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In 1943, a B-17 Flying Fortress laid low in a boneyard, ready to be torn apart for scraps. The aircraft came with a questionable reputation, having suffered heavy damage during its warfare missions. Many believed this was due to its ominous tail number, 41-2666.
But the aircraft was salvaged by a group of nine so-called military renegades led by pilot Jay Zeamer. Renamed as Old 666, the misfits put so many weapons on the aircraft that it looked almost comical, and the plane became the most heavily-armed bomber in the Pacific.
During one dangerous operation over New Guinea, the heavily-armored B-17 put all its weaponry to good use, taking part in one of the most decorated missions in American military history…
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Join Dark Skies as we explore the world of aviation with cinematic short documentaries featuring the biggest and fastest airplanes ever built, top-secret military projects, and classified missions with hidden untold true stories. Including US, German, and Soviet warplanes, along with aircraft developments that took place during World War I, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and special operations mission in between.
As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Skies sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect and soundtracks for emotional impact. We do our best to keep it as visually accurate as possible.
All content on Dark Skies is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas.
I remember watching a episode of Dogfights about the plane. this plane and it's crew were insane.
Insane, brave or whatever they were real men.
i watched that too, ol' 6
The bombardier died? I thought I heard him say that?
insane in a good way, right? ROFL
@@TBreezy17 Yes, Joe Sarnoski died at his guns and was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his actions.
On a mission that yielded two Medal of Honor winners, this plane should have been saved.
Yes and it criminal they did not save the USS Enterprise which at one time sailed from Pearl with sign Enterprise vs Japan as it was US's only operational carrier at the time.
To be fair jay and his men strategically transferred equipment to another location when they rebuilt 666 from a parts plane it was natural for the navy to take there parts back when the eager beavers weren’t actively protecting the plane
The beavers built that plane because they backed joe and refused to bomb a brothel for Japanese generals so there command refused to give them a plane to fly (they bombed high value military targets in the same city instead witch made it hard for command to officially punish them) I would’ve loved to see that plane before the navy striped it a dual mount 50 for every crew member except the waist gunner he was as setup with dual mount on each side of the aircraft that he manned alone
@@Doubie.they also cut a hole in the floor for the waist gunner
In war people are desperate.
Martin Caiden also wrote about The Eager Beavers in his book "B-17". Once the crew had repaired/restored the B-17 #666, the squadron attempted to take the bomber from the crew. The Eager Beavers occupied the bomber, charged the guns, and threatened to shoot anyone who tried to take the bomber from them. The squadron relented and let the crew keep the bomber.
✪ This Film Needs to be made. ✪ Tarantino could do it. ✪
I can picture this crew waiting for their assignments just wandering around a Garden of Guns and Parts. Then they find Her...
@@TheMetahedron yes except for the Tarantino bit...
@@MrGoatflakes Fine. We'll find a new director. I'm just appalled nobody has made "The Eager Beavers" yet.
Another Caiden book "Whip" which described the B-25 strafers (not very accurate historically but still a good read) where the crew chief is told to modify the aircraft..."you know what I want you to do?" Yessir replied the crew-chief. "no" Whip (the hero, and leader) replied, "I want you to rip the nose out and replaced EVERYTHING in there with guns, ammo feeds, ejection chutes, all of it I want you to take care of it... you the last thing I want you to do?" "nosir". "I want you to take all of those guns and wire it up this little tit right under my thumb on the control yoke!"
Jay Zeamer's attitude and that of his crew reminds me of CDR Ernest Evans and the crew of the USS Johnston. "This is going to be a fighting ship", [Evans] said during the commissioning ceremony. "I intend to go in harm's way, and anyone who doesn't want to go along had better get off right now." They did their duty above and beyond in the Battle Off Samar.
That was such an amazing battle. It's probably one of my favorite naval battles in all of WW2. The bravery and courage those men displayed is beyond anything imaginable. Given the context of the Japanese fleet strength, they should have all been killed that day, but they weren't. They did their duty and protected their fellow men to the very end. That's what counts.
