The B-17 tail that carried on Fighting

One of the strangest mysteries to this day. The Story of the Ghostly B-17 tail that managed to land safely with one on crew board, after being shot off a b-17 flying fortress bomber. NOTE : The Footage and Thumbnail of this video is the best closest representation to what happened. It is not the actual footage.

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Background history on the Bomber
https://www.britannica.com/technology...

B-17, also called Flying Fortress, U.S. heavy bomber used during World War II. The B-17 was designed by the Boeing Aircraft Company in response to a 1934 Army Air Corps specification that called for a four-engined bomber at a time when two engines were the norm. The bomber was intended from the outset to attack strategic targets by precision daylight bombing, penetrating deep into enemy territory by flying above the effective range of antiaircraft artillery. Turbo-supercharged radial engines (a uniquely American development) were to give the necessary high-altitude performance, and heavy defensive armament was to provide protection against attacking fighters. Accuracy was to be achieved with the Norden bombsight, developed and fielded in great secrecy during the 1930s. The Norden consisted of a gyroscopically stabilized telescopic sight coupled to an electromechanical computer into which the bombardier fed inputs for altitude, atmospheric conditions, air speed, ground speed, and drift. During the bomb run, the sight was slaved to the automatic pilot to guide the aircraft to the precise release point. In the hands of a skilled bombardier, the Norden was a remarkably accurate sight. The first prototype bomber flew in mid-1935, and the B-17 entered small-scale production in 1937. Early versions proved to be more vulnerable to fighter attack than anticipated, but, by the time the B-17E version began to go into service shortly before the United States entered the war in 1941, the plane was equipped with turrets in the upper fuselage, belly, and tail. All but the last turret were power-operated, and each mounted a pair of 0.50-calibre (12.7-mm) machine guns. This increased firepower made the B-17 a formidable opponent for enemy fighters, particularly when flying in tightly stacked defensive formations for mutual protection. The basic element of a typical formation was a squadron “box” of 9 or 12 aircraft; three squadron boxes staggered vertically and horizontally formed a group, and three groups in trail formed a combat wing. In the event, the need to keep such tight defensive formations over Europe compromised the accuracy of the Norden bombsight, since individual bomb runs were not possible without breaking the formation. Whole bomb formations had to drop their loads on the lead bombardier’s command, and the inevitable small differences in timing and heading led to dispersed bomb patterns.