My father Jess Medina flew on the Crow's Nest B-24 in the European theater and flew almost 30 missions. His plane was hit by anti aircraft shell flak over germany that tore through the plane and killed the pilot My dad, the belly gunner, was wounded through his thigh. His gunner turret could not be raised back into the fuseluge and he would have been killed if the plane landed on one side. They landed level and they had to cut him out of the turret ball. He almost bled to death and needed 5 units of blood. He was in a leg cast for a few months. He suffered PTSD for the rest of his life. I flew on the Witchcraft out of Mather Field in Sacramento in 2018. I brought his flight crew picture with me so the crew of the Crow's Nest could take one last flight. RIP to the crew and my father.
Brian- The details you provided are incredible. I’ve read a lot about the crazy things that happened to the men in these planes but a lot of your information is new to me. The guys who flew in these planes were more likely to die in WW2 than foot soldiers in Europe. This was an ever evolving initiative and many men died needlessly as important improvements had to be made constantly. Of the two of us in the video, the one with the beard is the one with the personal connection to this plane. His grandfather was a nose gunner on a B-24. I’m only 5’9”, 150 lbs and I had trouble crawling through the narrow crawl space to even get to the nose gun. My friend’s grandfather completed 25 missions but unfortunately for those of us interested in this level of historic detail, he is one of the many veterans who will never talk about what he lived through. My suspicion is he watched too many friends die horrible deaths. Thanks for adding your comments and if ever get a chance to fly in this plane you won’t regret it. I’m concerned that sometime soon, there will be no more operational B-24s. It’s a hell of an experience. But for those men who flew in these during the war, it was a constant nightmare.
My father flew in 25 bombing missions on a B-24. He was a radio operator and waist gunner. He was shot down (the plane exploded 3 seconds after he bailed--the cabin was filled with fuel from those wings), taken POW, and was in the Black Hunger March. He weighed 80 pounds when liberated. I have a world of respect for the people who flew in combat. My dad was in the 15th Air Force, so he flew in a later model. The waist gun had a lock on it by then, which prevented it from reaching the tail. It broke once during a battle and my dad almost blew the fin off. He once almost flew out the window; the gun broke his trajectory and kept him inside. There were lots of discomforts in addition to combat dangers. Lots of guys were airsick. There was a box near the passage to the cockpit, and it had a lid with a hinge on one side. They would throw up into it, and there were often several guys sitting around it, feeling utterly miserable. They often flew at 30,000 feet, where the air temperatures were -60 to -70. The clothing didn't always fit well; sometimes my dad would turn his body and the air would shoot into an opening. He'd quickly turn the other way, and another opening would emerge. He said that it almost felt like knives being thrust into him. Their worst fear was burning, and that was even in their fight song--"We'll go for fame or go down in flames." Flak terrified him because it was completely unpredictable--a plane could fly into it in any second and be ripped apart. His last plane was called Rough Deal Lucille. Thank you for posting this--it's enabled me to more vividly visualize many of his stories.
My father flew on these in quite a few missions based out of North Africa in 1943-44. Many of his runs were some intense bombings of fuel and ammo dumps in Italy. Multi-tasking was evident as he served as not only a gunner but bomber as well. Oxygen deprivation, hearing loss, cold conditions, mechanical breakdowns were normal to these B24 crews,,they were fine with these problems,,,,,just as long as they got back after each mission, the Liberator did it's job.
Great video Jim. My Dad passed in 2005. He often spoke about the bombay doors and narrow passages. Your video really put that into great perspective. Thanks again.
I was lucky to fly in this plane yesterday due to the event going on. It was an incredible experience. You get to see parts of both counties that not many people get to see. Scary as f too. If your not careful you can fall out. I'm definitely not again next year. It was expensive. But definitely worth it. I have a higher respect for the WW2 troops. They have bigger balls than I will ever have. I also have a higher respect to our military.
