Inside a B-17
The right waist gunner hangs unconscious in his emplacement. The wind thunders with 60 degrees of cold weather by the capital invested opening in here. The wounded one needs disinfection powders on its wound, a druckverband, and its bleeding leg must be tied. With the thick, electrically heated gloves that cannot be made; the copilot puts it down therefore. If it has fate and luck and the combat formation fast takes, it can possibly tighten into 2 to 3 minutes its gloves again. In addition, then it will not come without memories of it. The air flow, which blows in here, is siberian cold. Those few minutes without gloves can mean easily a half year military hospital stay with vague hope that the fingers are saved. It concerns however the life of the comrade, and there it gives no Hesitating.
The next problem copilots is it, itself by the fuselage interior again on its seat back preparatory work. Its oxygen cylinder is nearly empty, and it moves only laboriously forward.
In the meantime the Flying Fortresses approaches gradually the target. The German fighters and the flak formed the emphasis of their defense here. Air is full burst clouds of the flak grenates. All evasive maneuvers, which a bomber makes, require the whole strength of the pilot. The crew counts the tormenting seconds. Finally get the most dangerous, the straight-line target approach, and finally the releasing call "bombs away!".
The formations turns home and again the same difficulties as on the way there, up to which gesegneten instant, in which it descends over the channel in the safe protection of the fighter squadrons.
Stars and Stripes, Februar 1944