- 4 weeks ago
When two B-17 bombers collided over the North Sea, Captain Glenn Rojohn and Lieutenant William Leak were forced to fly them as one burning aircraft. The Little Skipper had been struck from below by McNab’s plane during the Hamburg raid, leaving propellers, gun turret, fire, and wrecked controls locked together at 20,000 feet.
What follows is one of the most extraordinary World War 2 aviation stories ever recorded: a damaged B-17, desperate crew decisions, a shrinking fuel supply, and a terrifying descent over German territory. Rojohn and Leak fought to keep the conjoined bombers in the air long enough for the crew to bail out, then made an impossible landing that ended in explosion, survival, and capture.
This military history documentary-style narration explores bomber combat, B-17 Flying Fortress emergencies, mid-air collision, and the “Piggyback Flight” over Germany. It is a gripping story for listeners who enjoy WW2 stories, aviation history, war documentaries, and dramatic historical narration. Ideal for fans of military history, aircraft survival stories, and forgotten heroism.
Search terms: WW2 stories, B-17 Flying Fortress, military history, aviation disaster, bomber crew survival, World War 2 documentary, historical narration, war stories, and aircraft emergency accounts.
What follows is one of the most extraordinary World War 2 aviation stories ever recorded: a damaged B-17, desperate crew decisions, a shrinking fuel supply, and a terrifying descent over German territory. Rojohn and Leak fought to keep the conjoined bombers in the air long enough for the crew to bail out, then made an impossible landing that ended in explosion, survival, and capture.
This military history documentary-style narration explores bomber combat, B-17 Flying Fortress emergencies, mid-air collision, and the “Piggyback Flight” over Germany. It is a gripping story for listeners who enjoy WW2 stories, aviation history, war documentaries, and dramatic historical narration. Ideal for fans of military history, aircraft survival stories, and forgotten heroism.
Search terms: WW2 stories, B-17 Flying Fortress, military history, aviation disaster, bomber crew survival, World War 2 documentary, historical narration, war stories, and aircraft emergency accounts.
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LearningTranscript
00:00At 11.47 a.m. on December 31, 1944, Captain Glenn Rojon felt a violent shudder tear through his B
00:08-17 flying fortress 20,000 feet above the North Sea,
00:13watching Lieutenant William McNabb's bomber rising directly into his aircraft from below.
00:1825 years old, 32 combat missions, zero mid-air collisions until now.
00:24The 100 bombers attacking Hamburg that morning had faced approximately 50 German Messerschmitt fighters and heavy flack that already claimed
00:3311 B-17s.
00:35Metal screamed against metal.
00:37Rojon's B-17, the little skipper, lurched sideways.
00:41The collision happened so fast that neither pilot could react.
00:46McNabb had been filling a gap in the formation left by another downed bomber.
00:50German fighters had scattered the tight defensive boxes.
00:53Visibility through the flack smoke made maintaining proper spacing nearly impossible.
00:59The propeller blades and top turret guns of McNabb's plane, Nine Lives, punched upward through the belly of Rojon's aircraft.
01:06The two bombers locked together.
01:09Rojon pulled back on the controls.
01:11Nothing responded normally.
01:13The yoke felt wrong.
01:14The aircraft wanted to roll left and dive.
01:17His co-pilot, 2nd Lieutenant William Leak, already had his feet braced against the instrument panel, pulling back with everything
01:24he had.
01:25The combined weight of two fully loaded B-17s, nearly 60,000 pounds of aluminum, fuel, bombs, and men, fought
01:33against them.
01:34Rojon looked down through the cockpit floor.
01:36He could see McNabb's cockpit below him.
01:38The two aircraft had become one grotesque eight-engine monster.
01:43The propeller from the lower plane had chewed through his fuselage.
01:46Hydraulic fluids sprayed across the interior.
01:49Electrical systems sparked and died.
01:52Half his instruments went dark.
01:54The bloody hundredth had already lost 12 aircraft on this mission.
01:58108 men dead, missing, or about to be captured.
02:02December 31st would be remembered as one of the five worst days in the group's combat history.
02:07Rojon knew the statistics.
02:10The average B-17 crew in 1943 survived 11 missions.
02:14He had beaten those odds.
02:17Now, physics and gravity were about to collect their debt.
02:21If you want to see how Rojon and Leak kept two locked B-17s in the air, please hit that
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02:28It helps us share more forgotten stories of courage.
02:31Subscribe if you haven't already.
02:33Back to Rojon.
02:34The aircraft began losing altitude.
02:37100 feet per minute.
02:39Then 200.
02:40Rojon tried the rudder pedals.
02:42Some response, but not enough.
02:44The elevators barely functioned with half the control cables severed by McNabb's propeller.
02:50He could feel the lower aircraft's weight pulling them into a spin.
02:54The radio crackled with voices from other crews in the formation.
02:58Someone reported seeing the collision.
03:01Another voice called out,
03:02More German fighters at 3 o'clock high.
03:05Rojon ignored them all.
03:07His entire world had narrowed to the control column in his hands and the altimeter unwinding in front of him.
