And Somehow............They Still Flew On.......

[B-Man2]

I've always been amazed at the battle damage WWII aircraft sustained in combat, and yet somehow still managed to stay aloft ( mostly due to the skills of the aircraft crews) and return home with their crews. I've been thinking about starting this thread for a while and thought that if everyone had some photos of these aircraft we could post them here. So I'll start off with these;

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[B-Man2]

So if you have a few please post them. I think they are really amazing accounts of air combat and I wish I knew the stories that went along with the photos.
Cheers
B-Man2

 

[dmar836]

Post strafing mission. Missing a cylinder and still flew it back. Wingman assisted with approach and landing. 12thAAF,350th FG, 347th Sqdn.

 

[Silver Surfer]

holey samaloney. yeah, over the years i have seen some pix of wwll aircraft that made it home, and be all rights should not have. afriggnmazn.

 

[Persimmon]

 

[Steve27752]

Amazing pics.

 

[Persimmon]

 

[Smithy]

Always thought this was a good 'un.

 

[Smithy]

Sqn Ldr Bryan (198 Sqn, RAF) having a squizz at his Tiffie after an encounter with 3 flak ships...

 

[Smithy]

And another couple of Mossies...

This next one is rather interesting - it's a PR Mossie of 60 Sqn SAAF which suffered a sustained attack by a Me262 jet.

 

[Steve27752]

Always thought this was a good 'un.

Wood worm!

 

[blackrat2]

Fantastic thread

 

[Lorenzo_l]

Great thread indeed. Newer combat aircraft have also limped home all the worse for wear.

An Israeli Air Force's F-15a after suffering a collision with an A-4 during a training exercise:

The F-15 lost essentially the entire starboard wing yet the pilot, in amazing feat of airmanship, manged to land the aircraft safely. The story here:
https://theaviationist.com/2014/09/15/f-15-lands-with-one-wing/

And this F-14 lost parts of its starboard wing during a collision with another F-14, also during a training exercise:

The pilot managed to safely land the aircraft on an aircraft carrier. The story here:

https://theaviationist.com/2013/11/06/f-14-damaged/


Tthey still build them tough these days....

 

[Smithy]

Here's some photos of the Wellington in which Sgt James Ward 75(NZ) Sqn won the Victoria Cross. The aircraft was damaged by flak and then a Me110 night fighter caused the starboard engine and surrounding underwing area to catch fire. Ward climbed out onto the wing at around 13,000 feet and somehow managed to crawl across the wing to the starboard engine where he smothered the fire.

 

[Dover]

Pictured here is the B-17 "Lazy Baby" after a crash landing. At a recent airshow I had the pleasure of meeting Robert Cinibulk, who was a waist gunner on the Lazy Baby. Robert recalled his 7th and final mission that was the Oct 1943 raid on the Schweinfurt ball bearing factory. This was the last deep penetration raid into Germany without the benefit of fighter escort. I listened for maybe 15 minutes absolutely riveted while he described the air battle that raged over Germany. Robert related that the Luftwaffe "threw everything they had at us" and only 3 aircraft of his original group of 14 B-17's were still airborne on the outward leg home. Ultimately the pilot, having lost 3 engines found a potato field just across the German border into Switzerland and put the Lazy Baby down. The surviving members of the crew were interned in Switzerland for the duration of the war. Robert however escaped and with the help of the French Resistance made it back to England. Here is a picture of Robert Cinibulk with his crew in 1943 (standing 2nd from left) and today at age 96. Sorry for the long post but it is an absolute honor to hear the stories of these men and what they did.

 

[Grant]

Dover, thanks for sharing an amazing story.

 

[falcon_ib]

Looking great for 96! Thanks for the story and photos.

 

[Pilot]

Thx for sharing, great pics...amazing what burden these plane took...and were still flying...I wish the commercial airliners would be that sturdy...

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

Thx for sharing, great pics...amazing what burden these plane took...and were still flying...I wish the commercial airliners would be that sturdy...

Amazingly I read last year that DC-3s were no longer allowed to carry passangers on the grounds of...................yes, you've guessed...........Health & Safety

You couldn't make it up!

 

[Lorenzo_l]

Great story, Dover, and not a word too long. Thanks for sharing.
This is a really nice thread. Keep them coming!