From "B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the Pacific War" by Martin W Bowman:
On January 8 Capt Jay Rousek's BS crew flew a mission to Salama/Lae on the north coast of New Guinea in a B-17E 41-2657 Old Faithful as engineer Sgt Hohmann recalls:
We had just cleared the Owen Stanley range and were about to form into a compact group when we were attacked by four Zeros. The crew was able to drive them off when an aeorplane came out of nowhere at "12 o'clock high." He was way out of range of my 0.50-cals but I fired off a round or two to let him know that I saw him. In return, I saw his two wing guns wink red while in a dive upside down. That's all I saw, and he pulled up out of the dive going away from me.
I felt Jay pull on my flight suit and I tried to tell him what I saw and why I was so frustrated when he told me to go below and see what damage we had sustained. That's when I knew we were hit. I dropped into the navigator/bombardier's position and found Walt Lucien, the bombardier in tears pointing to Duffee, the navigator.
One look told me that LT Roy K Duffee was dead. He was leaning forward over the table just as I had seen him many times, only this time the whole top and back of his head was caved in. I took his pulse and confirmed he was dead and I took him out of his chair and laid him on the floor and covered him with his flight jacket.
On January 8 Capt Jay Rousek's BS crew flew a mission to Salama/Lae on the north coast of New Guinea in a B-17E 41-2657 Old Faithful as engineer Sgt Hohmann recalls:
We had just cleared the Owen Stanley range and were about to form into a compact group when we were attacked by four Zeros. The crew was able to drive them off when an aeorplane came out of nowhere at "12 o'clock high." He was way out of range of my 0.50-cals but I fired off a round or two to let him know that I saw him. In return, I saw his two wing guns wink red while in a dive upside down. That's all I saw, and he pulled up out of the dive going away from me.
I felt Jay pull on my flight suit and I tried to tell him what I saw and why I was so frustrated when he told me to go below and see what damage we had sustained. That's when I knew we were hit. I dropped into the navigator/bombardier's position and found Walt Lucien, the bombardier in tears pointing to Duffee, the navigator.
One look told me that LT Roy K Duffee was dead. He was leaning forward over the table just as I had seen him many times, only this time the whole top and back of his head was caved in. I took his pulse and confirmed he was dead and I took him out of his chair and laid him on the floor and covered him with his flight jacket.
From "B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the Pacific War" by Martin W Bowman:
On January 8 Capt Jay Rousek's BS crew flew a mission to Salama/Lae on the north coast of New Guinea in a B-17E 41-2657 Old Faithful as engineer Sgt Hohmann recalls:
We had just cleared the Owen Stanley range and were about to form into a compact group when we were attacked by four Zeros. The crew was able to drive them off when an aeorplane came out of nowhere at "12 o'clock high." He was way out of range of my 0.50-cals but I fired off a round or two to let him know that I saw him. In return, I saw his two wing guns wink red while in a dive upside down. That's all I saw, and he pulled up out of the dive going away from me.
I felt Jay pull on my flight suit and I tried to tell him what I saw and why I was so frustrated when he told me to go below and see what damage we had sustained. That's when I knew we were hit. I dropped into the navigator/bombardier's position and found Walt Lucien, the bombardier in tears pointing to Duffee, the navigator.
One look told me that LT Roy K Duffee was dead. He was leaning forward over the table just as I had seen him many times, only this time the whole top and back of his head was caved in. I took his pulse and confirmed he was dead and I took him out of his chair and laid him on the floor and covered him with his flight jacket.
On January 8 Capt Jay Rousek's BS crew flew a mission to Salama/Lae on the north coast of New Guinea in a B-17E 41-2657 Old Faithful as engineer Sgt Hohmann recalls:
We had just cleared the Owen Stanley range and were about to form into a compact group when we were attacked by four Zeros. The crew was able to drive them off when an aeorplane came out of nowhere at "12 o'clock high." He was way out of range of my 0.50-cals but I fired off a round or two to let him know that I saw him. In return, I saw his two wing guns wink red while in a dive upside down. That's all I saw, and he pulled up out of the dive going away from me.
I felt Jay pull on my flight suit and I tried to tell him what I saw and why I was so frustrated when he told me to go below and see what damage we had sustained. That's when I knew we were hit. I dropped into the navigator/bombardier's position and found Walt Lucien, the bombardier in tears pointing to Duffee, the navigator.
One look told me that LT Roy K Duffee was dead. He was leaning forward over the table just as I had seen him many times, only this time the whole top and back of his head was caved in. I took his pulse and confirmed he was dead and I took him out of his chair and laid him on the floor and covered him with his flight jacket.
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