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Heaven Can Wait
B-17 Fortresses of the Bloody Hundredth- the Eighth Air Forces 100th Bomb Group
- return to Thorpe Abbotts following a raid on enemy oil refineries, September
11, 1944. Nicolas Trudgians moving tribute to the Bloody Hundredth shows the
imaginatively named B-17, Heaven Can Wait, on final approach to Thorpe Abbotts
after the intense battle on September 11, 1944. Skilfully piloted by Harry
Hempy, the seriously damaged B-17G has struggled 500 miles home on two engines
to make it back to England. They lost their tail gunner that fateful day. Below
the descending bomber stream, an agricultural traction engine peacefully ploughs
the wheat stubble in preparation for next year’s vital crop, the farm workers
oblivious to the unimaginable traumas so recently experienced by the crews of
the returning B-17 Fortresses. |
