Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:37 | The crew picked up a brand new B-17 and flew to Northern Ireland, where gunner Clint Henderson thought that the locals were the friendliest people in the world. Soon, he was over the very unfriendly skies of Germany, where he was greeted by lots of flak.
Keywords : Clint Henderson ball turret gunner Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Northern Ireland fog Calais France flak anti-aircraft (AA) shrapnel cold electric suit
Clint Henderson had an uncle in the Navy who was stationed at Pearl Harbor. He came home on leave and the Japanese attacked the very next day. So, the uncle only had one night at home and he was off to the war. Young Clint was still in high school and, once he was of age, he was accepted as an Aviation cadet.
It was a simple headache. Aviation cadet Clint Henderson went in search of an aspirin and wound up forced into bed in the dispensary. He missed the 25 mile bivouac and had to start basic all over again. When he got to the next stop, it was gunnery school. This meant he was not going to be a pilot.
After gunnery school, the next stop for Clint Henderson was crew assignment. The other crew members were from all over the country. He had to take on extra duty as the armorer, but that was OK.
There was a wonderful lack of German fighters, thanks to the fighter escorts. B-17 gunner Clint Henderson marveled at the way a P-38 could climb almost vertically. You couldn't do anything about the flak, though, and once it nearly did them in.
His pilot was hit by a piece of shrapnel and was out for a short time. Gunner Clint Henderson recalls that they actually asked the crew if they would fly with the co-pilot as pilot. Of course! They had every confidence in him. The flak was heavy out there but no one in the B-17 crew ever thought about going down in the plane.
B-17 gunner Clint Henderson kept in contact with his family by mail while he was at war. While on leave in London, his high school French allowed him to have contact with some young ladies.
His missions completed, B-17 gunner Clint Henderson returned to the States and began an assignment he did not care for, as an instructor. He talked his way out of that and moved to another job that entailed managing a laundry operation. At least there he could secure a lifetime supply of khakis.
