The last thing George remembered before baling out himself was a twin engine Me 410 pulling up along side.
George looked at the German pilot and gunner and they looked back, George said, “if you want this plane so bad, you can have it”, then he jumped.
George jumped out at 25,000 feet and free fell down where there was enough oxygen to breath. He remembers opening his chute when he could see the details of the trees.
Soon after landing, he was taken prisoner by an old German soldier with a vintage WWI rifle. George and the rest of his crew got down safely and spent the remainder of the war as POWs. However, George’s tail gunner was killed as he tried to escape his prison camp.
Of the 266 B-17s on this mission, 60 were lost over enemy territory with 600 crewmen missing in action. Five bombers crashed in England, twelve were Category 3 write-offs, and a further 121 returned with degrees of battle damage that ranged from severe to superficial. Five crewmen were dead on arrival at their bases and 43 were wounded.
Luftwaffe losses were approximately 35 out of a total of about 340 planes.
Mission 115 was the last deep penetration raid made without fighter escort.
After the war, German records showed B-17F 42-30387 crashed at Markt Bibard, Germany. Bombardier 2nd Lieutenant Jerome S. Tiger was buried October 16, 1943 in Markt Bibard communal cemetery.
THE CREW
PILOT: Maj. George L. Ott
CO-PILOT: 1st Lt. George L Long
NAVIGATOR: 2nd Lt. Malcom A Champagne
BOMBARDIER: 2nd Lt. Jerome S. Tiger
RADIO OPERATOR: S/Sgt. Richard A Spellerberg
ENGINEER: T/Sgt. Raymond Hottenstein
GUNNERS:
BALL TURRET: S/Sgt. John H Benson
L. WAIST: S/Sgt. Harold W Clark
R. WAIST: Sgt. Joe Pribish
TAIL: S/Sgt. James Proakis
George Ott currently resides in Dickinson, North Dakota.
To see more about the Schweinfurt raid, look up the story "305th BG, Schweinfurt"
Prints measure 23" by16 1/2", Limited edition, signed by the pilot and artist, 350 S/N-$40
SOURCES: Personal interview with George Ott, phone interview with 92nd BG historian Robert Elliot, book - "The First and the Last" by Adolf Galland, MACR- USAF
