Posted:
By: Art Seder
On: 10/27/2001
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Richard: Your uncle, S/Sgt Golden B. Hill, was a member (ball turret gunner)of a crew piloted by Lt. P. W. Finney. Other members of the crew were: Co-Pilot-F.O. V. W. Price; Navigator-Lt. D. E. Scott; Togglier-S/Sgt. B. A. Bralley; Radio Operator-T/Sgt E.S. Smith; Engineer-T/Sgt. W. H. Snyder; Tail Gunner-S/Sgt. W. J. Dulling; and Waist Gunner-S/Sgt. B. V. Miller.
The crew flew its first mission on 1 August 1944 to Chartres. Just three weeks later, on their seventh mission to Weimar, flown on 24 August 1944 in B-17 "Down ' Go", they were shot down. Group records state the following: "When they were ten minutes from the IP they were attacked by 32 Fw-190's in waves. Sgt. Dulling shot one of them down, but some of the crew were wounded and the plane dived out of control. The Ball Turret Gunner, S/Sgt. G. B. Hill, was trapped in his turret, and, although ordered to bail out, S.Sgt. B. V. Miller stayed behind in an attempt to free him. Moements later the plane blew up, throwing S/Sgt. Miller free of the wreckage."
Your uncle, G. B. Hill and the Radio Operator, E. S. Smith, were killed but the other crew members parachuted safely and were captured by the Germans, spending the remainder of the war as POW's. Needless to say, the ball turret was the most dangerous position on the B-17.
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