Gerald Raymond Zellner
MilitaryGerald Zellner is my father in law.
Landing strip Marshall at Lindbergh Airfield, outside of Paris, who directed B-17 Flying Fortress (serial number 42-97462) "Judy II" to her crash landing site in France on 8 September 1944. During one of his busy days marshaling planes he was driving down the runway to the east end. He looked up to see a B-17, the Judy II, lined up perfectly with the strip and only one prop on the left side turning. The B-17 did not have its landing gear down, and it was going to crash land on his airstrip; the only one operating currently in Paris. At the south end of the strip there were two full planes of medical evacuees, C-47s. Gerald thought to himself, if the plane lands with that one prop, and hits hard, it will probably barrel roll right into the C-47s. He stood up in the Jeep and attempted to signal the incoming damaged plane. He signaled them to go to the north of the strip, to a field with tall heavy grass, away from all the planes that were near the strip. That is when he noticed the prop on the left had stopped working. The pilot managed to move the plane far enough north to not hit the strip. GR swears when the plane passed him, the pilot gave him a thumbs up. The plane belly landed, driving the ball turret up into the fuselage. It slid across the tall grass, and all four props were bent back. The plane did not explode or catch fire. The men aboard her, as far as he knew, all got out safely. The plane was still where she landed, when he shipped off to his next mission.
Connections
See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Judy II
- Unit: 379th Bomb Group 527th Bomb Squadron
Revisions
taken from a paper "THE ZELLNER BOYS GO TO WAR:
Patriotism and Sacrifice in the Greatest Generation" by Colleen Harman, information gathered from Gerald Zellner in an interview.