Air Force·Doctrinal shift·In Memoriam
B-17 Waist Gunner
Served: 1941–1944 (paired), 1944–1945 (solo)
Pair of gunners standing back-to-back at open waist windows of the B-17, each working a flexible .50 — the most exposed crew position to slipstream, frostbite, and beam attacks.
The Story
After the July 1944 cut, the surviving waist gunner had to cover both beams alone — typically by sprinting across the fuselage as the formation got jumped. The 384th Bomb Group had already made the cut in May 1944.
Epitaph
“Two of them, then one of them. Then the airplane.”
Sources
- Arrowhead Club — B-17 Crew Sizethearrowheadclub.com
- National Museum USAF — Gunnerswww.nationalmuseum.af.mil