Us Official Photographs

Victim of war

Victim of one of the war's most freakish accidents, this Boeing B-17 rests with a smashed nose and a twisted propeller after an emergency landing at a 9th Air Force Republic P-47 Fighter Base in Belgium. Starting from its English base with ten crew members, it landed in Belgium after a bombing mission deep in Germany with eleven--one dead. Flying in close formation in bumpy air, the Fortress below collided with this aircraft. The radio man in the lower aircraft was killed and his body thrown into the nose of the plane above. The bombardier, riding in the nose was shocked but unhurt. After the collision, the lower aircraft was seen gliding under control, and is believed to have made a safe forced landing. 17 March 1945.