It’s December 31st, 1944, and in the cockpit of his B-17, “The Little Skipper”, is 2nd Lieutenant Glenn Rojohn alongside his co-pilot, 2nd Lieutenant William Leek.

They’re approaching Germany on a mission to flatten oil refineries in Hamburg, Flak erupts directly beneath them and all hell breaks loose.

The men watch as they see B-17 after B-17 being shot out of the sky in the target area ahead of them.

When the flak is at its thickest Rojohn sees a smoke target over the docks.

It’s the cue to drop the bombs.

All the B-17s in Rojohn’s group that are still flying open their bomb bay doors The flak intensifies with a ferocity that the pilots have never seen before.

In the lead squadron the B-17 “Fools Rush In” is hit dead center with flak.

It veers off to the right and crashes directly into another B-17 called “Kramp’s Tramps”.

The two planes crunch together and “Kramps Tramps” is sliced in two.

Both planes fall from the air.

Rojohn and Leek can’t believe their eyes.

They think everyone is lost, but incredibly, three crew members from each plane get pushed into the void and manage to release their parachutes.

“3, 4… I see 6 chutes! Navigator, put it in the log.

” Rojohn pushes the shock to the back of his mind and radios to the bombardier, Sergeant James Shirley.

“Confirm when bombs away!” “Bombs away!” Through the B-17’s huge bomb-bay doors drops a stream of 500-pounders, which plummet towards the earth.

On “The Little Skipper”, the ball turret gunner watches the bombs hit the target.

“Russo, how’s the view?” “Right on target!” After dropping the bombs, the formation follows the original plan and does a 180, straight back out to sea.

They tighten formation as much as they can for the trip home but, just as they get in their box formation, “Bandits, 11 o’clock high” around 50 German defenders race at full speed to intercept the Americans.

The first on the scene are the jet-propelled Me 262s.

One screams past the Americans from above firing its MK 108 cannons through the line.

The Messerschmitt carries on below and pulls out in a wide arc, its con trails glistening in the sun.

It’s too fast to hit and it’s already gone before the gunners can target it.

Then, Bf 109s streak past the formation, attacking from the front, and Fw 190s buzz like hornets.

The “Faithful Forever” on Rojohn’s right position, is lagging slightly back and already damaged from flak, and it’s hit once again.

Its pilot, 2nd Lieutenant Leo Ross, gets on the radio.

” “Faithful Forever” going down.

” Ross manages to get his plane down to 5,000 feet straight and level despite its damage and all its crew, bail and survive.

“Bandits, 6 o’clock” Back with the main formation, all hope is lost and the Germans are wreaking havoc on the now ragtag formation.

“Big group at 8 o’clock high!” Then, the beautiful sight of American P-51s comes into view.

It’s fighter support! “Thank God!” The German interceptors have softer targets and immediately turn and run.

The American P-51s, safe in the knowledge that the Germans have gone, depart to defend other B-17s further along the line.

“P-51s leave to defend the Forts in the upper front, Keep your eyes peeled boys.

” Rojohn and what’s left of his formation fly on alone.

“We’re almost over the sea.

Hold on everyone.

” They approach the coast of Germany to the northwest of Hamburg.

And they can already see the flack starting up again.

They battle through the flak once more, but quickly they’re out over the sea, moving slowly, but they might just make it home.

The turbulence is now so bad that the B-17s can’t hold the formation.

Then, across the intercom, there is a call everyone is dreading: “Bandits 11 o’clock.

” Then another: “Bandits 1 o’clock high!” Another wave of German fighters, flying from bases in Bremen and Oldenburg, force their way in to intercept the now loose formation over the sea.

In a desperate fight with the turbulence, the B-17s are trying to keep in close together, but plane after plane is hit.

More holes in the formation start to appear as B-17’s drift away, their engines streaming oil and fire.

These are dangerous gaps for the German fighters to exploit.

“9 o’clock! There are too many of them!” A Bf 109 flying in from the front strafes the “Nine Lives”, the lead plane in Rojohn’s formation.

