The WWII Ghost B-17 Bomber That Completed It's Mission, Then Landed - WITH NOBODY ONBOARD!

50%

In November of 1944, an RAF airbase crew near Liege, Belgium saw a B-17 bomber coming into their base position. It was a three-point landing but a little clumsy, with a wing dragging into the earth. The wheels were down and locked, it bounced a few times, and came rolling to a stop. Three of the props were still whirling.

When RAF Major John V. Crisp and his crew went aboard to check out the plane that had made the rough landing, they found no one aboard. In fact parachutes, still packed, were unused. Crisp stopped the running engines and continued to look around. He found the bomber’s log and in the open book the last entry was “Bad Flak.”

There were some fur-collared flying jackets scattered about, and some candy bar wrappers and crumbs were nearby.

Crisp and crew made note of the phantom flier’s serial number and checked to find the crew was safe, back at their base in England. They had been picked up by British infantrymen. The explanation was this: The B-17 Flying Fortress had taken a direct hit to the bomb bay while on a mission from Brussels, Belgium to hit Merseburg, Germany’s oil targets.

American pilot, Harold R. DeBolt, was astonished that the plane would still fly. They were hit twice by German anti-aircraft fire and there was a giant flash of light in the bomb bay. When the plane kept functioning, DeBolt ordered his men to start tossing things inside the craft to lighten the load. He then ordered them to bail, and they did.

DeBolt remained in the plane a few moments deciding what to do next. He knew the injured plane could not cross the English Channel. He headed it toward Belgium and put it on automatic pilot. He then jumped himself.

There were many questions about the incident and the US 8th Air Force Service Command sent a crew to investigate. The bailers had reported that when they jumped there were only two working engines. The RAF witnesses on the ground said that three were running when it landed.



[link to calebandlindapirtle.com (secure)]

bump

the Nobody was there in WWII - op proved it

I love these stories

Interesting.


Didn't realize WWII autopilot was that advanced.

Me2

I was looking for a ewe.toob link for that "Amazing Stories" episode about WWII and the "cartoon landing gear" - which I haven't watched since 1985, when it originally premiered. I found a trailer for it here, on the imdb article:

[link to www.imdb.com (secure)]

"A courageous young World War II gunner and aspiring cartoonist, trapped in the belly gun of a B-17 aircraft with the landing gear destroyed, has only his imagination as a force that might be able to save him."

If anyone can find a link for the actual full episode (Amazing Stories, Season 1, Episode 5 - "The Mission") please post it here. I'd like to see it again after 35 years!

There are a few links for the 'Amazing Story' episode I just mentioned earlier on ewe.toob, but they are all those awkward sized ones that fit into another vid player box & in a corner of that box, so not worth posting here. I DID find a full, good quality episode here, on Vimeo, if anyone wants to see it, (what I am about to do).

Here is the link:

[link to vimeo.com (secure)]

It was around since 1912, apparently; 30 years prior to WWII:

50%, from weeee.keeee.peeee.deeee.ahhh

[link to en.wikipedia.org (secure)]

Early development
The Sperry Corporation developed the original gyroscopic autopilot in 1912. The device was called a “gyroscopic stabilizer apparatus,” and its purpose was to improve stability and control of aircraft. It utilized the inputs from several other instruments to allow an aircraft to automatically maintain a desired compass heading and altitude.

The key feature of the gyroscopic stabilizer apparatus was that it incorporated a gyroscope to regulate the control surfaces of the aircraft. Lawrence Sperry managed to design a smaller and lighter version of a gyroscope, and the device was integrated into an aircraft's hydraulic control system. Using a negative feedback loop, the gyroscope automatically adjusted the control surfaces of an aircraft to maintain straight and level flight.

First use
Lawrence Sperry's autopilot was first demonstrated in France on June 18, 1914. Sperry was participating in an exhibition in which 57 planes were fitted with new improvements and innovations. Sperry's aircraft, a Curtiss C-2, was the only one equipped with a gyroscopic stabilizer. Sperry, along with his assistant Emil Cachin, made three passes in front of a grandstand full of spectators and military observers. On his first pass, Sperry engaged the autopilot and flew past the grandstand with his hands held high off of the controls. On the second pass, Cachin climbed out onto the starboard wing seven feet away from the fuselage with Sperry's hands still off the controls. When the aircraft banked due to the shift in weight, the autopilot immediately stabilized the wings. On his final pass, Sperry climbed out onto the opposite wing, leaving the pilot seat empty. The observers were amazed at the aircraft's ability to maintain level flight without a pilot manually controlling it. Sperry also gave Joseph Barres, Commandant of the French Army Air Corps, a ride to demonstrate his device's ability to perform an unassisted takeoff and landing.

Planes are alive and have consciousness

I stopped reading at the third or fourth lie.

Think people! Is everyone so willing to believe, they can't see when they're told a lie?

Read this again, please, and see how many you can pick out.

1* OP is a complete liar/LARP. B-17's used the Norden Bombsights, something my father a former Navigator/Bombadier can prove. It is what gave Allied bombers an advantage for its accuracy.

Bullshit those are real people who lived and died, they saw what they saw, op didn't write the articles he or she just posted them

Thank You.

Wow that was very interesting. Sorry if I missed it, but how did it land and where we the planes crew?

Yes. Thank you too.