Battle Damaged Aircraft of WW2

[Airframes]

Thanks Erich! There with the answers, as always! Saved me the bother of checking it; I thought it was '262's, as I've seen that particular photo' numerous times, and remember reading an account years ago, describing part of the action. Good work, thanks again.
Terry.

 

[Erich]

one of the pilots was chased downward and shot down but bailed out safely. P-51 from the 364th fg Col. Ceuleers

 

[seesul]

Here are a few more for yall. The 4th picture is supposedly a B-24 on fire. I really cant tell. What do yall think?

That 2nd pic from top (B-17 with no nose) is amazing ...don´t ya know if he made it back? Or any details available?

 

[109ROAMING]

one of the pilots was chased downward and shot down but bailed out safely. P-51 from the 364th fg Col. Ceuleers

Thanks for the info Erich ,Also saved me the time searching plus I know your info is correct

Actually scares me a little how accurately you desribed it

Yeah I agree Seesul that photo amazes me

 

[Doubl3Ac3]

im still trying to figure out how they could fly it home in that condition

 

[Catch22]

There's no possible way that they could have made it back, as all of their control systems would have been blown away with the cockpit. They wouldn't have been able to control it.

 

[ratdog]

that might be why it is nosing down............

 

[seesul]

any idea about the unit? BG or BS?

 

[beaupower32]

Ok, got some info on the plane with no nose. On July 14, 1944 the MIZPAH was shot down during a mission to bomb the Shell Oil Refinery at Budapest, Hungary. The nose of the Mizpah took a direct hit from an 88mm antiaircraft shell, killing the bombardier and navigator. I have the Serial # of the plane,
42-32109.

 

[aflyer]

WOW!!!

 

[seesul]

Thanks Beaupower.
Great find!

 

[beaupower32]

I saw the picture in a book i had. Once I had the name of the plane and the pilot info, the rest was simple in finding. Hopefully it answers all the questions about the picture.

 

[antoni]

On 11th September 1942 P/O Tadeusz Żurakowski was flying low over Western Avenue, Northolt, in bad weather when his Spitfire hit a concrete pillar. The bottom of the fuselage was torn open on the port side from the engine's oil tank to the tail wheel. Nothing vital was wrecked and he managed to make a normal landing. The Spitfire was immediately written off.

 

[antoni]

308 Squadron's Spitfire Mk IX, ML116, ZF*P, was hit by flack on 21st May 1944 during Ramrod 905. A shell exploded inside the fuselage blowing off the cockpit hood and door. F/Lt Stanisław Czarnecki was unhurt and the Spitfire later repaired.

 

[antoni]

On the 4th September 1942 300 Squadron's Wellington Z1407 BH*Z "Żośka" had a close encounter with flack over Bremen. It sustained heavy structural damage, the dingy was blown out and the fabric completely torn off from the rear fuselage. With the cooperation of the whole crew, P/O Machej brought the bomber back to base to make perfect landing.

In the late 1960s a new Polish science teacher arrived at my school recently retired form the RAF. Although I had many conversations with him about aeroplanes, he never mentioned once bringing half a Wellington back from Bremen.
L-r. F/Sgt Józef Tomiec, gunner; P/O Zbigniew Brzeziński, gunner; P/O Stanisław Machej, pilot; W/O Klemens Muszynski, radio operator; and F/Lt Bolesław Biliński, navigator.

 

[beaupower32]

II./ZG1 Bf-110 at the time the Gruppe was based at Nikoleijev in March 1943. S9+IC returned to base on 16 March 1943 with flak damage to its rear flying surfaces.

 

[Violator]

The attached pics were provided to me by my good friend Hank Hendrickson (he's on the left). Hank was a pilot with the 92nd BG/327th Sq and was flying this B-17G on a mission to Meresburg, Germany on Sept. 13 1944. Just as they reached their IP, another group cut them off and they were forced to make a wide turn. Unfortunately this took them over the Leipzig flak batteries. The lead plane took a hit and exploded. Hank, flying deputy lead that day, slid into the lead position. Almost immediately his plane took a direct hit in the radio room. The radio operator was blown out of the plane, but to his great fortune was wearing his chute and survived. Unfortunately, the ball-turret gunner and one waist gunner were killed. You can see that the right flap is jammed several inches down, and Hank said this made flying the 600 miles or so back to base a real bear. Amazingly, Hank decided they were flying well enough to continue the mission, and he dropped his bombs on a secondary target! On the way home they were attacked by several 109s, but the attacks were half-hearted and fortunately caused no further damage.

Hank finished the war with 30 missions, and I'm happy to report he's still going strong today. He gives tours of the Museum of Flight's B-17F in Seattle. If you're in the area and are interested, let me know!

 

[Astaldo711]

It amazes me every time I look at one of these pics how the machines made it back at all. What tenacity and courage the crews must have had.

 

[RabidAlien]

Holy crap....hard to imagine that thing sitting on the ground without collapsing, much less flying 600 miles back to England!!!

 

[Violator]

No kidding, Rabid. Hank told me when the plane was hit, it nosed up and to the left and entered a spin. It's amazing that the g's they must have pulled didn't rip the plane in half. Another testament to how tough those planes were...