WW II B- 17 Story ... thax Bob G!

If you are using a screen reader, you may wish to switch to basic HTML for a better experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fw: A tribute to the “Greatest Generation”. Inbox x to         WW II B 17 Survival Story     B-17 "All American" (414th Squadron, 97BG) Crew   Pilot- Ken Bragg Jr. Copilot- G. Boyd Jr. Navigator- Harry C. Nuessle Bombardier- Ralph Burbridge Engineer- Joe C. James Radio Operator- Paul A. Galloway Ball Turret Gunner- Elton Conda Waist Gunner- Michael Zuk Tail Gunner- Sam T. Sarpolus Ground Crew Chief- Hank Hyland   In 1943 a mid-air collision on February 1, 1943, between a B-17 and a German fighter over the Tunis dock area, became the subject of one of the most famous photographs of WW II. An enemy fighter attacking a 97th Bomb Group formation went out of control, probably with a wounded pilot, then continued its crashing descent into the rear of the fuselage of a Fortress named "All American", piloted by Lt. Kendrick R. Bragg, of the 414th Bomb Squadron. When it struck, the fighter broke apart, but left some pieces in the B-17. The left horizontal stabilizer of the Fortress and left elevator were completely torn away. The two right engines were out and one on the left had a serious oil pump leak. The vertical fin and the rudder had been damaged, the fuselage had been cut almost completely through connected only at two small parts of the frame, and the radios, electrical and oxygen systems were damaged. There was also a hole in the top that was over 16 feet long and 4 feet wide at its widest; the split in the fuselage went all the way to the top gunner's turret.     Although the tail actually bounced and swayed in the wind and twisted when the plane turned and all the control cables were severed, except one single elevator cable still worked, and the aircraft miraculously still flew!   The tail gunner was trapped because there was no floor connecting the tail to the rest of the plane. The waist and tail gunners used parts of the German fighter and their own parachute harnesses in an attempt to keep the tail from ripping off and the two sides of the fuselage from splitting apart.   While the crew was trying to keep the bomber from coming apart, the pilot continued on hisbomb run and released his bombs over the target.     When the bomb bay doors were opened, the wind turbulence was so great that it blew one of the waist gunners into the broken tail section. It took several minutes and four crew members to pass him ropes from parachutes and haul him back into the forward part of the plane. When they tried to do the same for the tail gunner, the tail began flapping so hard that it began to break off. The weight of the gunner was adding some stability to the tail section, so he went back to his position.  The turn back toward England had to be very slow to keep the tail from twisting off. They actually covered almost 70 miles to make the turn home. The bomber was so badly damaged that it was losing altitude and speed and was soon alone in the sky.   For a brief time, two more Me-109 German fighters attacked the All American. Despite the extensive damage, all of the machine gunners were able to respond to these attacks and soon drove off the fighters. The two waist gunners stood up with their heads sticking out through the hole in the top of the fuselage to aim and fire their machine guns. The tail gunner had to shoot in short bursts because the recoil was actually causing the plane to turn.     Allied P-51 fighters intercepted the All American as it crossed over the Channel and took one of the pictures shown. They also radioed to the base describing that the appendage was waving like a fish tail and that the plane would not make it and to send out boats to rescue the crew when they bailed out.   The fighters stayed with the Fortress, taking hand signals from Lt. Bragg and relaying them to the base. Lt. Bragg signaled that 5 parachutes and the spare had been "used" so five of the crew could not bail out. He made the decision that if they could not bail out safely, then he would stay with the plane to land it.     Two and a half hours after being hit, the aircraft made its final turn to line up with the runway while it was still over 40 miles away. It descended into an emergency landing and a normal roll-out on its landing gear.     When the ambulance pulled alongside, it was waved off because not a single member of the crew had been injured. No one could believe that the aircraft could still fly in such a condition. The Fortress sat placidly until the crew all exited through the door in the fuselage and the tail gunner had climbed down a ladder, at which time the entire rear section of the aircraft collapsed.     This old bird had done its job and brought the entire crew home uninjured.   I love these old war stories, especially the ones with a happy ending !     Please pass this on to someone who will also appreciate this amazing story.   Click here to Reply or Forward Why this ad?Ads – Local Advertising Wins Gain local customers with Welcome Wagon's New Homeowner Marketing www.WelcomeWagon.com 2.92 GB (19%) of 15 GB used Manage ©2013 Google - Terms & Privacy Last account activity: 2.5 hours ago Details

Bob Graham Show details Ads Get Your Veteran ID Card Largest US Veteran Website ID card Benefits, discounts & service pride www.VetFriends.com New Nissans From $9,990 Dealers Are Slashing Prices! Everything Must Go. Reply.com/Nissan Exhibit/Event Managers Is your exhibit missing something? Find it here! www.ExhibitorOnline.com/FindIt Custom Postcard Mailings We Design, Print & Mail Quality Postcards. Increase Leads & Sales! www.PostcardMania.com/Design Document Mgmt. Software Organize, scan, worklfow, OCR Try it free now for 30 days! www.DokMee.net Telemarketing Find Providers of Telemarketing by Visiting Business.com. business.com/Marketing Golf Swing Tips? Hit Golf Ball Straight Every Time. Free Golf Swing Video Lessons Here! MoeNormanGolf.com Santa Fe Overstock Massive Discounts On '13 Hyundai! Check Ridiculously Low Prices Here. www.hyundai.AutoDiscountGroup.com