03:14Behind him in the fuselage, his crew were trying to assess the damage.
03:18The ball turret gunner reported fire in the lower aircraft.
03:22Rojon could smell it now.
03:24Aviation fuel and burning electrical insulation.
03:27The top turret gunner said he could see clear through the floor into McNabb's bomber.
03:32The two aircraft were inseparable.
03:34The North Sea waited 5 miles below.
03:37German-occupied territory lay 20 miles ahead.
03:41Rojon checked his fuel gauges.
03:43The collision had ruptured something.
03:45Fuel streamed from multiple punctures.
03:48He had maybe 20 minutes of flight time remaining, maybe less.
03:52The lower bomber had started burning.
03:54Black smoke poured over his left wing.
03:57He could hear ammunition cooking off in the flames.
04:0050 caliber rounds exploding like popcorn.
04:03Each detonation shook both aircraft.
04:06The fire was spreading.
04:07And Rojon had to make a decision that would determine whether anyone walked away from this.
04:15Rojon turned the conjoined aircraft left.
04:17The maneuver took every ounce of strength both pilots could generate.
04:21The control surfaces responded like they were moving through molasses.
04:24Banking 15 degrees required the force normally needed for a full 90-degree turn.
04:31Leak kept his boots planted against the panel, arms locked, pulling back to prevent the nose from dropping.
04:37They were heading back toward German territory.
04:40England lay 70 miles northwest across the North Sea.
04:43Impossible!
04:44The aircraft would never make it.
04:47Rojon aimed for the German coast 20 miles south.
04:50Neutral mathematics governed his choice.
04:53Fuel consumption, rate of descent, wind speed, distance.
04:57The numbers allowed only one answer.
05:00The fire from McNabb's aircraft had spread to the wing route.
05:04Orange flames licked across the aluminum skin of the little skipper's left wing.
05:08The heat penetrated the cockpit.
05:10Rojon could feel it on his face.
05:12The instrument panel temperature climbed past normal operating range.
05:16More hydraulic lines failed.
05:18The rudder pedals went mushy.
05:20Steering now depended almost entirely on differential engine thrust.
05:25Rojon adjusted throttles on the four engines, using power to force the locked aircraft where the controls could not.
05:32The technique worked, but consumed fuel at an accelerating rate.
05:36Below them, through the hole torn in the fuselage, Rojon glimpsed movement in McNabb's cockpit.
05:42Or possibly, just shadows from the smoke.
05:45He could not tell if McNabb or his co-pilot still lived.
05:48The radio gave no indication.
05:50No voices from the lower aircraft.
05:53The impact had either killed them instantly, or rendered them unconscious.
05:57Perhaps the flames had already reached them.
06:00Rojon had no way to know.
06:01The two crews had become passengers on a falling piece of wreckage that still somehow maintained controlled flight.
06:07The altimeter showed 18,000 feet.
06:11Altitude loss had accelerated.
06:12300 feet per minute now.
06:14The fire was consuming the aircraft faster than Rojon had calculated.
06:18He keyed the intercom and ordered his crew to bail out.
06:21The top turret gunner and radio operator, technical sergeants Orville Elkin and Edward Newhouse, acknowledged immediately.
06:28They made their way aft toward the waste door.
06:31The navigator, 2nd Lieutenant Robert Washington, and bombardier, Sergeant James Shirley, followed.
06:38Four men moving through a burning aircraft, stepping carefully around the gaping hole where McNabb's propeller had chewed through the
06:45floor.
06:45Waste gunner, Sergeant Roy Little, and tail gunner, Staff Sergeant Francis Chase, prepared to jump.
06:51The ball turret gunner had already reported his position uninhabitable.
06:55Smoke filled the turret.
06:57He had cranked himself up into the fuselage, abandoning his station.
07:01Six men from Rojon's crew would bail out.
07:04The parachutes would deploy.
07:05They would drift down into German territory and spend the rest of the war as prisoners.
07:10But they would live.
07:12Rojon ordered Leek to go.
07:13The co-pilot shook his head.
07:15No words.
07:16Just that single gesture.
07:19Leek understood the physics as clearly as Rojon did.
07:22One pilot could not hold the controls alone.
07:24Without both men pulling back with maximum force, the aircraft would enter a flat spin within seconds.
07:31Centrifugal force would pin any remaining pilot to a seat.
07:34Bailing out would become impossible.
07:37Leek refusing the order meant both men would ride the burning wreckage to the ground.
07:41Or, Rojon would have to physically overpower his co-pilot and throw him out of the aircraft.
07:47The crew began jumping.
07:49One man every few seconds.
07:51The aircraft lurched each time someone exited through the waste door.
07:54The weight distribution kept changing.
07:57Rojon compensated with throttle adjustments.
08:0017,000 feet.
08:01The smoke in the cockpit thicket.
08:03Visibility dropped to a few yards.
08:06Both pilots could barely see the instruments.
08:08The compass gyrated uselessly.
08:10The artificial horizon had failed.