Bullets riddle the cockpit and both pilots are instantly killed.

But all engines continue working and the remaining crew carry on the fight unaware that no one is alive up front.

Back on “The Little Skipper” Rojohn reacts quickly to fill the void, desperately trying to keep the formation together.

Rojohn nudges “The Little Skipper” into place, one hand on the column, the other ready to throttle back.

He’s looking for the “Nine Lives”, but the lead plane is nowhere to be seen.

“Pilot to crew – anyone sees McNab? “Nine Lives”, where did it go?” Little does he know that the pilots, McNab and Vaughan, are slumped in their cockpit seats.

“The Nine Lives” is flying straight, but not level.

Her two lifeless pilots have pulled back on the column, and the B-17 moves on a slightly upwards trajectory.

Ethan Porter, a captain in a nearby B-17, watches as the two planes get closer and closer.

They’re about to collide.

Quickly he gets on the radio and tries to warn the pilots.

“McNab! McNab… Damn it! “Look out, you’re going to collide!” But it’s too late.

At 12:44, Rojohn and Leek are catapulted upwards in an almighty shudder that throws Rojohn’s hand from the throttle levers.

Leek’s knees slam into the column.

“What in God’s name was that?” “Pilot to crew — what just happened?” Top turret, waist, report.

” Leek and Rojohn test the hydraulics and the electrics.

The systems are working, but they are losing control of their Fort.

“Holy mother of… you’re not gonna believe this! Rojohn looks out to the left and behind, and can’t believe his eyes! “We’re riding another Fort!” The “Nine Lives” has crashed mid air into “The Little Skipper” and has pierced the aluminium belly of Rojohn’s Fortress.

“Geez, Glenn.

We’re stuck together like mating dragonflies.

” In the ball turret of the “Nine Lives” Staff Sergeant Edward Woodall Jr is covered in metal shards, the result of impact between the two planes.

He has neither electrical nor hydraulic power, so he grabs his hand crank and prays that the lever does not snap.

Agonisingly slowly, the guns drop to straight-down and he is able to crawl backwards out of the turret and into the fuselage.

Woodall looks down the fuselage.

It’s a mess of tangled metal.

He knows that Corporal Joe Russo, the ball turret gunner of “The Little Skipper”, hasn’t a hope in hell.

Russo’s turret has been pushed down through the roof of the “Nine Lives” and is clamped in place by twisted metal.

The gunner is trapped.

Woodall sees Russo crossing himself through the plexiglass.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou amongst women The crew of “The Little Skipper”, still in contact with their gunner via the plane’s intercom, can hear Russo reciting his fading Hail Marys.

pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

” Bill Leek is deeply moved hearing the anguish in his ball turret gunner’s voice.

“The Lord is with thee.

” He later said, “I could not help him and I felt that I was somehow invading his right to be alone.

” “The Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

“Bill! Bill! Bill! Snap out of it!” To allow Russo his final prayers in private, Leek removes his helmet and his intercom.

“Pull up, pull up!” He later said that this was the hardest part of the ride for him.

Meanwhile, engine number one on the “Nine Lives” is aflame and it takes a Herculean effort from Rojohn and Leek to control the two planes’ descent as they are locked together, and are out of formation, now at 15,000 feet.

The pilots brace their feet against “The Little Skipper’s” instrument panel for added purchase on the control column, their faces grimacing.

“Come on! Level out!” Rojohn tries several times to break the planes free.

“Bill, keep pulling!” He guns “The Little Skipper’s” radial engines, even tries to rock the two aircraft apart, but it’s no use.

“Damn it! The fire will spread on our wing.

Let’s shut the engines up and try to turn this thing, Bill.

” Rojohn knows crashing into the sea is certain death, and to save his crew, he’s going to have to get his plane over land.

“We have to get above land to bail out.

” He doesn’t know if he can manage to maneuver the two planes, “Okay, now.

.

.

” but he has to try.