Local Advertising Wins

KSR 10/19/13 AM After BBM

October 19th, 2013

Madness Night News and Views

By Brennan English on ©11:24 pm

Posted in Main | 52 Responses

Was something special going on today Lexington? I hadn’t heard; it’s been a pretty tame day for me. But for the only “alpine ski racer” you’ve ever bothered to know of, Lindsey Vonn, today marks her 29th birthday. Ms. Vonn is a Gold medalist and four time World Cup (but not the FIFA one..) champion. Aside from being really ridiculously good looking, Vonn is best known to we plebeians who don’t frequent Aspen as the skier who suffered a gruesome knee injury in February of this year, and of course, as Tiger Woods’ girlfriend. After announcing their relationship officially with several awkward professional photographs together,  they became one of the most bizarrely fascinating couples in the sports world. Just days ago, Vonn reassured her hometown Minneapolis Star Tribune that “fidelity is part of the foundation” of her relationship with Tiger. So…good luck with that Elin Lindsey, and we at KSR wish you the best on your 29th birthday.
On to a night of Madness:
Like most of you fine people, I was not fortunate enough to be in the house for this year’s Madness. But the recruits below were, and these guys got a show. Every moment and every word uttered by President John Calipari was directed at the recruits, and not just those present. No way that those five-star kids that missed out on this night aren’t going to be hearing about it later. $400,000 well-spent?
Class of 2014
Stanley Johnson
Trey Lyles
James Blackmon Jr.
Tyler Ulis (committed)
Karl Towns (committed)
Class of 2015
Eric Davis
Class of 2016
Harry Giles
Jayson Tatum
Josh Langford
Kobi Simmons
Class of 2017
Brian Bowen

The Mitchell Show:
Matthew Mitchell is my everything. He is the Justin Timberlake of Big Blue Madness. The man knows how to put on a show, just as Calipari knows how to utilize his Cal-isms to the utmost. Donning an afro wig, Mitchell outdid himself by dancing to James Brown AND doing the splits. That man must have done some serious stretching to prepare for tonight. But the UK Hoops coach was not done yet, and his “Hit Me Baby One More Time” routine, complete with schoolgirl backup dancers, brought me back to the not-so-distant yesteryear of the 1990s. Remember how great the economy was? Those were the days.. 
Mitchell closed out his performance, saying, “It can’t get any more stupid than that, can it?” No need for the self-deprecation Coach, it’s your world and we’re just living in it.
The UK Hoops team put on quite a show as well, with a whole lot of Kanye West during their introduction. The ladies broke into an unexpected Cousin Terio step team routine in the middle of their scrimmage; our friends at UK IMG could not have been more awkward for those 2 minutes. It was a treat. 

The Calipari products of the New Orleans Pelicans and Washington Wizards did a coin toss to see who got the UK home locker room for tomorrow night’s scrimmage. The Pelicans won. But clearly, Kentucky won–so many pros were in the house tonight.

All of the lights, all of the lights.

Another Calipari State of the Union:
You can read the full transcript of Cal’s State of the Union address here, and watch it in full here. As Twitter has likely already informed you–Cal (or his speechwriter) may be getting some calls from the offices of Mitch McConnell and Alison Lundergan Grimes.
Surrounded by Championship trophies, Cal’s speech brought down the house with his usual one-liners, and some even more amped up rhetoric than any we’ve heard from him before.  The best line of the night of course being, “We don’t just play college basketball.. We ARE college basketball.” It was even more emphatic than last year’s “we are the needle” speech, and the crowd surely did love it.
The entire speech was littered with references to the player’s first program and the success athletes like those present–John Wall and Anthony Davis, have found after their time at Kentucky. Developing into a “person of character” and into an NBA player was the mantra of the address.

Our biggest opponent? Ourselves, Calipari said. At Kentucky we compete against ourselves every day and we cannot let the strain and spotlight of this program affect us. We are the place to help you achieve your dreams. If you want to be developed as an NBA player, if you want to be developed as a person of character, you come here.

In a powerful and honest moment for Cal, he referred to the disappointment of last season saying, “We were humbled. I was humbled. Tonight, we put into action what we learned.”
Think this year’s speech topped the original “Ultimate Big Blue Madness” State of the Union moment?

Player Intros:
Jarrod Polson opened up the BBM intros by coming out of the floor in a glowing pantsuit with his number 3 adorned on the back. Glowing. Rhinestones. Yes, it was absolutely absurd, and he got the night started by cranking that Lion King, and it was oh so good.
For those of you who aren’t into electronic dance music (anyone older than me I would guess..) the song that Sam Malone came out to in epic, fist pumping fashion is called “Animals.” It is by Dutch house DJ Martin Garrix, and I’m sure that many of you are going to become EDM heads after tonight [sarcasm alert.] Here is the freaky music video for your post-BBM enjoyment.
As expected, Julius Randle got a LOUD roar upon his clearly unrehearsed intro. He may be shy, but Mr. Randle does not back down on the court. Defenders won’t stand a chance against him this season.
My favorite non Malone/Polson moment was certainly the Harrison twins introduction. Seeing Aaron and Andrew rise from the floor together, on opposite sides of the stage, the season of #twinning felt like it was officially under way.