08:12Navigation relied entirely on glimpses of the ground through breaks in the smoke.
08:1616,000 feet.
08:19The last man jumped.
08:21Radio operator Newhouse went out the waste door and his parachute blossomed white against
08:26the gray winter sky.
08:28Rojon and Leek were alone.
08:30Two pilots in a cockpit attached to a burning aircraft attached to another burning aircraft.
08:36The fuel gauge read nearly empty.
08:39Flames consumed both bombers.
08:42The German coast appeared ahead through the haze.
08:44Rojon could see the shoreline.
08:47Towns.
08:48Fields.
08:49The ground rising up to meet them at 300 feet per minute.
08:52And somewhere below them, McNabb and his co-pilot either already dead or dying in their
08:58locked cockpit.
08:59Unable to escape.
09:01Unable to do anything except wait for impact.
09:0615,000 feet.
09:08Rojon made a decision that violated every principle of bomber operations.
09:12He reached forward and pulled the mixture controls for all four of his engines to idle cut off.
09:18The right cyclone radials sputtered and died.
09:21The propellers windmilled to a stop.
09:23Suddenly, the only engines running were the four on McNabb's aircraft below them.
09:28The locked bombers were now flying on the power of the lower B-17 alone.
09:32The physics made sense.
09:34Eight engines consumed fuel twice as fast as four.
09:37The reduced power demand meant McNabb's remaining fuel would last longer.
09:42And shutting down the top engines eliminated one source of heat feeding the fire.
09:46The maneuver worked.
09:48Partially.
09:49The rate of descent slowed to 200 feet per minute.
09:52The fire, deprived of the airflow from Rojon's propellers, burned less intensely across the wing route.
09:58Visibility in the cockpit improved as smoke decreased.
10:02Leak eased his grip slightly on the control column.
10:04The aircraft still required full back pressure to prevent a dive.
10:08But the reduction in total weight from the stopped engines made the load marginally more bearable.
10:14Marginally.
10:15Both pilots still had their feet braced hard against the instrument panel, pulling with locked arms and aching shoulders.
10:2214,000 feet.
10:23German civilians on the ground looked up and pointed.
10:26Some believed they were witnessing a new Allied secret weapon.
10:30An eight-engine double bomber.
10:32Reports would later circulate through German intelligence networks about this strange aircraft.
10:37The observers saw two distinct fuselages, one riding piggyback on the other, trailing smoke, descending slowly toward the farmland east
10:46of Wilhelmshaven.
10:47Several civilians ran for cover, assuming the bomber would crash into their village.
10:52Others stood transfixed, watching something no one had ever seen before.
10:56Rojan scanned the terrain below.
10:59He needed flat ground.
11:00A field.
11:01Something without buildings or trees.
11:03The winter landscape offered mostly farmland.
11:06Patches of snow covered the stubble from harvested crops.
11:09A few dirt roads cut across the geometric pattern of fields.
11:13No suitable landing zone appeared.
11:15Every open area ended in a hedgerow, a ditch, a stone wall, or a barn.
11:22Landing a single B-17 required at least 1,500 feet of clear runway.
11:27Landing two locked B-17s required a miracle and terrain that did not exist.
11:3212,000 feet.
11:34The fire flared again.
11:36Wind shifting through the damaged structure found new fuel sources.
11:40Hydraulic fluid ignited.
11:41The flames spread forward along the left wing toward the number two engine nacelle.
11:47If the fire reached the fuel tanks in that wing, both aircraft would explode.
11:52Rojan had perhaps five minutes before thermal stress caused structural failure.
11:56The wing would simply fold upward, torn off by aerodynamic forces acting on weakened metal.
12:02The locked bombers would tumble out of control.
12:05No possibility of survival.
12:07From his cockpit, suspended above McNabb's aircraft, Rojan could now see directly into
12:13the lower B-17's interior through the torn metal.
12:16He glimpsed movement.
12:18Then nothing.
12:19The angle made observation difficult.
12:21Smoke obscured details.
12:23McNabb and his co-pilot, 2nd Lieutenant Nelson Vaughn, had not responded to radio calls.
12:29The impact might have killed them instantly.
12:31Or rendered them unconscious.
12:33Or trapped them in their seats, wounded and unable to move.
12:37Rojan had no way to communicate with them.
12:39The intercom systems of the two aircraft were not connected.
12:42He could only watch the lower cockpit and wonder whether anyone below still lived.
12:4710,000 feet.
12:49Four crew members from McNabb's bomber had managed to bail out before the collision locked the
12:53aircraft together.
12:54The tail gunner, both waist gunners, and the ball turret gunner had escaped.
12:59But McNabb, Vaughn, and four other crew members remained trapped in the lower aircraft.
13:05The fire consumed their bomber from the tail forward.
13:08Metal groaned and twisted.
13:10Rivets popped loose under the thermal expansion.
13:12The structural integrity of both aircraft degraded with each passing second.
13:18Rojan spotted a large open field three miles ahead.
13:21Snow-covered, flat, perhaps 1,800 feet long.