Why hasnt Hollywood done a film of this epic battle? One of the greatest displays of guts and aggression over power, with even the mighty Yamato fleeing from torpedos.
"Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" amazing book about this incident. A few little destroyers faced down the biggest collection of navel guns in the history of ocean warfare. Respect.
@@emomuzz5883 excellent book about a battle that everyone should know about but almost no one had heard of.
Hope you should know they just discovered the Johnston in Leyte gulf like two weeks ago...
Thank you for mentioning each of their names. I think it’s important to, for what they’ve done.
Yes!
Exactly
I can't figure how the airplane could fly carrying all those balls of steel 🤔 ?
What these men lacked in "following rules" they made up for in sheer bravery. The crew knew this was a suicide mission, but went any way. A crew full of recipients of DFC and DSC, Silver Stars and Medals of Honor - sadly, some posthumously. The plane herself, suffered immense damage but got her crew and the photographs home. Mind blowing stuff.
These guys were incredibly brave but what always puzzles me about this story is why they didn't choose a more appropriate reconnaissance plane? The P38 which was used for that purpose in Europe had a top speed of 410 mph a good 50mph faster than the Zero and with drop tanks had an effective range of 2,600 miles. It was available in the Pacific theatre at that time, in fact P38's had shot down General Yamamoto two months earlier over Papua New Guinea. The B17 by contrast could only fly at a maximum of 280mph.
@@catinthehat906 The start of this article said this was a crew made up of personnel no one else wanted and they had to find a plane, that no one else wanted. They were discards.
@@catinthehat906 contrary to popular belief the twin forked devil wasn't super prevalent in the pacific. Not in major numbers. It's weirdly ironic because every other theater of war hated flying the older design[comparative to the jug and mustangs] but at least one air commander in the pacific said "We Want the lightnings. Give them to us, as many as you can spare!" So there may been a chance of availability was a factor.
It is a very good argument for listening to the end-user. These men knew from actual experience what guns they needed and where to put them. The larger question is why the rest of the bombers weren’t retrofitted with this proven layout. Probably some brass ego nixed it. Now, the fighter pilots adopted the Thatch Weave to great success. Of course it didn’t cost a dime to implement and those pilots were of higher status than the bomber crews.
Boy, I bet things have really changed in today’s military.
@@catinthehat906so some context jay was a mad man of pilot and engineer who was to talk to be a fighter pilot (he wanted to be) he volunteered for the most dangerous recon mission as any member of the crew to get the trust need to be able to pilot a bomber and his flying style and tactics after he was given flight controls terrified normal flight crews he went threw dozens of crews who refused to fly with him that’s how the beavers crew slowly formed
The bomber Joe who died on that reconnaissance run that nearly killed jay in 666 was jays best friend and first member of his crew (they did flight school together and Together were top of there class)
Joe was one of the best bombers even excluding the rest of the crew in the pacific and the beavers were ordered to bomb a brothel for Japaneses admiral but Joe refused he found what he thought to be the city’s ammunition stores so when jay gave him control of the plane in the bomb bay so he could fly the plane too right where he need it to be he to the crews surprise flew miles away and dropped one lone 500lb bomb destroying city blocks when the depo exploded the crew kept there mouths shut and didn’t rat out joe they were ordered to fly back the next night and hit there target (a suicide mission) the next night Joe bombed the fuel depo
There command was furious and refused to issue the beavers a plane to fly so they stole and looted parts to fix old 666 from other planes in the air wing only managing to keep them on the plane and away from the rest of the unit because they were living on the plane while jay and another engineer rebuilt her (that and they threatened to open fire on anyone that tried to take there equipment back)
Command never asked jay to take 666 on that reconnaissance mission just the special camera for mapping this crew volunteered to go with jay if he decided to take the mission and they took 666 because it was the lightest fastest most well armed bomber they had that plane jay re-engineered specially to his crews flight/fighting style
I watched this covered in a Discover Channel program. Stunning heroism. I recall that the bombardier who died got a posthumous Medal of Honor award for heroism after he returned to his gun while being mortally wounded and executing a Zero kill. Wow.