This looks expensive..

The actual scrimmage:
Do we really care?
Fine, the Blue team won tonight’s scrimmage 65-49 over the white, led by Julius Randle who had 14-points. Other high scorers in the running clock scrimmage were Aaron Harrison and Alex Poythress, each adding 9. 
Stanley Johnson, James Blackmon, Trey Lyles, Tyler Ulis and Karl Towns all sat together during the scrimmage by the way…
We didn’t learn a great deal in the casual scrimmage between these two sides, but as was prophesied–Julius Randle is unstoppable.
His most impressive play, of many, was a breakaway in which he went behind the back to get around Hood in the lane for a monstrous dunk.
Marcus Lee showed off what makes him “athletic, athletic, athletic” with several high-flying swats, and some goal-tending as well, but hey it’s just practice right? And let’s face it, this team is made up of athletes.
Not only did the freshman show off why they may be the best recruiting class of all time, but the returnees showed off their skills as well.
Alex Poythress showed off an even more impressive physique as well as improved ball-handling in the scrimmage; he also had several big dunks–the best off a lob from Dominique Hawkins.
Jon Hood and Jarrod Polson looked more confident on both sides of the court as well; this team is going to be deeeeeep.

Love this picture almost as much as Tipton tweets.

This Louisville game has had me distracted so that’s all for tonight. We will have plenty more for you tomorrow on all the Madness happening in Lexington this weekend.
Central Florida just took the lead. This night is shaping up to be something even more special.
[Update:] Down go the Cards. The Louisville Cards. The St. Louis ones are headed to yet another World Series.
@BrennanKSR

[comment 52] [Link]

Six great moments from Big Blue Madness

By Mrs. Tyler Thompson on ©9:43 pm

Posted in Basketball, Main | 22 Responses

Photo by @KentuckyMBB

Big Blue Madness is over and it was one hell of a show. Drew and I are still in shock over it all, but here are six quick moments that stood out to us:
MRS. TYLER:
Cal’s sermon
Looking back at the transcript, Cal’s speech wasn’t as titillating on paper as it was in person, but good lord, the man can preach. Cal was in full Cal mode during the speech, borderline shouting from excitement. With Kentucky’s National Championship trophies lined up in front of him, he was a preacher at the pulpit, delivering the good news to the Big Blue Nation. My favorite line:

We are the place to help you achieve your dreams. We don’t just play college basketball, we ARE college basketball.

As only Cal can, he rocked the sermon in Dad jeans and a button down.
Sam Malone
Coming in, I was ready to swear on a stack of bibles that Marcus Lee would have the best dance routine during the player intros. Much to everyone’s surprise, it was Sam Malone that brought down the house with his dance routine. I don’t even know what it was, but I enjoyed it. Who knew he had it in him?
The UK Hoops Cousin Terio Mob/Step routine
The “Cousin Terio” dance has become an absolute phenomenon, and at least five players did it during their intros. However, they were all showed up by the women’s team, who ended their scrimmage with an impromptu Cousin Terio mob, with all players meeting at midcourt doing a variation of the dance. After breaking for applause, they lined up and did a step routine that makes me feel incredibly white and uncoordinated. Well done, ladies.
DREW:
Jerry Tipton tweets.
Listen, this isn’t the way I wanted to walk away from Madness, but I can’t help it. Jerry Tipton’s tweets were the highlight of the night for me. I mean that. On a night that saw Kentucky’s historic recruiting class introduced to college basketball’s most passionate fan base, I’m walking away with a smile on my face because Jerry Tipton tweeted, “Cal wearing black sports coat over white shit as he takes podium.”


That’s funny to me, as was the rest of his commentary for the night. He killed it…
“Player numbers illuminated in darkened Rupp.”
“Indoor fireworks. Much sizzle and fizzle.”
“Rotating spotlights circling court like electronic birds of prey. Music evokes line from Spinal Tap: Turned up to 11.”
The twins came out together.
Rather than watching them fight over who gets called last, like two brothers fighting over an XBox controller, UK sent out Andrew and Aaron Harrison to Big Blue Nation at the same time. And it was awesome. UK’s starting backcourt emerged from underneath the stage on opposite ends as Jay-Z’s “Crown”, one of my favorite songs, pumped up the crowd leading into the scrimmage. They didn’t dance, but they didn’t have to; they’re entrance said it all. The twins are here.
Matthew Mitchell as James Brown.
It wasn’t the Michael Jackson or MC Hammer of yesteryear, but Coach Mitchell still brought the funk to kick off Big Blue Madness 2013. The Britney Spears routine? That was a little unexpected.
Still, it’s his world and we’re just living in it.
More coming throughout the weekend…

[comment 22] [Link]