13:26Trees bordered the eastern edge.
13:28A farmhouse stood at the western end.
13:30The field was barely adequate for a normal landing.
13:33For two locked bombers trailing fire, it represented certain catastrophe.
13:38But Rojan had no alternatives remaining.
13:41The fuel gauge showed empty.
13:43The engines on the lower aircraft would quit within minutes.
13:46When that happened, both bombers would drop like stones.
13:50He had to attempt a landing while some control authority remained.
13:54He aimed for the field.
13:568,000 feet.
13:57The ground rushed up faster now.
14:017,000 feet.
14:03The number three engine on McNabb's aircraft coughed and quit.
14:06Fuel starvation.
14:08The propeller continued windmilling in the airstream, but produced no thrust.
14:13Rojan felt the asymmetric power immediately.
14:15The locked bombers yawed hard to the right.
14:18He compensated with left rudder.
14:20The pedals barely responded.
14:22Most of the rudder control cables had been severed in the collision.
14:25He advanced the throttle on McNabb's number one engine to maximum power,
14:29using the differential thrust to counteract the yaw.
14:32The technique worked, but increased fuel consumption on the remaining three engines.
14:37The mathematics of survival had just become significantly worse.
14:416,000 feet.
14:43Rojan trimmed the aircraft for the approach.
14:45Or tried to.
14:46The trim wheel spun uselessly.
14:49No cable tension.
14:50The elevator trim system had failed completely.
14:53Both pilots would need to maintain full back pressure on the controls throughout the landing.
14:58Any reduction in force would result in the nose dropping and the aircraft impacting nose first at over 100 knots.
15:05A nose first impact would kill them instantly.
15:09Leek adjusted his foot position against the instrument panel, seeking better leverage.
15:13His legs trembled from sustained exertion.
15:16Rojan's arms burned with accumulated lactic acid.
15:19Neither man could maintain this effort much longer.
15:225,000 feet.
15:24The number four engine on the lower aircraft lost power.
15:27Not a complete failure, but a steady degradation.
15:31RPM dropped from 2,300 to 1,800.
15:34Oil pressure fluctuated wildly.
15:36Black smoke poured from the exhaust stacks.
15:39The engine was destroying itself.
15:41Combat damage or thermal stress, or simply mechanical failure after hours of operation under extreme conditions.
15:48The cause did not matter.
15:50The result was a further reduction in available thrust.
15:53The locked bombers descended faster.
15:56250 feet per minute, then 300.
15:59Rojan could do nothing to arrest the increased descent rate, 4,000 feet.
16:04The airspeed indicator showed 130 knots.
16:07Too fast for landing.
16:09Rojan needed to reduce speed to 90 knots for touchdown.
16:13But reducing throttle would eliminate the small amount of lift, keeping both aircraft airborne.
16:19He faced an impossible equation.
16:22Land too fast, and the aircraft would cartwheel across the field, disintegrating on impact.
16:28Maintain current speed, and overshoot the field entirely, crashing into the trees beyond.
16:34He chose a compromise.
16:36Gradual throttle reduction.
16:38Slow deceleration.
16:40Hope the remaining thrust would sustain flight long enough to reach the field.
16:453,000 feet.
16:47Wind gusts buffeted the locked bombers.
16:49Winter storm systems moving across northern Germany created turbulent conditions at low altitude.
16:56The aircraft pitched and rolled in response to each gust.
17:00Rojan fought the controls constantly.
17:02Small corrections.
17:04Quick throttle adjustments.
17:05The workload exceeded anything he had experienced in 32 previous missions.
17:11His vision narrowed to the instruments, the field ahead, the altimeter unwinding.
17:16Everything else ceased to exist.
17:20Leek maintained back pressure while Rojan flew the approach.
17:24Two men functioning as one.
17:262,000 feet.
17:28Rojan could see individual buildings on the farm below.
17:31A barn.
17:32A house.
17:34Outbuildings.
17:35People running across the yard.
17:37German soldiers from a nearby garrison moving toward the expected crash site.
17:42The civilians had evacuated.
17:44The field lay empty except for patches of snow and the dark stubble of winter wheat.
17:50The eastern tree line stood perhaps 60 feet tall.
17:53Dense pine forest.
17:55Rojan would have to clear those trees with minimal margin.
17:59A miscalculation of 5 feet would result in both bombers clipping the treetops and tumbling
18:05to earth in a fireball.
18:071,000 feet.
18:09The number two engine on McNabb's aircraft began running rough.
18:13Misfiring.
18:14Loss of power.
18:16Only two engines now produced reliable thrust.
18:19The descent rate increased to 400 feet per minute.
18:22The locked bombers fell through the cold December air like a brick with wings.
18:26Rojan advanced the remaining good engines to full power.
18:30The manifold pressure gauges redlined.
18:33Engine temperatures climbed past maximum operating limits.
18:37Metal components inside the engines expanded beyond design tolerances.
18:41Pistons scraped cylinder walls.
18:43Bearing seized.
18:44The engines would fail within minutes.
