[Pilota all’equipaggio]
Number 1 start… number 2 start… number 3 start .. number 4 start
[Pilota all’equipaggio]
nice weather with some low clouds …
[Pilota all’equipaggio]…
We are in enemy space, ready with weapons
[Pilota all’equipaggio]…
Approaching target, speed 150 miles, wind 20 knots from the south
Altitude 10000 feet wear oxygen masks
[Puntatore] ..
Door open .. I see the goal … 30 seconds …
[Pilota all’equipaggio]…
20 seconds … full power … they are decimating us …
[Puntatore]…
Just a few more seconds … the job needs to be done …
[Puntatore]…
we are on target, to drop the bombs let’s go homee!!
This is the story of the last mission of the Memphis Belle, an American B-17 Flying Fortress bomber that took part in the bombing on European territory.
It became the first heavy bomber to perform the 25 missions planned to allow the crew to be discharged. The plane flew for 148 hours, unloading 60 tons of bombs over Germany, Holland, Belgium and France. For the damage reported in combat almost every part of the plane was replaced at least once.
The plane was named after pilot Robert Morgan in honor of his girlfriend Margaret Polk. The famous girl on the nose of the plane was designed by Tony Starcer an artist of the 91st group.
Col. Robert Morgan and the “Memphis Belle” Margaret Polk of Memphis. 
Margaret Polk
The aircraft was a B-17F-10-BO (serial number 41-24485) built in July 1942 by Boeing. He served for seven months, from 7 November 1942 to 17 May 1943, completing 25 missions in the 324th Bombers at Bassingbourne in England.
… Below them the English coast slips slowly, now it is not the best but when you return it will seem the most beautiful thing in the world…
The B-17s could reach an operational altitude of 25,000 feet, about 8,000 meters, which allowed them not to be seen from the ground with the naked eye. At that height, without oxygen, you lose consciousness after a minute. After twenty you are dead. It’s cold. So cold, up to 40 degrees below zero. The world that you observe from that Plexiglas porthole is beautiful and you never get bored. The war seems far away. The engines mix with the cold air creating contrails that trace the passage above the clouds.
A thorough plan is required to complete a mission. The enemy is strong and determined to stop us and the radar is already watching us. Airmen scan the horizon. At any moment a plane could strike. The formations tighten trying to create an impenetrable shield.
The enemy coast is approaching. From up here it looks the same as our coasts: the houses, the beaches and the meadows resemble the houses of our fathers, but it is not so, now they belong to an enemy who sowed death and infinite suffering in the world.
Silent puffs of smoke begin to be seen near the lens. They are the enemy bullets that explode near us, throwing dangerous shards. The anti-aircraft has already calculated the speed, altitude and route, and sent the data 5 miles away where another air battery is waiting for us …
Captain Robert Morgan and co-pilot Jamers Verinis change course every 15 seconds avoiding enemy fire. Suddenly the target. The bunkers with enemy submarines in the bay.
Below the alarm sounds, above the command goes to the pointer which now directs the operations. The fuselage folds but resists blasts. It feels like being inside a blender. The hatches of the bombs open while an airplane fires on us from above … the turrets respond and send it away. The hatches of the bombs open while an airplane fires on us from above … the turrets respond and send it away. It keeps the B-17 aligned on the target that continues its relentless flight, corrects the rudder and the flaps so that the wind does not shift the trajectory.
Two more Messerschmitt Bf 109s go into action and hit another B-17 that crashes with its engines on fire on the French coast. Evans follows the lines indicated by the Norden aiming system … the target is framed, he presses the button and the bombs start to fall …
Lorient France 1943 
Lorient France 1943
From above the spectacle is majestic, huge explosions confirm that the mission is completed. Evans gives the okay with his hand … we did it, it’s time to go back. The echo of the explosions gets further and further away, the smoke covers the whole small bay and reaches the beach. Everything is destroyed. In addition to the bunkers, fuel and ammunition depots are also blown up.
The hard part is over. Now we have to get home safe and sound. From above, behind a cloud or hidden from the glaring sun, some other “Deutscher Feind” is waiting for us. Another Messerschmitt Bf 109 passes like an arrow strafe the Memphis Belle, the tail gunner, Sgt. John P. Quinlan, warns his teammates over the intercom … “nine o’clock, nine o’clock ..” Winchell manages to hit him making him fall.
Ahead of us another B17 is hit. “Come on guys get out of that hell!!” screams Jimes, with a broken wing he is condemned, he rotates on himself and in a tragic dance he ends his flight with a steep dive, eight of them manage to get out, all boys not even twenty years old. Another fortress is drifting, the fire has now invaded the nacelle and the engines: poor friends they didn’t make it. We finally arrive on the English coast. The crew landed safe and sound at Bassingbourn in England. It is May 17, 1943. “Belle” was a tough girl, she was repeatedly hit but always kept flying. Among the damages repaired by chief mechanic and flight engineer Joe Giambrone, (Italian-American), was the replacement of 9 engines, both wings, two tails and both landing gears.
In 1990 a film “Memphis Belle – the Movie” was also shot, which tells the fictional story of the last mission. The film was dedicated to all 250,000 aviators from all nations who fought in World War II.
This article ends here,, I leave you with a small download where you can download these simulation games for our beloved Commodore 64
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