The bombardier probably knew he wasn't going to make it, and decided to take the enemy with him. Fighting till the end, respect to the man.
This was Joseph Sarnoski who died during the attack but climbed back into his position for one last time. True hero and knew that he was gone.
Did you watch this video at all? Dark skies literally said all that so there’s no need to “recall” from your discovery channel watching...
@@benzracer yes, I did. Sorry you were so offended by someone’s thoughts on the subject...
I wish it hadn't gotten scrapped at the end of the war, it would have made quite the museum piece!
It sounds like most other B-17s, not a whole lot of plane left but the fucking thing still flew them home. For sure freaked those Japanese fighters out for sure.
That crew didn't die. They showed up in Hell with their plane and bombed Satan's front yard.
I really agree with you that they should have saved this airplane as it would have really been a testament to both the B-17 and the most decorated crew of USA. Sad....
PROOF DAT AMIRIKANZ GOT ORKY KNOW WOTZ!
@@bluecollarcanuck That'd be one Hell of a sight to witness
I had to laugh when he said 19 .50 cals...that's just badass man.
They basically replicated the YB-40 escort bomber.
I want to know how the hell they sourced all these as they were no well liked!
@@allangibson2408 or made the prototype 😁
The B-25 carried up to 17 guns at one point. Probably best medium bomber of all time
@@JeanLucCaptain same way as they got the plane most likely.
Hero’s ALL ! My Dad won two DFC’s and four Air Medals flying in the first night Fighter Squadron in WWII and jets in Korea. He passed on April 1st of 2021
Your father lived a full life. My father passed in early 2002. He was a B-17 co-pilot, and was at Hickam Field when WWII ended
When you were told your father died, did you not believe it initially because of the day?
Sorry for you loss my he RIP
**in a few years**
ha ha April fools I'm not dead!!
God bless him.
Ground crew - How many guns do you want on this B-17?
Flight crew - Yes.
This.
All of them.
How many do you got?
Can we get some cannons... maybe a howitzer...
Hmmm...It's called a B-17 ..soo let's add 2 more!
Extraordinary American ingenuity from an extraordinary and unorthodox crew resulted in an extraordinary aircraft that succeeded in taking on extreme missions. Salutes to the Eager Beaver Crew ! Salute to the producer of Dark Skies for bringing such true stories from the boneyard of history.
are you writing an essay for school?
@@fluke196c
They do, if you avoid twitter
Or as they say the right kind of crazy.
You mean Extraordinary missions!
69th like. Nice
What can be said? Except a big thank you to those brave men. The debt we owe to those men, and others like them, is impossible to repay. But I am greatful they were there. Thank you brave men and women who gave so we could have.
Jay Zeamer lived on my street! He was the old man down the block! Amazing man! God bless!
That aircraft reminds me of the Boeing YB-40 Flying Fortresses that didn't carry bombs because they were loaded to the gills with guns. At the time in 1943, they hadn't developed drop tanks for fighter escorts for missions over Europe, so the fighters needed to return and leave the bombers unprotected. So they made customized B-17s that were weapons platforms as to accompany bombers all the way to the target and back. They had a total of 16 guns, and the bomb bay was converted to an ammunition magazine. Additional armor plating was installed to protect crew positions. Those bombers were retired once the drop-tanks were developed so fighters could escort the bombers all the way to their targets and return with them.
I flew in B 36 bombers in the 1950's. One of our bombers tail number was 53666. She had a troubled history. She returned from most missions with one or two engines feathered. She leaked oil and occasionally caught on fire. One time we almost bailed out because of fire but made it back with 3 dead engines and drooping starboard wing. We called her "Cripple six".