The engines of “The Little Skipper” are brought to idle.

“Slowly.

.

.

” In an incredible display of airmanship, Rojohn and Leek manage to slowly get the two locked B-17s in a turn.

“It’s working!” The planes heave around slowly.

The pilots are elated as they see the German coast slide once more into view.

Rojohn sees that the fire is now blanketing his left wing and the heat is penetrating the fuselage of “The Little Skipper”.

He can feel the heat on his face through the aluminium skin.

As they get closer to the coast, the flak starts again.

And then the fireworks begin.

It’s the .

50 caliber machine gun ammunition cooking off in the flames, and the bullets are spewing into the air all around.

Rojohn and Leek lock eyes in a moment of silent terror.

The horizon is nearing, and Rojohn takes to the intercom.

“We’re almost over land.

Get ready to bail out, crew.

” “You all gotta jump from the tail door.

” The door is directly in the wake of the relentless flames blackening and buckling the “Nine Lives” and “The Little Skipper” above, but there’s no other way out.

In the waist area, 3 crewmen, Elkin, Neuhaus, and Little, are trying to free Russo.

They can hear him inside still praying.

They try with all their might, but the ball turret is completely jammed.

Elkin later said, “It would not move.

There was no means of escape for this brave man.

” “Hail Mary, full of grace, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

” “Hail Mary, full of grace, pray for us sinners” Reluctantly, they move to bail, and with one final look back towards Russo, they jump through the flames into the air.

On the ground, German battery gunners on the North Sea coastal island of Wangerooge cannot believe their eyes.

This eight-engined double-bomber is careering landwards.

A Wehrmacht captain looks up at the spectacle and realises that these bombers are doomed and there is no need to fire… “Stop firing! Those poor souls don’t have a hope now!” It’s now minutes until impact.

Rojohn knows it’s Leek’s last chance to bail out.

“Bill, you gotta jump! Go! Now!” Leek, in defiance of Rojohn’s orders, is still inside the cockpit.

He knows Rojohn can’t control the plane alone.

Without Leek’s additional muscle, the two planes would enter a spiral and Rojohn would be unable to bail “Bill!” “I’m staying, Glenn.

” Russo, in his ball turret, encased by the fuselage of the “Nine Lives”, perhaps mercifully, did not see the ground rushing upwards.

The ground accelerates towards them, “Hold her straight, sweet Jesus, hold her!” the pilots are shouting their prayers as it fills their view… “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil!” The “Nine Lives” explodes and disintegrates on impact, vaulting “The Little Skipper” upwards like an athlete on a pole.

“The Skipper”, momentarily airborne again, belly-flops back to Earth and her left wing slices through a wooden building, splitting the fuselage in the process and launching the nose of the ship forwards until finally it stops.

There’s silence.

Incredulous, the two pilots dare to look at each other.

They are both alive.

Neither is badly injured, with just cuts and bruises to report.

Leek crawls from a gaping hole behind the cockpit and emerges into the daylight.

Finding his feet he pats his breast in search of a well-earned smoke.

He’s just about to light up when a gun muzzle pointing straight between his eyes forces him to pause.

“Stop!” A German soldier gestures wildly to the gasoline pouring out over the wing from the ruptured fuel tanks.

“What the hell are you doing? You idiot! You’ll set us all on fire!” In no small part because of Rojohn and Leek’s airmanship and their ability to turn the two planes around towards land, six crew men survived from “The Little Skipper”, and 4 crew survived from the “Nine Lives”.

Rojohn, humble to the end, did not talk much about the Distinguished Flying Cross he earned for his actions.

He always maintained that he owed his life to Leek.

“In all fairness to my co-pilot, he’s the reason I am alive today.

” Please check out the amazingly researched book “The Piggyback Flight Pilot’s Journey” by Cyndi Rojohn for all the details on this incredible story.

“That was incredible.

But have you heard about the B-17 tail gunner that fell without a parachute and survived? Click here and watch the film to find out more.

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