Bio

Robert Blackburn was my father.  Born  Aug. 19th, 1920, died Dec. 29th, 2003.  I would like to update the info on his page:  He always told us throughout the years that he was a tail gunner.  He said that when the plane was hit and started to go down, it was spinning out of control and there was no way he could climb out of the tail section turret and tunnel.  As they got closer to the ground, the plane broke apart and he fell  out.  He pulled the chute but was too close to the ground and landed very hard.  Damaged is knees and couldn't stand up - was captured in minutes. After hospitalization, he was sent to Stalag Luft 3 (where the "great escape" had occurred a couple months before) and 3 or 4 months later was shipped to Stalag 17B. They were then marched out in the winter of 1945 to escape the Russians until finally abandoned the Germans.