Ralph Pettyjohn, Ball Turret Gunner, B-17 Flying Fortress;

U.S. Army Air Forces, Eighth Air Force, 94th Bomb Group, 410th Squadron.

(Bury St. Edmunds Air Base, East Anglia, England), European Theater, WWII Veteran. (1943-45)



PILOT TRAINING IN WISCONSIN & AERIAL GUNNERY SCHOOL IN TEXAS

Ralph Pettyjohn initially went into the Army Air Forces Enlisted Reserve Corps (3) and did his flight training with the goal of getting into gliders. He did his Civilian Pilot Training (4) at Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and at the end of it received a private pilot's license. He was then sent home until he was needed. He never did start the glider program. He was called back by the Army Air Forces and went to Aerial (or Flexible) Gunnery school at Laredo, Texas (5) and then went on to Kearney, Nebraska (6) where his B-17 crew was formed. He was the ball turret gunner. (7)



B-17 FLIGHT TO EUROPE

He traveled to Europe with his bomber crew via Sioux City, Iowa and then Goose Bay, Labrador (8), which he remembers for its 12 feet of snow! (9) Then they landed in Ireland. After reaching the United Kingdom, Ralph and his crew became a part of the 94th Bomb Group, (10) 410th Squadron. (11)



MISSIONS WITH THE 94TH BOMB GROUP

His third mission, on April 12, 1944 was memorable because of the Messerschmitt 109‘s and Fw 190‘s. (12) They lined up five abreast in head-on attacks, and ten or eleven B-17s were lost on that mission. Ralph‘s 24th mission was on D-Day, which he remembers vividly for the size of the invasion force.(13) His 26th mission was to Lyon, France where his B-17 made 500 foot drops of supplies to the Free French.



RECROSSING THE ATLANTIC

The 99th Bomb Group (14) came home at that time,and even though he had not completed 30 missions, Ralph had a 30 day leave, so he crossed the Atlantic on that boat. When they got to Atlantic City the officers were taken back to Europe to continue flying, but not the enlisted men, like Ralph. [The 99th‘s last mission was April 26th. V-E Day was May 8th, 1945.(15)]



B-29 GUNNERY SCHOOL

Ralph then wanted to get into B-29s, so he went to Las Vegas to study gunnery on the B-29. They B-29 had remotely operated guns instead of a ball turret. They sent him through the gunnery routine again. At B-29 Gunnery School, Las Vegas, (16) they trained in a B-24 with B-29 equipment. They got up at 3 am and flew from 6 am to noon. After Las Vegas he went to Albuquerque, New Mexico, (17) and on July 11th he took a trip.The war ended before he could be sent to the Pacific. [V-J Day (18) was on August 14, 1945.]



For more information see Ralph's 8th AFHS-MN webpage at

https://sites.google.com/site/8thafhsmn/pictures/ralph-pettyjohn-b-17-b…



27 missions