The  tail gunner was trapped because
there was no floor connecting the tail to the rest of the plane.
The waist and tail gunners used parts of the German fighter 
and their own parachute harnesses
in an attempt to keep the tail from ripping off 
and the two sides of the fuselage from splitting apart.

While the crew was trying to keep the bomber from coming apart, 
the pilot continued on his bomb run 
and released his bombs over the target.

It took several minutes and four crew members
to pass him ropes from  parachutes 
and haul him back into the forward part of the plane.
When  they tried to do the same for the tail gunner, 
the tail began flapping so hard that it began to break off.

The weight of the gunner 
was adding some stability to the tail section,
so he went back to his position.

The turn back toward England had to be very slow
to keep the tail from twisting off.
They actually covered almost 70 miles to make the turn home.
The  bomber was so badly damaged
that it was losing altitude and speed
and was soon alone in the sky.

For a brief time, two more Me-109 German fighters
attacked the All-American.
Despite the extensive damage, 
all of the machine gunners were able to respond to these attacks 
and soon drove off the fighters.

The two waist gunners stood up 
with their heads sticking out through the hole
in the top of the fuselage to aim and fire their machine guns.
The tail gunner had to shoot in short bursts 
because the recoil was actually causing the plane to turn.

The  fighters stayed with the Fortress,
taking hand signals from Lt. Bragg
and relaying them to the base.
Lt. Bragg signalled that five parachutes
and the spare had been "used" so five of the crew could not bail out.
He made the decision that if they could not bail out safely,
then he would stay with the plane to land it.

When  the ambulance pulled alongside, it was waved off because 
not a  single member of the crew had been injured.
No one could believe that the aircraft could still fly in such a condition.

The Fortress sat placidly until the crew all exited through the door in the fuselage
and  the tail gunner had climbed down a ladder, 
at which time the entire rear section of the aircraft collapsed.

B-17 "All American" (414th Squadron,  97BG) Crew
Pilot-  Ken Bragg Jr.
Copilot- G. Boyd Jr.
Navigator- Harry C.  Nuessle
Bombardier- Ralph Burbridge
Engineer- Joe C.  James
Radio Operator- Paul A. Galloway
Ball Turret Gunner-  Elton Conda
Waist Gunner- Michael Zuk
Tail Gunner- Sam T.  Sarpolus
Ground Crew Chief- Hank Hyland