Bomber aces

[B-29 Super Fort]

The statistics below are from an article in Air Force Assocation titled "The Aces That History Forgot":

US gunners gave a remarkable account of themselves. In Eighth Air Force, bombers claimed 6,259 enemy aircraft destroyed, 1,836 probables, and 3,210 damaged. On all counts, the record topped that of the Eighth's fighter pilots. Other heavy, medium, and light bomber units showed similar records.

Very interesting story about one particular bomber ace I found in researching about bomber gunner crews.

Many military history buffs know the names of the top scoring flying aces in the U.S. armed forces--Maj. Richard Bong of the Army Air Force with 40 victories, Lt. Cdr. David McCampbell of the Navy with 34 victories, Lt. Col. Gregory Boyington of the Marine Corps with 28, and Capt. Edward Rickenbacker of the AEF with 26 downed aircraft--but most have never heard of Master Sergeant Michael L. Arooth. This is because air aces are almost always synonymous with fighter pilots. Sgt. Arooth became an ace, not while piloting a fighter, but by hunching behind a pair of .50 caliber machine guns in the tail of a B-17 over Europe in World War II. He is the U.S. Air Force's top ranking gunner ace with a total of 17 enemy planes shot down.


Master Sgt. Michael L. Arooth
Gunners, of course, were the men who defended the bombers while riding aboard them--tail gunners, ball turret gunners, nose and waist gunners, bombardiers, navigators, and radio operators--and were usually not known for downing large numbers of enemy fighters. However, Sgt. Arooth's score of 17 is amazing, even when weighed against the tallies of fighter aces. He flew approximately 15 missions in the 527th bombardment squadron of the 379th heavy bombardment group of the 8th AAF, based in Kimbolton, England. His plane was nicknamed "Tondelayo." The plane's tail insignia: triangle K. M/Sgt. Michael L. Arooth died in 1990 at the age of 70.

http://members.aol.com/aafcollector/arooth/[/quote]

[tom d. friedman]

there is a book that has been out for years that is dedicated to the bomber gunner aces entitled " AERIAL GUNNERS: THE UNKNOWN ACES OF WW 2" BY CHARLES WATRY & DUANE L. HALL. a must read for perspective!!!

[phil65]

I'm reading that book now,good stuff.

[B-29 Super Fort]

there is a book that has been out for years that is dedicated to the bomber gunner aces entitled " AERIAL GUNNERS: THE UNKNOWN ACES OF WW 2" BY CHARLES WATRY & DUANE L. HALL. a must read for perspective!!!

Thanks Tom I'll look for that book.

[Scott Rose]

I've been looking for years for information on bomber crew achievements so I could create an "aces" type of section in the Air Force Resource Center. I'll have to check out the book.

[tom d. friedman]

a good question to pose is wear did more of the aerial gunners victories occur, over europe or the pacific?? keep in mind there were huge bomber sorties over europe, but there were more miscellanious multi crewed aircraft operating in the pacific with gunners, from rear seaters in a dauntless to a helldiver to a mariner, on & on, & that only scratches the surface of the list from the american perspective.

[Former Member]

there is a book that has been out for years that is dedicated to the bomber gunner aces entitled " AERIAL GUNNERS: THE UNKNOWN ACES OF WW 2" BY CHARLES WATRY & DUANE L. HALL. a must read for perspective!!!

I finally found a copy on Amazon.com this past summer and highly recommend it. It's quite the page turner!!!!

John