After landing, the medics and ground crew started the task of removing the crew both dead and alive from #666. When they got to Cptn Zeamer and witnessed the amount of blood around him one of the medics was quoted saying " this guy's a goner."
Zeamer, too weak to respond wanted to say 'the hell I am!' but couldn't get the words out before completely losing consciousness.
No, he said "You're full of shit".
Man these guys were like the Rogue Squadron of the pacific. Everything about this plane and this crew was so badass.
The Black Sheep Squadron of the pacific made a TV series on them. The misfit solders who made dam good pilots and flight crews. Also Germany's Africa ace proved if your a great Ace you can get away with almost anything on the ground. I need to read up on how many deflection shooters like him there were of the Ace's that means he did not try to get on enemy tail he could shoot them down from any angle by predicting where his bullets and the enemy would meet when he fired often shot planes down with very few for a fighter bullets. And this why come controversy on his 150 plus kill number. But if you read the British objection totally you realize the ones he got kill credit for but the British say survived were all damaged.
Same with 666 claimed Japanese kill numbers a fair number were damaged but survived. In both cases you hit enemy fighter you see chunks come off and it falls out of the sky as far as your concerned and your too busy to make certain they go all the way to the ground or pull out and run home. With 666 Japanese fighter commander in the fight hit and returned to base with his wing man for 666 crew they counted how many came in and how many left when the Japanese stopped as far as they could tell they shot the Japanese Commander and Wingman down.
Part of this flaw is enemy damaged and defeated but survived not a category tracked with air combat.
Someone should make a movie about them: The Magnificent 9.
Why not just Angry Beavers although people might get confused in multiple ways with that
Yea. That would be an awesome movie.
THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST.
How about "Old 666"
@@navyreviewer I like it
I listened to an episode on The Art of Manliness about the crew from this plane. Episode #394. In case anyone wants to know more there was a book about them as well. It was called Lucky 666 by Bob Drury.
Great book too
What a coincidence! I’m reading the book right now and these dirty dozen type of men are amazing.
Where can I listen to this?
@@shreyyadav8915 I would try searching on Google for Art of Manliness Podcast Episode 394
I've listened to that episode and read Drury and Clavin's book. They do honor the men's courage well, and present a solid picture of what the theater was like, but the story they present of the crew and plane's history is at best alternative history, and in some cases pure fiction. They ignore some of what their sources include which counters the narrative they present, and don't seem to have checked their oral histories with the official record, which caused them to miss major aspects and parts of the crew's story (and the plane's) wrong. They even misunderstand who was actually on the crew. It's hard for me to recommend the book as more than a history of the SW Pacific theater, and a very basic primer on the crew.
Those guys had such huge balls the plane could hardly get off the ground! !! Total hard core! An veteran once said about flying to Germany getting there was a miracle getting home would take much more.
That’s exaggerated, the vast majority of airplanes basically always returned from bombing raids in Germany.
@@HingerlAlois 8th Air Force bomber group had the second highest death rate of the war only passed by uboats
@@thepatattack8180
Not sure if that’s correct, the first source I find states it as 7.42% which would be quite low.
www.398th.org/History/KIA/index.html
„A total of 350,000 airmen served with the Eighth Air Force in England, and to this number, 26,000 were killed, or 7.42 percent. Compared to the percentages of other military branches - U.S. Marines 3.29%, U.S. Army 2.25%, and U.S. Navy 0.41%. - the Air Corps sustained the heaviest losses.“
The German submarine crews suffered casualties of round about two thirds.
The German Army lost about 30.9%, the Waffen-SS 34.9%, Luftwaffe 17.3% and the Navy overall 11.5%.
P.S.
Ok, apparently the casualty rate for bomber groups changed significantly from 1942 to 1945.
At the start it was (for the 25 mission tours) similar to the German submarines, later it dropped significantly.