18:46But Rojan only needed them to last another 60 seconds.
18:50500 feet.
18:52He could see the texture of the snow in the field.
18:54Individual furrows in the frozen dirt.
18:57The farmhouse windows reflected gray winter light.
19:00German soldiers took cover behind vehicles parked near the barn.
19:04They expected an explosion.
19:06They expected debris raining across the farm.
19:08They had no reason to expect anything else.
19:11Rojan lined up the locked bombers with the field.
19:14Slight correction left.
19:15Throttle adjustment.
19:17Air speed 110 knots.
19:19Still too fast.
19:21He eased the throttles back another fraction.
19:23The descent rate jumped to 500 feet per minute.
19:26The trees rushed toward them at 90 miles per hour.
19:31300 feet.
19:33The pine trees filled Rojan's vision.
19:35Individual branches visible.
19:37Snow clinging to the needles.
19:39The locked bombers descended toward the tree line at 400 feet per minute.
19:43Rojan pulled back harder on the controls.
19:46Leak matched his effort.
19:47Both men straining against the yoke with every remaining ounce of strength.
19:52The nose lifted slightly.
19:53Five degrees.
19:55Then seven.
19:56The angle of attack increased just enough to clear the treetops.
19:59The tail section of McNabb's lower aircraft passed within three feet of the highest branches.
20:05Pine needles brushed against the aluminum skin.
20:07A small branch snapped off and tumbled away.
20:10Then the locked bombers were over the field.
20:13200 feet.
20:15Rojan chopped the throttles.
20:17The engines spooled down.
20:19The sudden loss of thrust caused an immediate sink rate increase.
20:23600 feet per minute.
20:24The ground rushed up.
20:26Rojan and Leak pulled back desperately, trying to arrest the descent, trying to flare the aircraft for landing.
20:32The controls felt like they were moving through concrete.
20:36The combined weight of both aircraft fought against any change in pitch attitude.
20:41100 feet.
20:4250 feet.
20:43The stall warning horn blared.
20:46Airspeed dropped through 90 knots.
20:48The aircraft shuddered on the edge of aerodynamic stall.
20:5120 feet.
20:53McNabb's B-17 hit the frozen ground first.
20:56The impact occurred at 87 knots with a descent rate of 500 feet per minute.
21:01The landing gear of the lower bomber had been retracted since the collision.
21:05The aircraft belly landed across the snow-covered field.
21:09Metal shrieked against frozen earth.
21:10The aluminum skin tore open along the fuselage underside.
21:14Dirt and snow sprayed in all directions.
21:17The impact forces exceeded 15 Gs.
21:20Everything not secured became a projectile.
21:23The structure of McNabb's bomber, already weakened by fire and combat damage, began disintegrating immediately.
21:30The fuel tanks in McNabb's wings ruptured on impact.
21:34Aviation gasoline sprayed across hot engine components.
21:37Ignition was instantaneous.
21:39The explosion consumed the entire lower aircraft in a fraction of a second.
21:44The fireball expanded outward, engulfing McNabb's fuselage, wings, and tail section.
21:49The blast wave slammed upward into Rojan's B-17, still suspended above the lower bomber by the locked collision point.
21:56The force of the explosion acted like a catapult.
21:59The little skipper vaulted forward and upward, thrown clear of the burning wreckage below.
22:05Rojan's aircraft separated from the lower bomber during the explosion.
22:08The propeller blades and gun turret that had locked the two planes together tore free.
22:13The little skipper became airborne again for approximately two seconds, traveling forward at 70 knots, climbing to a height of
22:2015 feet above the field.
22:22Then, gravity reasserted control.
22:25The bomber slammed back to Earth, nose first.
22:28The impact compressed the nose wheel strut completely.
22:31The strut punched upward through the bombardier compartment.
22:33The plexiglass nose cone shattered.
22:36Metal buckled and twisted.
22:38The fuselage hit next.
22:39The belly landing gear had also been retracted.
22:42The aircraft scraped across the field on its aluminum skin, throwing up a rooster tail of dirt, snow, and debris.
22:49The friction generated tremendous heat.
22:52Sparks showered from the contact points.
22:54The bomber slid sideways, yawing 30 degrees to the left as the right wing dug into the ground.
23:00The massive right cyclone engines tore loose from their mounts and tumbled across the field.
23:05Propeller blades snapped off and cartwheeled away.
23:09The left wing, already damaged by fire, crumpled under the lateral forces.
23:13The left wing tip struck a wooden storage building at the edge of the field.
23:17The impact demolished the building completely.
23:20Boards and timber exploded outward.
23:23The wing sheared off at the root.
23:24The fuselage continued sliding another hundred feet before aerodynamic drag and ground friction finally arrested the forward motion.
23:33The wreckage came to rest in a cloud of dust and smoke.
23:36Everything behind the wing roots had been destroyed.
23:39The tail section had broken off during the slide.
23:42The waist section lay crumpled and twisted.
23:44Only the nose compartment remained relatively intact.
23:47Inside that nose section, Rojan and Leek sat motionless in their seats.
