Former B-17 navigator recalls World War II

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  "It was 1937 when an old Barnstormer aircraft came to the little town where I lived in Mexico, Missouri, and we got a ride for $3. I knew then I wanted to fly," recalled William Siler, a 98-year-old World War II veteran from Morro Bay, California.

Siler later entered a civilian pilot training program - a pre-war program aimed at increasing the number of pilots for the U.S. Army Air Corps - and got his license.

He then signed up for the USAAC and passed all the tests, but was never called for duty.

"(Instead,) I went to Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force," he said. "They didn't make me a pilot as they claimed my legs were a little short. So I ended up as a navigator - or what we called 'flying observers.' In September 1941, I went through gunnery, bombadiering, then navigation school."

Siler explained that Americans in the RCAF would often transfer to the USAAC after training, which he did when he was 25.

"I never (received my) navigation rating in the RCAF, because they (the RCAF) never finished the navigation course," he said. "But I did (receive my) bomber rating for the bombadiering course. I don't think they gave one for the gunner course."

Throughout his military career, Siler was stationed at many bases in the States, Japan and England.

Siler recalled a particular B-17 mission in 1944 when he was part of the 457th Bombardment Group (Heavy), stationed at Glatton, near Peterborough, England, where his navigational skills were put to the test.

"We were (flying) back on two engines - we'd lost one mechanically, and they (the Germans) shot out one of the others. We were (heading towards Britain) coming back by some of the French cities which were still held by the Germans," he said.

The navigator told the pilot, George, to fly directly north, zero degrees.

"Another B-17, out on (our) left side, was heading in that direction. I noticed the pilot (of our plane) was creeping over that way, and I said, 'George, are you trying to follow that other airplane?' and he said, 'Well, that's the general idea!'

"Dave, the co-pilot, spoke up and said, 'Hell! that's the first thing I learned in flying school - he might be lost too!' Then George got back on (track) and we hit the coast where I wanted."

Out of the 237 missions the 457th BG flew, Siler said he flew 37 of them.

Siler remembered a mission on Nov. 30, 1944, where four B-17s were lost and more were damaged when the Luftwaffe attacked during the night.

The navigator also recalled the first 2,000-bomb raid over Berlin on Feb. 3, 1945.

"I'm pretty sure the night before we were there, and the day after us, the British were there. So there was about 72 hours where there was nothing but bombs falling on Berlin," he said. "On this particular day, we were in the 3rd Division in this bomber stream over the Zuiderzee (Netherlands) as the tail end was coming in. It stretched all the way from the Zuiderzee to Berlin and back."

The veteran remembered the gunners calling out a fighter attack. A Messerschmitt ME 262 made a fighter pass at them, firing as it went. Siler said he thought they hit a plane or two, but the Germans didn't do any real damage because the P-51 Mustang showed up and the aircraft took off.

"Twenty five years later, Adolf Galland (a German Luftwaffe general and flying ace in charge of the fighter branch who served throughout World War II) came to Dallas to (give a) talk," the veteran continued. "Afterwards, I asked him (about his role in the war) and he told me himself he was the one who made that attack Feb. 3. So I know the best of them tried to shoot at me!

"I have the honor of saying I survived the best of the German fighters," Siler chuckled. "But I'm just an ordinary guy and I'm lucky to be (alive). What I did in the war is what thousands of guys did. The ones that deserve the credit are the ones that aren't here today, that didn't make it."