Flying Fortresses through the lens of Luftwaffe gun cameras

What War Was Like

In this footage, we get to see several USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses being attacked and (sometimes) shot down by the Luftwaffe between 1943 to 1945. 

Some of the most notable you’ll see is during the 0:18 mark when a B-17F 42-29859 “The Annihilator” was shot down on May 14, 1943, over Belgium. Waist gunner Leroy Donaldson was killed in action while the rest of the crew were captured.

Another was at the 0:36 mark. It was probably the B-17G 42-97502 of the 527th Bomb Squadron shot down by Werner Gerth flying a Fw 190 A-8 on May 13th, 1944. None of the crew survived the attack. 

Got to say, we’ve never seen most of this footage before. Insane respect for those men who flew those bomber missions!