Flying Fortress Gunner: B-17 Ball Turret Gunner Bob Harper's 35 Combat Missions over Germany

Bob Harper was drafted into the Army and deployed to the European front, where he survived 35 combat missions as a B-17 ball turret gunner. He was shot down twice and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. His anecdotes provide insight into the harrowing experiences of combat on board the Flying Fortresses of the Eighth Air Force.

Format: Hardback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 28 October 2023
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing Ltd

Bob Harper, standing at a mere 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing a mere 110 pounds, fell below the minimum size requirements for US military service. However, as the demand for manpower soared, the rules were flexed, and Harper's deferment was revoked, leading to his draft into the Army. Deployed to the European front, Harper endured 35 grueling combat missions as a B-17 ball turret gunner. Based at airfields in England, he and the 381st Bomb Group embarked on perilous missions over heavily fortified industrial centers in Germany. Despite being shot down twice, Harper survived and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Through his letters home, combat reports, and extensive interviews with author Bill Cullen, Harper vividly recounts his harrowing experiences aboard the Flying Fortresses of the Eighth Air Force. Cullen's interviews with Harper, who remains alive as of the manuscript's completion, span several years, and it is the anecdotes from these conversations that form the backbone of the narrative. The ball turret, situated beneath the aircraft, offered a confined, intense, and singular environment for combat during World War II. Readers will find Harper, who pursued a successful business career after the war, to be an insightful, witty, and captivating storyteller.

Weight: 572g
Dimension: 163 x 238 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780764367069