Shot Down Over Europe

When, when we were shot down, it was a Messerschmitt 210, 110. It is a twin engine aircraft and, and we'd, we, we'd got a little, a little beep in the, in the back. If it was an enemy aircraft in back of you, you'd hear "beep-beep, beep-beep", the closer youd get, you got "beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep". So, anyway, so we were on the look out, see, watching, so, anyway . . . but the son of a gun, he wasn't back. He was not in back of us. He was underneath, and he came up like this. You see, they had more speed then we did, see. Big aircraft doesn't go, fly as fast, so he came right up to us like this, and he had two cannons in, in, in where the gunner was in the back, and they pointed up. They were, they were, you know, bolted right there, and he just let go. And he hit our inside engine, and I don't think it was the engine myself, but it was in back of the engine. We had the big wheel, when it comes up, big rubber wheel, ya see, and it comes up like that. And there was a reserve oil tank there, and I think that's what, that's what he hit that started on fire, was the oil. And, so, anyway, we eventually got rid of him. We fired at him, and so on. And you know he was still coming back at us. And the mid-upper gunner is supposed to tell the pilot where he is, see. Because he, he can see better than I can because he's got two big, two big tails sticking out in the back and that tells him where, you know . . . and, and, and, and the gunner never said a word, so I, I took over. So, I told the pilot . . . so I told him to, to . . . that he was, he was getting closer and closer. So, I said, "I'll give you the signal when to go." And we did invas-, evasive action they call it, see. And, and, so I, I told him, I says, "Dive to sport, to, to, to, to starboard." See, starboard and port. Left and right is starboard. And we dove down like this, and he come behind us like that and when he straightens out, I says, "Dive to port or, or climb to port." So, he has to turn again, and we do the same thing. And we're shooting at him, and he hasn't got a shot at us because we can move our targets, you see, our, our chart, you see, but he can't. His, his, his guns are fixed, you see. So, he has to turn the whole aircraft. So, eventually, he got away. So, he let us fly, and there we were on fire, and we had 20 minutes to go to target. So, we got there, dropped our bombs as if nothing had happened, kept on going, made a left turn and then came home. And, and we were coming home, and we flew 25 minutes after hitting the target and then the pieces started falling off the aircraft, and if that wing broke, the, the aircraft would go out of control, and we'd no way we could get out. So, the pilot says, "We gotta aban- abandon the ship." He says, "The fire is not getting any better." And no way to get, to put out the fire, see. And the navigator is sitting right underneath here, and he's lucky that he hit that tank and not him 'cause he could, it could, it could . . . you know, I mean it was so close. It was about that far away from it . . . outside, of course, the aircraft. So, anyway, we had to bail out one after the other. I was the last . . . Well, being the last man in, in the back, I was the second last to get out, and I was standing there, and we all get out through the front. Where the, where the bomb-aimer is, there is a hatch there that you take it, take it out and throw it away. It's no more . . . it's no good anymore. So, they all went out, and there was only me and the pilot. And the pilot was still hold of the controls, so they could bail out, and he says, "What in the hell are you doing here? " He says, "God," he says, "get out of here!" He says, "I, go, wanna get out, too." Well, I says, "I wanna make sure that you get your chute". See. We had parachute, but we only wore what they called the harness. And there's two big hooks here, and you just put your parachute on the hook and, of course, when it, when it opens, it opens right over your head, and you, you . . . so, I says, "I wanna make sure that you get your parachute." So I, I got mad at him because he was gon- . . . He got mad at me, see. So, I said, "Alright," I says, "I'll go." You know, I don't know how in the hell he, he did . . . but I did alright. We, we all got out good.