„Strictly measuring the mortality rate for the 210,000 air crewmen the casualty figure soars to 12.38% and in addition, 21,000 from the Eighth Air Force wound up in prison of war camps. Of those who flew the original twenty-five mission bomber tour in 1942-1943, just 35% survived, the twenty-five to thirty mission requirements of 1944 saw 66% completed, and by 1945, 81% of the combatants flew the full thirty-five engagements.“
This story is amazing! It would make a fantastic movie; infinitely better than the garbage coming out of Hollywood these days.
I was thinking maybe "Memphis Belle"
HellyWeird!
@@danielmartini3229 More likely an air bound "FURY".....
Didn’t you hear? Patriotism is not allowed! America is rACisT!
@@NotTheBomb Yeah, a group of white supremacists attacking the poor Japanese, shame on them! SMFH.
Thank you for your devotion to produce these short but historically important documentaries
There always incredible. I very much enjoy and appreciate it.
@Dark skies - If you want to look into a cool story. Look up Pilot Officer Warren F. Cowan, who while flying a Hudson bomber decided to dogfight 6x Zeros. He performed so well, that the ranking Japanese pilot Saburo Sakai, wrote to the Australian Department of Veteran Affairs to recommend that Cowan be awarded a medal.
Sakai was a giant. Now I have to look that up. Thanks for the sharing.
Thanks to all the vets especially those in WWII.
There's no such thing as overkill in the Army.
There's "open fire" and "I need to reload."
Captain: „This course is very dangerous and we all may die!“ Crew: „Let‘s make it so!“ - aces!
Sounds too good to be true. What's the catch?
@@CAPSLOCKPUNDIT Fly a plane as easy to hit as a barn door on low altitude for a recon mission over enemy territory with dozens of FLAK‘s and Zeke‘s - well, this is my definition of a suicide mission...
I'm glad that pretty much every major war and military aircraft channel has covered this aircraft. It deserves far more recognition....and possibly a movie....where the plane is the star, not just the humans that flew it.
Forget the bombs and weapons...how did that bomber ever get off the ground with all those giant balls on those guys?
A lot of horsepower that's how
Its normal if you think about it. It carried a lot of bombs surely adding more guns on it wouldn't slow it down.
@@richmondfernandez9615 reread the comment but slower
@@justanotherasian4395 oh shit
That is what I was going to say.
All I can say is, that crew hand big, Harry, steel balls. There may never be another generation as there’s. Amazing men!
Yeah, IED's, unmarked hostiles and suicide attacks are easy
The challengers they faced that day were one serious appetiser, but at least they could shoot at them. IEDs (as someone else mentioned) are too cowardly to show themselves to be shot back at. And as Texans recently learned, it's hard to defeat a blizzard.
That said, I completely agree with you! There's a reason theirs was called the Greatest Generation. Not even many of their peers would've risen to the occasion with such bravery!
*hairy
When the storm looms the men will rise to the occasion
WOW. REALLY great story. I had no idea. My Uncle Gordon was a belly gunner on a B-17, so these planes and their crews have a special place in my heart.
A lot of personnel in combat zones in all services did everything they could to give themselves and buddies an edge against the enemy. 'Old 666' and the Eager Beavers took it to an extreme, and it worked.
'Old 666' reminds me of a B-17F, modified by Lockheed-Vega for testing of the concept of an Escort Bomber. A total of about 40 aircraft designated YB-40 were modified and sent to the ETO. They stuffed the thing with extra .50 machine guns in dual mounts, at least one additional twin top turret and tons of extra ammo. The thing was so heavy that it had trouble keeping up with bomber formations over Italy on the way to target, and then after the group dropped their bombs and became much lighter, would fall behind.
As I recall it did have one notable success, shooting down a P-38 Lightning that had been captured more or less intact by the Italians and used it to attack Allied bomber formations, still wearing its USAAF markings. This particular YB-40 had been damaged by Flak and had an engine out, but they still managed to knock the rogue fighter out of the sky after a hard fight.
The Air Corps marked the YB-40 down as a qualified failure and built no more.
