T.S. Collides with FW-190
From Black Thursday by Martin Caidin
…This B-17 [The ‘T.S.’ serial 42-3211] met a head-on attack by three Focke-Wulf FW-190 fighters. The gunners exploded two of them, and the top turret poured a stream of shells into the cockpit of the third. With a dead man at the controls, the fighter screamed in, and at a closing speed of 550 miles per hour smashed head on into the number-three engine. The tremendous impact of the crash tore off the propeller. It knocked the heavy bomber completely out of formation as though a giant hand has swatted a fly. The fighter cartwheeled crazily over the B-17. It cut halfway through the wing, and then sliced a third of the way through the horizontal stabilizer. The top and ball turrets immediately jammed, the radio equipment was smashed to wreckage, and all the instruments ‘went crazy.’ Pieces of metal from the exploding, disintegrating Focke-Wulf tore through the fuselage, and a German gun barrel buried itself in the wall between the radio room and the bomb bay. Crews of nearby bombers watched the collision. They saw a tremendous explosion, and the bomber hurtling helplessly out of control, tumbling as she fell. They reported when they returned to base that the Flying Fortress had blown up, and that the crew must be considered dead. The old Queen hadn’t blown up, and the crew was far from dead. The pilots struggled wildly in the cockpit, and somehow between them managed to bring their careening bomber back under control. The gunners shot down a fourth fighter that had closed in to watch the proceedings. And then they brought her all the way back to England, and scraped her down for a belly landing on the runway. Postscript: not a man was injured.
From Ridgewell’s Flying Fortresses by Ron Mackay
As ‘TS’ was making her turn off the target, Lt. Weniger called in a pair of FW-190’s who were climbing at full rate on a parallel course, and when far enough ahead reversing their course to make what he later described as a ‘balls to the wall’ forward pass. The ensuing events are best related in his own words: ‘Prior to coming into range you could see their wings belching fire. All our gunner were firing at max rate, but they kept on coming. At this point I knew we were in for a real problem. The lead fighter rolled to the left and Split S down some four or five lengths ahead of us. Sgt. Tucker (BT) shouted out ‘He almost took my guns with him!’ The wingman to the right was either dead or damned mad at us for bombing his airfield when he also rolled left for a split S. His aircraft was perpendicular when he crashed into us between the number 3 engine and the fuselage. His nose section and propeller became unglued and departed over the top of number 4, cutting a deep gash in the nacelle top which immediately poured forth a a big black stream of oil resembling a Texas oil gusher into the air.
The crashing Fw. continued on down the fuselage, embedding one of his 20MM guns in our bomb bay and part of his fuselage lodged in our aircraft…Sgt. Budzik (RWG) was holding his gun when the Fw hit the barrel. He repoted the shock was so great that it threw him to the floor. The Fw’s progress knocked the dorsal fin out of alignment and heavily damaged the right horizontal stabilizer….the FW left the scene in an un-controlled cartwheel — that’s the hard way to knock down one of Jerry’s fighters, and is not recommended for longevity for bomber crews!
Due to the impact ‘TS’ was in a dead stall. Acting on reflex, Eddie and I rammed the yokes forward to their full extent and pushed the throttles forward for maximum power. Then it was time for a little prayer to see if TS would would either fly or fall off on one wing into an irretrieveable stall or spin…As the group began to fade into the distance and we were letting down at 500 ft a minute to maintain flying speed, ‘Smitty’ (Lt. Marvin Smith, naviagtor) came up from below to report that all was okay and that the nearest base was Manston. We could see the Channel when to our surprise and bad luck we flew over a flak battery, and big black smoke-puffs appeared all ’round. We received a number of hits, happily none direct; evasive action was very limited due to TS’ condition. After running out of range (we later counted over 1000 holes in TS) we were sure nothing else could happen, although we were flying on a wing and a prayer… In this we were soon proved wrong!
O’Donnell, on hs second return from the rear, called in German fighters. When asked if he thought they would attack the question was answered a moment later when a 20mm exploded under Eddie’s seat.
From the Base Record
Account 1: “July 14, 1943 – On this mission, Lt Manchester and crew experienced a miraculous escape from death when a `dead’ FW190 plowed into the right wing of their Fort “TS”, between #3 engine and the fuselage. Pieces of the FW were found later jammed into the empty bomb bays. The Nazi fighter continued on over the wing, doubled up the right waist gun and slightly damaged the right horizontal stabilizer. Not a member of the crew was injured. Lt Manchester brought the crippled ‘TS’ into an unusually smooth belly landing at an English fighter base near the south coast, but at least two e/a did not make it back, thanks to Manchester’s gunners.”
Account 2: “The feature story of the mission was written by the crew of the ‘TS’, piloted by 2nd Lt. Edwin R. Manchester who returned safely to England after a mid-air collision with an FW190 which was hit by the guns of 2nd Lt. Robert C. Black, bombardier. The German fighter, zooming out of control after it received Black’s bullets, crashed into the No. 3 engine of the ‘TS’, gashing the bomber’s right wing, and then cartwheeled over the fuselage, pretzeling the right waist gun and cutting a third of the way through the vertical stabilizer. Knocked out of formation, the ‘TS’ fought off a subsequent attack on the tail by six more FW’s (knocking down one in the process) and, escorted by P-47’s made its way to Manston, England, where Lt. Manchester ‘set her down’ so neatly that no member of the crew sustained a scratch.”
Base Public Relations Officer, 2nd Lt Saul B. Schwartz, took the crew of “TS”, pilot Lt Manchester, to London for a broadcast account of their mid-air incident of July 14, the program to be re-broadcast in the U.S. on August 8.
An Incomplete History 