THE FINAL FLIGHT OF "FIREBALL"
Stewart Evans, Friends of the Eighth (FOTE), England
(Originally published in Courage, Honor, Victory)
On Saturday, 9 September 1944, twenty-eight B-17 Fortresses of the 95th Bomb Group took off from Horham Airfield as a part of a 1,000-bomber raid by 8th Air Force B-17s and B-24s to attack strategic targets in the industrial Ruhr Valley and other towns in southwestern Germany. The 95th Group's assigned target was Dusseldorf situated in the Ruhr Valley.
The Crash Scene of Fireball
Aircraft B-17F, 42-31876, QW-Q, "Fireball," piloted by Second Lieutenant Billie B. Layl, aborted the mission over the North Sea and turned back with number 4 engine feathered.
The B-17 arrived over Horham at an altitude of 16,000 feet, descended, broke out of low cloud at 1,500 feet, and turned into a final approach without making a full pattern landing. Lowering the landing gear and flaps was delayed until well into the final approach. As Lieutenant Layl leveled off for the landing, the flight engineer reported that the tail-wheel wasn't fully extended. The control caravan at the far (downwind) end of the runway urgently flashed a red light at the aircraft as it approached the runway with its two main landing wheels still retracted.
The pilot added power to maintain altitude until the landing gear was lowered and in doing so, the B-17 drifted off the line of the runway and over the bordering grassed area. As there were still five 1,000-pound general purpose bombs aboard, the remaining three engines were unable to supply sufficient power to prevent continual descent, and the aircraft landed on wet grass about four hundred yards from the approach (upwind) end of the runway, slid along the grass parallel to the runway, across the eighteen-yard-wide perimeter track, and into a pile of concrete rubble.
There were no injuries to the crew, but "Fireball" was damaged beyond repair.
Editor’s note: Fireball was able to be repaired and flew another six missions with its last mission being November 26, 1944. This is a testament to the tremendous skill and capabilities of the 95th ground crews to “Keep ‘em flying”.