into the freezing North Atlantic meant certain death for the crew. Before a decision could be made, Hard Seventeen made it for them, a third engine failed and the aircraft began to lose altitude. Lt. Bruce found a Polish RAF base in newly liberated Belgium. As they approached the base, the pilot, Lt Thompson, realized they were at right angles to the landing strip, veering to the right to align themselves, they were confronted by a grove of trees, veering further to the right, a pair of industrial chimney's rose up before them. Lacking response time and power, Lt. Thompson bore down on the chimneys passing between them with only a few feet clearance on either wingtip, they were now faced with a set of power lines in front of them, again, lacking maneuvering room, or  adequate power to pull up, the massive B-17 flew under the wires, then cleared a house in front, and lifted a wingtip to clear a second. After clearing the second house, an attempt was made to land the plane in an open field, retaining too much momentum, Hard Seventeen bounced across the field hitting a small rise, blowing a tire and damaging the tail. Heading for a second rise, she finally swerved to a halt.   In Lieutenant Bruce's handwritten notes (included in the grouping)  regarding the incident, he cryptically adds "a narrow escape" . In addition he noted the reception by the Polish pilots, being feted with cognac, and cognac, champagne and wine at TAF HQ, "Really Looped", was his comment.  The lot includes the following; 401st Bomb Group unit history, Bombardier School graduation book 44-7 (TV personality Gene Rayburn was a classmate), two pocket size notebooks with notations on every mission flown by Lt. Bruce, an aircraft compass from Hard Seventeen, red light dials from the cockpit of Hard Seventeen, his cased Air Medal with a newspaper clipping describing the crash landing, two sterling bombardier wings, silver wire bombardier wing (mothed), silver wire Caterpillar badge, silver crash bracelet named, four escape compasses, an escape hacksaw blade, 614th Bomb Squadron patch, assorted hat and collar insignia, three pieces of Plexiglas from Hard Seventeen and a large assortment of papers related to his military service housed in a USAAF Navigation satchel. An outstanding grouping with excellent potential for further research. I would also like to credit the 401st Bomb Group association's website for providing the details regarding the crash landing of Hard Seventeen, and local collector and friend, Jim B. for pointing us in the right direction.