U can never be 2 rich 2 good looking or 2 WELL ARMED!! 👌
an epic slogan
Well said!👍❤🇺🇸
like the old saying, "ain't no such thing as too much fire power".
Ever noticed that for all the hammering of discipline into Soldiers/Marines/Sailors/Airmen its the rowdy ones that somehow achieve greatness? at least how I see it.
Except you only hear about the survivors
You also never hear about the straight laced men who get killed blindly following bad orders.
Pappy Boyington
@@davidsandberg7631
Pappy got 28 kills, he was buried with honors in Arlington after his death in 1988.
@@tree2800no?
Another crazy air battle with mismatched opponents is when EJ134, a Short Sunderland flying boat, fought off eight German Ju-88C heavy fighters in 1943 and lived.
Thank you for telling me this story it must never be forgotten
This crew earned their medals. 👍🏽
I remember seeing this story on the old History Channel show Dogfights, episode, Long Odds. The story of this aircrew is begging for a movie. Better yet, a mini series.
The trash running Hollywoodistan today would never make a movie of such toxic masculinity......
@@Rick_Sanchez_C137_ lmao yeah, they would prolly make some of them gay, trans, or mixed lol
I'm pushing a miniseries adaptation of the story based on my thirty years of research into the crew right now. Add your voice to the poll there to help me grab attention.
@@Rick_Sanchez_C137_ Based on the last seven years, I have to disagree: Unbroken, Lone Survivor, Hacksaw Ridge, Dunkirk, Midway, The Last Full Measure, the Masters of the Air 8th AF miniseries set to come out in 2022, the Audie Murphy miniseries announced last fall, and the just-announced Gyllenhaal film. The time couldn't be more right for a miniseries about this crew.
That is such a kick ass story. Did they ever make a movie bout these guys? If not it needs to be done.
I concur
Check out the Dogfights episode if you haven't seen it
@@daviswall3319 cool thanks.
It will never happen until Hollywood changes, this story has too much testosterone for the current Hollywood.
@@jgreatness7972 Long Odds is the episode to look for in that series
shame it often takes war to uncover very special people like this thanks for telling their story they and others like them should not be forgotten.
Consider this. The people who fought WW2 were children in 1929 and lived through one of the worst depressions in modern history. Many great deeds and successful defences in WW2 stemmed from research carried out by people on very poor wages and precarious employment positions enduring great hardship and privations but knowing their work was vital to success in a future war. The Fortress was developed in 1937 with only 5 .30 calibre machine guns considered necessary for defense, it ended up with 13 .50 calibres in the G variant of that plane in 1943.
What a great and riveting tale! Have never heard if this very heroic crew and mission.
Found photos of Capt. Zeamer--he was just a kid! He was so young for someone so collected and focused to finish his missions.
Gutsy guys, all of the Eager Beavers. Only wish I could find more images of the Old 666 online.
Great job, and thanks for featuring this story. Mahalo! 🤙
You can find all the known images of '666 in my history of the plane at my website, if you're interested.
An incredible little known story of these bravest of men helping to defend this part of the world and rather timely to hear of it as it's ANZAC Day here 25 April
Too bad the current government of Australia have gone full fascist.
Sadly I found out about this aircraft in the show Dog Fights. I wish I had know this when I was the Crew Chief on a B-52D 56-0666. I would have named it for this aircraft, but sadly it had been reduced to beer cans at that point many years before.
@ 4:37 the video mentions a mission to Wewak. A harbor first reconnoitered by another daring individual: Lieutenant Commander Dudley W. Morton of the USS Wahoo. A very famous WWII submarine.
Check out the series "Hell Below" 12 episodes of very brave submariners; yes it includes the USS Wahoo. [Smithsonian] in the episode "America Fights Back".
He was nicknamed "Mush" Morton. BTW there are 9 Gato class subs on display in the US, if you tour one of them, you will surely appreciate what these brave men endured on a 75 day patrol.