My father Jess Medina flew on the Crow's Nest B-24 in the European theater and flew almost 30 missions. His plane was hit by anti aircraft shell flak over germany that tore through the plane and killed the pilot My dad, the belly gunner, was wounded through his thigh. His gunner turret could not be raised back into the fuseluge and he would have been killed if the plane landed on one side. They landed level and they had to cut him out of the turret ball. He almost bled to death and needed 5 units of blood. He was in a leg cast for a few months. He suffered PTSD for the rest of his life. I flew on the Witchcraft out of Mather Field in Sacramento in 2018. I brought his flight crew picture with me so the crew of the Crow's Nest could take one last flight. RIP to the crew and my father.
Brian- The details you provided are incredible. I’ve read a lot about the crazy things that happened to the men in these planes but a lot of your information is new to me. The guys who flew in these planes were more likely to die in WW2 than foot soldiers in Europe. This was an ever evolving initiative and many men died needlessly as important improvements had to be made constantly. Of the two of us in the video, the one with the beard is the one with the personal connection to this plane. His grandfather was a nose gunner on a B-24. I’m only 5’9”, 150 lbs and I had trouble crawling through the narrow crawl space to even get to the nose gun. My friend’s grandfather completed 25 missions but unfortunately for those of us interested in this level of historic detail, he is one of the many veterans who will never talk about what he lived through. My suspicion is he watched too many friends die horrible deaths. Thanks for adding your comments and if ever get a chance to fly in this plane you won’t regret it. I’m concerned that sometime soon, there will be no more operational B-24s. It’s a hell of an experience. But for those men who flew in these during the war, it was a constant nightmare.
My father flew in 25 bombing missions on a B-24. He was a radio operator
and waist gunner. He was shot down (the plane exploded 3 seconds after
he bailed--the cabin was filled with fuel from those wings), taken POW,
and was in the Black Hunger March. He weighed 80 pounds when liberated. I
have a world of respect for the people who flew in combat. My dad was
in the 15th Air Force, so he flew in a later model. The waist gun had a
lock on it by then, which prevented it from reaching the tail. It broke
once during a battle and my dad almost blew the fin off. He once almost
flew out the window; the gun broke his trajectory and kept him inside.
There were lots of discomforts in addition to combat dangers. Lots of
guys were airsick. There was a box near the passage to the cockpit, and
it had a lid with a hinge on one side. They would throw up into it, and
there were often several guys sitting around it, feeling utterly
miserable. They often flew at 30,000 feet, where the air temperatures
were -60 to -70. The clothing didn't always fit well; sometimes my dad
would turn his body and the air would shoot into an opening. He'd
quickly turn the other way, and another opening would emerge. He said
that it almost felt like knives being thrust into him. Their worst fear
was burning, and that was even in their fight song--"We'll go for fame
or go down in flames." Flak terrified him because it was completely
unpredictable--a plane could fly into it in any second and be ripped
apart. His last plane was called Rough Deal Lucille. Thank you for
posting this--it's enabled me to more vividly visualize many of his
stories.
My father flew on these in quite a few missions based out of North Africa in 1943-44. Many of his runs were some intense bombings of fuel and ammo dumps in Italy. Multi-tasking was evident as he served as not only a gunner but bomber as well. Oxygen deprivation, hearing loss, cold conditions, mechanical breakdowns were normal to these B24 crews,,they were fine with these problems,,,,,just as long as they got back after each mission, the Liberator did it's job.
Thanks to your father for his service.
Great video Jim. My Dad passed in 2005. He often spoke about the bombay doors and narrow passages. Your video really put that into great perspective. Thanks again.
I was lucky to fly in this plane yesterday due to the event going on. It was an incredible experience. You get to see parts of both counties that not many people get to see. Scary as f too. If your not careful you can fall out. I'm definitely not again next year. It was expensive. But definitely worth it. I have a higher respect for the WW2 troops. They have bigger balls than I will ever have. I also have a higher respect to our military.
I got to tour this plane a week ago, interesting to say the least.
Dat infamous walkway
17 hour missions were not uncommon in the South Pacific so that's your home and you hope you can find your way back to home base.
If you went down at sea, well, good luck.
Creature comforts,,, 0,, all business.
Que desastre la filmación. Horrible.