It was very early on the morning of 27th July 1942 at Horn Island,
in northern Australia, and completely dark for another mission to Lae.
Groundcrews helped the 30th Bombardment Squadron prepare and start up
six Fortresses for the mission. One of the participants was 1/Lt Carey
L. O'Bryan flying unnamed #640. Another was unnamed #460 which had arrived
in Australia on 15th January 1942 via the African delivery route flown
by 2/Lt C. H. Millhouse.
Both bombers had conducted operations in the Philippines before being
evacuated back to Australia and being transferred from the 7th to the
19th Bombardment Group. Part of the Air Corps pre-takeoff check list
for the B-17 was to clear the bombardier's area of all personnel before
take-off. This was standard operating procedure, as in any take-off
crash the nose of the bomber was most exposed. O'Bryan was almost prepared
to taxi when to his complete surprise he was lifted from his seat as
the bomber's nose was torn off with a violent screeching sound of torn
metal. O'Bryan shut down the engines and shouted for everyone to abandon
the aircraft.
The end result is seen here, an interesting photo indeed.
