Hello from Brighton UK
- Thread starter Seth!
- Start date
Lynn Dollar
TVWBB Emerald Member
Hmmm Brighton , UK ......... on March 4, 1944 my Dad bailed out of a B-17 not far from Brighton. I've studied the maps of that area in finding out more about my Dad's service in WW II.
There was an RAF airfield at Friston, just a short distance from Brighton. The US 8th Air Force was using RAF Friston for bombers to crash land, being right on the southern coast as you are.
Dad was a Ball Turret Gunner on a B-17. They had been on a mission to Berlin on March 4th and due to reasons I don't know, they came back across the channel on one engine. They had tossed everything out of the aircraft to reduce weight, they even unbolted Dad's ball turret and dropped it into the Channel.
After making it to England, the Pilot ordered the crew to bail out and he attempted to reach RAF Friston, but he crash landed the plane about two miles short of the runway, near a place called Snap Hill Barn, whatever that was.
Pilot walked away, but one of the crew members was KIA due to parachute malfunction. The Pilot, Dad, and the rest of the crew were back in the air on March 6th, on another mission to Berlin.
But welcome to the forum.
There was an RAF airfield at Friston, just a short distance from Brighton. The US 8th Air Force was using RAF Friston for bombers to crash land, being right on the southern coast as you are.
Dad was a Ball Turret Gunner on a B-17. They had been on a mission to Berlin on March 4th and due to reasons I don't know, they came back across the channel on one engine. They had tossed everything out of the aircraft to reduce weight, they even unbolted Dad's ball turret and dropped it into the Channel.
After making it to England, the Pilot ordered the crew to bail out and he attempted to reach RAF Friston, but he crash landed the plane about two miles short of the runway, near a place called Snap Hill Barn, whatever that was.
Pilot walked away, but one of the crew members was KIA due to parachute malfunction. The Pilot, Dad, and the rest of the crew were back in the air on March 6th, on another mission to Berlin.
But welcome to the forum.
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