Jack was in the 508th squadron of the 351st bomb group of the 8th Army Air Corps. Here are their emblems:
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| 508th Squadron |
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| 351st Bomb Group |
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| 8th Air Force |
Jack's Cache posts will be a bit different from here on, as I'm going to try to stitch together what I know about Jack's missions with what he is writing back home.
I'll be referring to a couple sources. The database on 351st.com details every mission flown by the 351st bomb group. I'll also refer to The Mighty Eighth War Diary by Roger A. Freeman, which judging from the card tucked inside, I gifted to Jack on some Father's Day. He went through the book and highlighted his 38 missions, which spanned from October 28, 1944 to March 5, 1945.
The Crew
Keep in mind that when Jack flew his first mission, he was not quite 21½ years old. He would say he was the old man of the crew. Indeed, many service members during the war were boys of 18-19 years.
As you recall from Jack's letters, the crew ate, slept, and flew together in training, and this of course carried through to missions. Most of Jack's flights had a crew of nine, and though the crew swapped out members on some missions (more frequently toward the end of Jack's tour), there were eight who were on just about every one of Jack's missions. They were:
Pilot Henry F. Kale
Co-Pilot Delbert C. Rohr
Navigator Donald H. Eaton
Top Turret Gunner James B. McGarry
Radio Operator Stanley N. Perez
Most frequently at Nose Gunner James W. Davis
Ball Turret Gunner Bernard C. Eutsler (Jack)
Tail Gunner John A. Webster
We've met a few of these men already. Jim Davis was Jack's good buddy. You remember he went to New Mexico with Jack on their furlough before they shipped out, and Jim is the one Jack got to bed when he was drunk. We also met Stanley Perez, who was hospitalized just before shipping out. Looks like he made it! John Webster recently bought the bicycle.
The Danger
B-17 missions had notoriously high casualty rates. It's been estimated that there was an overall 19% death rate for 8th Air Force missions, but B-17s were the most dangerous. Jack told me that there was never a casualty on his crew. He said that others were clamoring to be on the crew because they always all came back, and came back uninjured! Perhaps much of the credit goes to pilot Henry F. Kale, who flew Jack on 36 of his 38 missions. Perhaps it was the skilled synergy with which the 508th squadron missions were flown. Or perhaps it was luck of the draw.
Early in the war there was a 25-mission yardstick. Flying 25 missions supposedly met the requirements of a full tour of duty.
From War Bird News:
In 1942, during the first three months of America’s combat flights over Europe the average bomber crew was expected to complete 8-12 missions before being shot down or disabled. This in mind, the US Army Air Force decided that 25 missions while serving in a heavy bomber of the 8th Army Air Force would constitute a “completed tour of duty” because of the “physical and mental strain on the crew.”
Yeah. That was in 1942. That yardstick was long gone by October, 1944. Jack flew 38 missions, but that wasn't unusual. His buddy Jim flew 55!
Ball-Turret Gunner
Due to his being a small-statured man, Jack was trained for the ball turret gunner position. This meant that he was suited in a heated flight suit, curled up in the aluminum and plexiglass ball on the belly of the plane, manning two .50-caliber machine guns. He stayed there for each 6-8 hour mission, at 30,000 feet, with only a couple inches of aluminum and plexiglas between him and -50º air.
The turret was about 4 feet in diameter and had 360º yaw and 90º pitch. As you can imagine, it was a very vulnerable position, hanging on the belly of the plane without visuals except the bottom of the bomber and everything below. It was vulnerable to offense from enemy fighters, who preferred to attack from below, as well as ground anti-aircraft fire and flak. Not only that, Jack couldn't fit in the turret with a parachute. It was left above, next to the hatch, and he would need help to get out of the turret and retrieve the parachute if the plane were hit.
It has been estimated that ball-turret gunners had a 60% mortality rate.
Here are some first-hand experiences of a ball turret gunner.
And a poem:
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
By Randall Jarrell (1914-1965)
From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
