Скачать или смотреть Germans Couldn't Believe This B-17 Kept Flying — After Slicing Fuselage Completely Through

Why Lieutenant Kendrick Bragg refused to order his crew to bail out after a mid-air collision cut his B-17 nearly in half during WW2 — and all 10 men survived an 87-minute flight home. This World War 2 story reveals how they flew with a sixteen-foot gap in the fuselage.

February 1, 1943. First Lieutenant Kendrick Bragg, pilot of B-17F "All American," was returning from bombing Tunis when a German Messerschmitt fighter collided with his bomber at 9,000 feet. The impact tore a massive diagonal gash through the entire rear fuselage, ripped off the left horizontal stabilizer, and cut the tail gunner off from the crew. Every manual said bail out immediately over enemy territory. His co-pilot grabbed his parachute. The navigator said one word: "Bail."

They were all wrong.

What Bragg discovered that morning wasn't about following protocol. It was about using the Norden bombsight autopilot — never designed for manual flight control — in a way that contradicted everything the Army Air Force taught. His crew dumped guns, ammunition, and fuel through the gash. They pulled the trapped tail gunner across the void with parachute cords. By the time they landed at Biskra — 90 miles and 87 minutes later — ground crews couldn't believe the bomber was still airborne.

The famous photograph of "All American" in flight became the single most iconic image of B-17 survivability. Boeing engineers studied every damaged component, leading to stronger frame spacing and redundant control systems in all Allied bombers. The lessons from February 1, 1943 influenced military aircraft design for the next 80 years, proving that crew survival — not just mission success — should drive engineering decisions.

🔔 Subscribe for more untold WW2 stories:    / @wwii-records  
👍 Like this video if you learned something new
💬 Comment below: What other WW2 tactics should we cover?

#worldwar2 #ww2history #ww2 #wwii #ww2records