DONALD WISE -- B-17 BOMBARDIER, 1944

This website is about the 50 combat missions my father, Donald Wise, flew in 1944 in the B-17 bomber "PIG CHASER". For nearly four months, he flew out of Foggia, Italy, on 50 missions that usually took between 5 and 8 hours each. The missions were hazardous--many beyond description. But the B-17s stayed on unwaivering courses to their targets and would not turn away from the anti-aircraft fire and enemy fighters that stood between them and their destinations.

The purpose of these missions--carried out by the U.S. Army Air Corps and the Royal Air Force--was to destroy Hitler's war machine and bring a speedy end to his much-vaunted "Thousand Year Reich".

Sitting at his station in the plexiglass nose of Pig Chaser, my father, as bombardier, had "the Best Seat in the House". It was, unfortunately, not always a good place to be. Dad told me: "As waves of B-17s ahead of us entered heavy enemy fire, I could see four or five get hit, go down in flames, or pull away in distress.  And we knew we were next."