23:52Both men still gripped the control column.
23:54Both still had their feet braced against the instrument panel.
23:58The crash sequence had lasted seven seconds from initial impact to final stop.
24:03Neither pilot had released the controls during any of those seven seconds.
24:07They looked at each other through the smoke and dust.
24:09No injuries.
24:11No broken bones.
24:12The nose structure, heavily reinforced to protect the bombardier during missions,
24:16had absorbed the impact forces and preserved the cockpit space.
24:20Behind them, visible through the torn fuselage, fire consumed what remained of both bombers.
24:26Three hundred yards away, McNabb's aircraft burned in the crater created by the explosion.
24:31McNabb and Vaughn had died on impact.
24:34Their bodies remained in the lower cockpit, consumed by the fire.
24:38The four crew members who had stayed with McNabb's aircraft until the collision were also dead.
24:43Ten men total from the lower bomber.
24:45Six survived by bailing out.
24:47Four did not.
24:48German soldiers approached the wreckage cautiously, weapons raised, expecting resistance.
24:56Rojan released the control column.
24:58His hands would not straighten.
25:00The fingers remained locked in the curved position from gripping the yoke for the past 23 minutes.
25:06He flexed them slowly, working feeling back into the cramped muscles.
25:11Leek pulled his feet down from the instrument panel.
25:14His legs shook uncontrollably.
25:16Neither man spoke.
25:18The silence inside the shattered nose compartment felt absolute, despite the roar of flames consuming the wreckage behind them.
25:26The cockpit sat at a 40-degree angle, nose down in the frozen dirt.
25:31The instrument panel had collapsed partially inward.
25:35Broken glass covered every surface.
25:38Rojan unbuckled his harness and tried to stand.
25:41His legs gave out immediately.
25:43He caught himself against the co-pilot's seat.
25:47Leek crawled through the hole where the bombardier compartment had been.
25:50The plexiglass nose cone lay scattered across the field in thousands of fragments.
25:56Cold December air rushed through the opening.
25:59The temperature inside the cockpit had been over 100 degrees from the fire.
26:04The outside air felt like ice water against exposed skin.
26:09German soldiers surrounded the wreckage within 90 seconds of the crash.
26:14Approximately 20 men from a garrison stationed 3 kilometers away.
26:18They had watched the descent and landing.
26:21They had seen the explosion that killed McNabb's crew.
26:24They approached with rifles raised, shouting commands in German.
26:29Rojan and Leek climbed out through the nose opening with their hands visible and empty.
26:34Neither man carried weapons.
26:36Neither man resisted.
26:37The soldiers searched them quickly and efficiently.
26:41Watches removed.
26:43Dog tags checked.
26:44Personal items confiscated.
26:47The process took less than three minutes.
26:49The German officer in charge, a Wehrmacht Hauptmann, examined the wreckage with visible confusion.
26:56Two distinct bomber tails lay scattered across the field.
27:00Two sets of wings.
27:01Eight engine nacelles.
27:03He walked the debris field, trying to understand what had occurred.
27:07The soldiers had reported seeing a strange double aircraft descending.
27:11The physical evidence confirmed something extraordinary had happened.
27:15The Hauptmann questioned Rojan through a translator.
27:18How many aircraft?
27:19How did they lock together?
27:21Why did the pilot return to Germany instead of attempting to reach England?
27:25Rojan provided minimal responses.
27:28Name, rank, serial number.
27:31Nothing more.
27:32Six parachutes had deployed from Rojan's aircraft before the crash.
27:35The crew members landed scattered across a five-kilometer area.
27:40German patrols found them within two hours.
27:43Navigator Washington watched the final descent from his parachute harness.
27:46He saw the locked bombers trail smoke across the sky.
27:50He saw them disappear behind the tree line.
27:52He saw the column of black smoke rise from the crash site.
27:56He assumed both pilots had died.
27:58The German soldiers who captured him reported otherwise.
28:02Rojan and Leek had survived.
28:04Washington could not believe it.
28:06Nobody could believe it.
28:08Four crew members from McNabb's bomber had also bailed out before the collision locked the aircraft together.
28:14German patrols captured all four within three hours.
28:17The tail gunner, both waist gunners, and the ball turret gunner joined Rojan's crew as prisoners of war.
28:23Ten men total survived the Hamburg mission from the two aircraft involved in the collision.
28:29McNabb, Vaughn, and four other crew members from the lower bomber perished in the explosion.
28:35The radio operator, navigator, bombardier, and top turret gunner never escaped the burning aircraft.
28:42The Germans transported Rojan and Leek to a temporary holding facility near Wilhelmshaven,
28:48a small stone building that had formerly served as a customs house.
28:52They spent the first night locked in separate rooms.
28:55No heat.
28:56No blankets.
28:57Guards outside the doors.
28:59The adrenaline from the crash had worn off.
29:02The reality of captivity settled in.
29:04Five months remained until Germany's surrender.
29:07Rojan had no way of knowing that timeline.
29:09For all he knew, the war might continue for years.
