100th ARW honors WWII B-17 ‘Little Boy Blue’ on 80th anniversary of crash
Patrick V. Hagerty, left, son of Staff Sgt. Harold “Hal” Hagerty, right-waist gunner on the B-17 Flying Fortress “Little Boy Blue” during World War II, talks about his father’s experience of when the aircraft crashed at a memorial ceremony near Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England, July 19, 2024. The fuselage of the B-17 ripped in half after a collision with another aircraft on the way to a mission to bomb a ball-bearing factory in Schweinfurt, Germany. Hal Hagerty was one of just two survivors, after he grabbed his parachute and jumped from the plane. The accident was at 15,000 feet and his parachute opened at 2,500 feet. (U.S. Air Force photo by Karen Abeyasekere)