@@crankychris2 I watched it. Its pretty darn good. I think they must have filmed most of it on board the USS Pampanito (SS-383) in San Francisco. She's the most 'operational' out of the surviving Gato/Balao boats, having served as a reserve training vessel till 1971. She even has a working TDC!
Everybody in America TODAY, needs to see this video . . . . . . . these men, and others (almost as nutzy), are why they have the choices and freedom they have today!
No one cares lmao
@@Lucky-sh1dm 💪🏻🇺🇸
Still has the record for the longest dogfight in history.
What a fabulous story of ingenuity and bravery in fullfilling a knowingly highly dangerous mission. A true flying porcupine old 666 eh ? A great example of the tens of thousands of times our American allies and still very close mates stepped up to the plate with freedom and with enthusiasm to get the job done . That's why the American story won't end and why Australians will support you folks to the end of time . From a fan in Qld Australia .
In the book "old 666" there was an incident where the crew stayed the night in 666 with all the machine guns loaded because all the other bomber crews wanted to steal some of their .50 cals. They were written up for insubordination, but nobody actually went through with the punishment because they were so short on bomber crews with experience
Wow,..... Thank you for bringing this to Light ! ! And to the Crew - Thank You VERY Much for Your Service ! !
Angry young warriors, we owe them much. Prayers and rip for those lost in that terrible conflict so many years ago, all lost, friend and foe.
Thank you for your service and bravery gentlemen of "The Eager Beavers"
Thanks for sharing this video.
I lived on Buka Island as a young kid in the late 60s and early 70s.
A child of Australian parents working abroad, we lived in New Guinea until returning to Australia for me to start school age 5.
I still have some memories of the island and would love to go back there on day. 👍
Dad spoke of many war relics they discovered on their patrols in the jungle.
That's amazing. If you have photos of Buka, I'd love to connect with you as part of my research into the crew. Please contact me if you're interested.
@@zeamerseagerbeavers-old
My dad would have Buka photos at home.
I was almost 5 when I left in the early 70s.
If you have an email, I'll see if he has anything for you.
@@Danger_mouse That would be great, thank you. You can e-mail me through this channel.
On Elmendorf AFB, the hospital is on Zeamer Avenue. That seems appropriate.
Should make a film of these brave men, shows what a group of like minded men with the guts to do what was in there hearts.
We need more guys like that in our military today !!! The whole crew were badasses!
Oh no then we're not allowed to be that way anymore. Rules of engagement the bad guy has to shoot at you first and we can't use weapons such as the AK-47 with the larger round because our liberals say that it's too dangerous and would kill people TOO badly or too quickly. Why do you think there's all those videos coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan of terrorists actually installing iuds. And why we didn't shoot them as they were doing it, usa rules of put in place by Obama. What do you think it was so important when Trump got into office he told the commanders in the military you guys take care of business you make the call.
@@irishman312 where in AFG or Iraq were you stationed when you experienced this first-hand? Or are you just spouting opinion. Funny, but our ROEs were in place from the Bush administration. And while Trump told the US public he had given the military free rein to do whatever they wanted to, our military members didn’t do that because it was illegal.
LET ME ASSURE WE ABSOLUTELY HAVE THOUSANDS OF MEN JUST LIKE THESE IN TODAY’S MILITARY! No I am NOT a combat veteran, just a mangy old retired C-5/C-17 Crew Chief. I’ve hauled these guys around the world. Some of them jumped out of my perfectly good airplane. We, really they, could’ve cleaned out Afghanistan and Iraq in 5 years if the politicians in and out of uniform unleashed them. Any comments or corrections from my ground pounding brothers?
@@jonathankenton7182 if our military doesn’t get rid of its new wokeness it’s gonna turn our military into nothing but a joke to our enemies
@@jamescharles1588 what wokeness are you referencing? Anything but an empty buzzword?
Always loved this story. Little tidbits like they had to replace the center plexi glass piece in the nose with steel to support the extra weight and vibration from the dual .50s. Crazy stuff!! Those flight crews were hard at work over there in the pacific. Flying incredibly long missions, only to get back and have to maintain the plane themselves sometimes. Not sure when those guys slept!