29:13The Germans might execute captured bomber crews as war criminals.
29:17Rumors of such executions had circulated among American airmen for months.
29:23Morning came.
29:24Two German intelligence officers arrived to begin interrogations.
29:28They had questions about the locked bombers.
29:30They had questions about American tactics and formations.
29:34They had questions about bomb loads and target selection.
29:37They had questions about everything.
29:39The interrogators were professionals, trained in extracting information from uncooperative subjects.
29:45They had techniques refined over years of war.
29:49Rojan and Leek had two weeks of questioning ahead of them.
29:52Two weeks in which they would learn exactly how much pain could be inflicted without leaving permanent marks.
29:57The Houtman who had captured them watched from the doorway as the interrogators prepared their first session.
30:05The interrogators worked methodically.
30:08They started with basic questions, unit designation, base location, aircraft serial numbers, mission objectives.
30:16Rojan provided name, rank, serial number, nothing else.
30:20The interrogators expected resistance.
30:23They had procedures for resistance.
30:24The first session lasted four hours, no physical violence, just questions repeated endlessly in slightly different forms.
30:33Attempts to catch inconsistencies in responses, psychological pressure designed to erode willpower through exhaustion and disorientation.
30:41Leek underwent identical treatment in a separate room.
30:44The interrogators kept the two pilots isolated.
30:47Standard practice.
30:48Prevent coordination of stories.
30:50Maximize confusion and fear.
30:52The Germans wanted tactical information about American bombing operations.
30:57They wanted details about the Norden bomb site.
30:59They wanted to understand how the locked aircraft had remained airborne for 23 minutes.
31:04The physics seemed impossible.
31:06The interrogators suspected some new American technology or technique they had not encountered before.
31:12The sessions continued for 14 days.
31:15Morning and afternoon interrogations, sometimes lasting six hours without break.
31:20The interrogators never raised their voices, never threatened violence.
31:24They simply asked questions and noted responses, or noted the lack of responses.
31:29They compiled detailed files on both pilots.
31:32Background information extracted from dog tags and personal items.
31:36Analysis of physical condition.
31:39Observations about personality and temperament.
31:41The German intelligence apparatus operated with methodical efficiency even this late in the war.
31:47After two weeks, the interrogators concluded neither pilot would provide useful information beyond the minimum required by Geneva Convention.
31:55Rojan and Leek were transferred to a permanent prisoner of war camp 60 kilometers east.
32:01Stalag Luft facility, designated for captured airmen.
32:05Barracks surrounded by wire fences and guard towers.
32:08Approximately 800 American and British prisoners held in compounds separated by nationality.
32:14The camp had existed since 1942.
32:18Three years of captured crews.
32:21Three years of men waiting for the war to end.
32:25Rojan arrived at the camp on January 14, 1945.
32:29His crew members were already there.
32:32Washington, Shirley, Elkin, Newhouse, Little, and Chase had been processed through the same interrogation facility days earlier.
32:41The reunion occurred in barracks number 12.
32:45Six men who had bailed out of a burning aircraft.
32:48Two men who had ridden that aircraft to the ground.
32:51All eight alive.
32:53All eight together again.
32:56The odds against such an outcome seemed incalculable.
32:59The crew members from McNabb's bomber were housed in a different compound.
33:04Rojan saw them occasionally during exercise periods in the yard.
33:08Winter in northern Germany tested the prisoners severely.
33:13Inadequate heat.
33:14Insufficient food.
33:15The Red Cross apostles that had sustained POW camps earlier in the war arrived sporadically now.
33:22Allied bombing had disrupted German rail networks.
33:25Supply chains collapsed.
33:27The prisoners received one meal daily.
33:30Thin soup.
33:31Black bread.
33:32Sometimes potatoes.
33:34Calories barely sufficient for survival.
33:36Men lost weight rapidly.
33:39Rojan dropped from 170 pounds to 138 pounds by March.
33:44He developed a persistent cough from the cold and damp conditions in the barracks.
33:49The guards grew increasingly nervous as winter progressed into spring.
33:54News from the fronts reached the camp through clandestine radio receivers the prisoners had built from scavenged components.
34:00The Russians advancing from the east.
34:03The Americans and British pushing across the Rhine from the west.
34:07Germany collapsing between the two fronts.
34:10The guards understood what allied liberation might mean for them.
34:14Some discussed abandoning the camp before Russian or American forces arrived.
34:19Others talked about last stands and fighting to the death.
34:22The prisoners watched and waited and hoped the guards would simply leave.
34:27April brought warmer weather and increasing chaos.
34:30German units retreating through the area sometimes stopped at the camp seeking food or supplies.
34:36The camp commandant refused.
34:38The soldiers left angry.
34:40Artillery rumbled in the distance.
34:43Some days to the east.
34:44Some days to the west.
34:46The front lines were contracting.
34:48The camp sat in a shrinking pocket of German-controlled territory.
34:52Rojan and the other prisoners prepared for rapid evacuation.
34:56They packed what few possessions they had.
34:59They organized into groups by squadron and base.
