Description: True stories of a B-17 Bombardier of the 15th Air Force, who flew 50 missions out of Italy during 1944, winning Distinguished Flying Cross and two Purple Hearts
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This website is about the 50 combat missions my father, Donald Wise, flew in 1944 in the B-17 bomber "PIG CHASER". For nearly four months, he flew out of Foggia, Italy, on 50 missions that usually took between 5 and 8 hours each. The missions were hazardous--many beyond description. But the B-17s stayed on unwaivering courses to their targets and would not turn away from the anti-aircraft fire and enemy fighters that stood between them and their destinations.
The purpose of these missions--carried out by the U.S. Army Air Corps and the Royal Air Force--was to destroy Hitler's war machine and bring a speedy end to his much-vaunted "Thousand Year Reich".
Sitting at his station in the plexiglass nose of Pig Chaser , my father, as bombardier, had "the Best Seat in the House". It was, unfortunately, not always a good place to be. Dad told me: "As waves of B-17s ahead of us entered heavy enemy fire, I could see four or five get hit, go down in flames, or pull away in distress. And we knew we were next."