When I lived in Louisiana I was very well acquainted with Mr. Earl G. Williamson, Jr., a retired car dealership owner from Vivian. Earl served in the famous 91st Bomb Group based at Bassingbourn, and I spent many wonderful hours over a few years listening to Earl's stories about his exploits over 30 missions as a waist gunner on such famous birds as
Nine-O-Nine,
Chennault's Pappy,
Little Miss Mischief,
Hi-Ho Silver, and
Blue Dreams among others. Believe it or not, he kept a list in his wallet of all the 91st BG's planes he flew combat missions on - probably in case he ran into an old 91st buddy so they could compare notes.
He was aboard
Blue Dreams when she crashed at the 355th FG's base at Steeple Morden after suffering engine failure immediately after takeoff from Bassingbourn - they are very close to each other - and he said before the plane stopped skidding he jumped out and
". . . took a step every quarter mile!" 
to get away from the fully-loaded and bombed up Fortress. IIRC it didn't explode - but dead to rights it should have - and of all Earl's adventures, that crash landing was the story that really lit up his eyes as he told it!
He still had some flak the mechs had given him that they removed from
the fuel tanks 8O of
Chennault's Pappy one time - holding one piece in my hand, I could only imagine what that solid chunk of heavy steel could do to a man's body.
Earl was a religious man, and listening to his stories like crash landing a fully-(over)loaded B-17 you can imagine why ... and then there's the time while in the middle of combat he was tapped on the shoulder by his fellow waist gunner - Earl turned around and the guy's eyes were as big as saucers - the other man was holding up a large piece of flak that had come up between his legs and bounced off a piece of armor above his head then dropped to the floor where he bent over and picked it up and showed it to Earl 8O ... can you say, "Not my time"?
One of the truly nicest and personable men I've ever known - it wasn't hard to see why his car and truck dealership was such a success. I've been fortunate to meet a lot of 8th AF veterans over the years, beginning when they were in their 50s and hear their stories, and they all have that common thread of appreciating life - the bomber guys especially it's no mystery as to why ... the odds were against them coming home, especially early on, and they knew it. As they say - without fear, there is no courage.
Years after I had moved and lost touch with Earl, I visited Bassingbourn, thinking of him of course, and got a pleasant surprise when viewing a film in the really nice tower museum they have set up - there was Earl on the video! He was very active in the 8th AF Historical Society and visited his old base many times. I shouldn't have been surprised to see him on that film. Back in the mid-90's or so
National Geographic did a nice article on the 8th Air Force and excerpts from Earl's diary were highlighted in the piece.
Regarding
Hi-Ho Silver, Earl was on the original crew, and he still had the jacket Tony Starcer painted for him. He came home and wore it to college (LSU). I had the honor of duplicating Starcer's artwork on a newer leather jacket for Earl - he wore it everywhere. Knowing Earl, he didn't wear it to 'brag' about his service, but rather in hopes to meet some old friends or as an opportunity to meet new friends and tell the stories of the Ragged Irregulars . . .
Ah, I could go on forever ... what a great guy and so representative of truly "the greatest generation". Anyway, here's the original crew of
Hi-Ho Silver, one of the first unpainted Forts to arrive at Bassingbourn, thus it's name - Earl is the tall gent standing second from right next to the new 323rd BS B-17G with only a few missions under her belt:
Here's
Silver near the end of her 130 missions or so. Notice the small swastikas - she didn't take kindly to little fighters trying to shoot her and her sisters down:
Wade
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