35:02They rehearsed escape procedures in case the guards attempted to march them deeper into Germany ahead of allied advances.
35:10May 4, 1945.
35:13British armored units liberated the camp at 1,400 hours.
35:17The guards had fled during the night.
35:19The prisoners woke to find the gates open and guard towers empty.
35:23Nobody knew where to go or what to do.
35:26They simply stood in the compound, staring at the abandoned wire and the approaching British tanks.
35:32Five months of captivity ended without ceremony or drama.
35:37Rojan walked through the gate carrying nothing but the clothes he wore.
35:41Behind him, the barracks stood silent.
35:44Ahead, the road led west toward England and home.
35:47The British transported the liberated prisoners to a processing center in Belgium.
35:53Medical examinations, delousing, new uniforms, hot food.
35:58The first real meal in five months.
36:02Rojan and Leek returned to the United States in June, 1945.
36:07They traveled separately on different transport ships.
36:10The Army Air Forces conducted debriefing sessions at separation centers.
36:15Intelligence officers wanted detailed accounts of the Hamburg mission and the piggyback flight.
36:19The story had circulated through 8th Air Force units stationed in England.
36:24Witnesses from other bombers in the formation had filed reports.
36:28The German civilians who watched the landing had been interviewed after occupation forces moved into the area.
36:33The physical evidence remained scattered across that farm field east of Wilhelmshaven.
36:38Fragments of two B-17s, impact craters, burn patterns in the soil.
36:44The military recognized the achievement.
36:47Both pilots received the Distinguished Flying Cross.
36:50The citation acknowledged extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight.
36:55Maintaining control of two locked aircraft under combat conditions.
37:00Saving the lives of crew members through superior airmanship.
37:03The medals were presented in separate ceremonies.
37:06Rojan received his at a base in Pennsylvania.
37:09Leek received his in California.
37:12Neither man attended the other's ceremony.
37:14The war had ended.
37:16Units disbanded.
37:17Crews scattered across the country to resume interrupted lives.
37:21Rojan never flew again.
37:23The ambition to become a commercial airline pilot had died somewhere over the North Sea on December 31st.
37:29He returned to Pennsylvania and joined his father's heating and air conditioning business in McKeesport.
37:35The work was steady and predictable.
37:38No flack.
37:39No fighters.
37:40No burning aircraft falling from the sky.
37:43He married.
37:44Raised four children.
37:46Attended church regularly.
37:48Lived quietly in a small town where most people never knew about the Distinguished Flying Cross in his dresser drawer
37:54or the five months he spent in a German prison camp.
37:57He did not talk about the war.
37:59Not to his wife.
38:01Not to his children.
38:02Not to anyone.
38:04The memories stayed locked away for decades.
38:06Only at reunions of the 100th Bomb Group veterans did fragments of the story emerge.
38:11Other crew members would mention the piggyback flight.
38:14Someone would ask Rojan to describe what happened.
38:17He would provide brief answers.
38:19Factual statements.
38:21No elaboration.
38:22The emotional weight of that day remained private.
38:25McNabb and Vaughn had died.
38:27Four other men from the lower bomber had burned.
38:30Those deaths were not entertaining stories to share over dinner.
38:34Leek followed a similar path.
38:35He returned to civilian life in California and rarely discussed his military service.
38:41The two pilots lost contact after demobilization.
38:44Years passed.
38:46Then decades.
38:46The 100th Bomb Group Association organized annual reunions beginning in the 1960s.
38:53Rojan attended occasionally.
38:55Leek did not.
38:56The connection between the two men, who had shared 23 minutes of sustained crisis at 20,000
39:01feet, faded into the past.
39:041987.
39:05Long Beach, California.
39:07100th Bomb Group reunion.
39:09Rojan attended with his son David.
39:12Leek showed up unexpectedly after 42 years of absence from group events.
39:16The two men saw each other across the hotel conference room.
39:20Recognition was immediate, despite the passage of time.
39:23They were both in their late 60s now.
39:25Gray hair.
39:26Reading glasses.
39:27The physical transformation from 25-year-old combat pilots
39:31to retirement-age civilians was complete.
39:33But something in the posture and bearing remained unchanged.
39:37They shook hands.
39:38They talked for hours.
39:40They shared details about the flight that neither had discussed with anyone else for four decades.
39:46Leek died the following year, 1988.
39:48The reunion in Long Beach had been his last public appearance.
39:52Rojan continued attending group events for another 15 years.
39:55He was inducted into the Hall of Valor at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum
40:00in Pittsburgh in 2002.
40:02He died in 2003 at age 81.
40:06His daughter Cindy published a book about his experiences in 2018.
40:10The Piggyback Flight Pilot's Journey.
40:12260 images from his mother's collection.
40:16Mission logs.
40:17Letters from the POW camp.
40:19Witness statements.
40:20The complete documentation of one extraordinary day and one extraordinary act of courage.
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40:43Stories about pilots who saved lives with courage and skill and refused to abandon their crew.
40:48Real people.
40:49Real heroism.
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