The ground crews and depots in Australia were miracle workers. And with Washing Machine Charlie over Port Moresby almost every night for months, they didn't sleep much.
Man! You had me going. I was banking right along with the Capt. I found you awhile back. I like your stuff. You told that story so well I was looking for Zeros. Well done.
Mr Briton mentioned in the post near the end was the father of a kid I knew in High School. We both had 1930 Model A fords which is how I met him. He also was a teacher at our High School in the vocational school, but I took no classes in that section. It was common to have neighbors or relatives that served during WW 2. My great uncle was a platoon leader and landed at Normandy. My Uncle was in the first Japanese occupational mainland forces. My neighbor across the street unknown to me was in G2 in Europe and did ski patrol spy type special forces stuff and after the war was on the US Olympic ski team! My neighbor 2 doors down who was a col in the army reserves when I grew up with him and played with his kid, was a GI combat engineer and was right with Patton all the way across Europe. he would help set up the command posts as they moved along, wired phones lights, etc. My Dad joined in June of 1945 when he turned 18. Joined the navy. Trained as a landing craft driver. Went through the panama canal. Made it up the coast to San Francisco where he was going to head to support the planned Japan mainland invasion. he got a really bad infection and was put on the relatively new pennicillin. While he was recovering, the USA dropped the A Bombs, and my dad never left the states. Another kid I hung out with in boy scouts and high school and into college, his dad was a flame thrower trooper in the Pacific. Was in several of the island assaults. He was a quiet really nice guy. His wife, my freind's mother was just an absolute sweetheart. His Dad was a chemist, did not have regular work, and finally one day hung himself in his basement. He was so depressed. Had a bank slip in his pocket showing like 4 dollars or something like that. My friend is the one who discovered him in the basement when he came home from school. My great grandfather, was in Ww 1. He actually came over from greece but was nationalized and spent one year in Europe, although he never talked about it much. I did have a medal he had gotten for his service when I was a kid, but that is long lost
Great stories. Thanks for sharing. I had the pleasure of talking with J.T. Britton a couple of times on the phone as part of my research into the crew. Wonderful man.
"Against 20 Russians trying to shoot you down, or even 20 Spitfires, it can be exciting, even fun. But curve in towards 40 Fortresses and all past sins flash before your eyes. And when you yourself have reached this state of mind, it becomes that much more difficult to have to drive every pilot of the Geschwader, right down to the youngest and lowliest NCO, to do the same."
Hans Philipp in a letter to Hannes Trautloft, 4 October 1943
G'day Dark, Within the rigid framework of military organisation, time and time again, it has been shown that it's either a group or an individual who are looked upon as 'rebels' and, frankly, flat out 'mad' people who have some of the most impressive battle records. Britain's 'Mad Jack' Churchill is one of many examples. Then the Long Range Desert Group, founded by an unorthodox CO, that eventually led to the creation of the SAS. These special individuals retain only the aspects of military doctrine that works for them and discard or 'work around' the rest.
As far as flyers go, it's usually the fighter pilots that, all alone in their cockpits, are most likely to turn recklessness into effective forms of attack. Here, in this excellent video, is a tale that reads like a storyline of a Hollywood wartime potboiler, only in this case it was reality that exceeded anything dreamt up by scriptwriters.
This amazing collection of airmen, instead of trying to cope with the, well known, shortcomings of the B-17, thought nothing of doing something about it to increase their damage upon the enemy and extend their survival in brutal air-to-air battle situations.
It's almost a certainty that there were other crews, just like the 'Eager Beavers', however, the downside to this kind of approach to battle seldom leaves crews untouched by tragedy; most other aircrews, like the 'Beavers', would not have their records recalled as most would simply not return from a mission, ensuring their daring deeds would die with them.
Deserving of every medal and special award given to them, after the fact. It's a pity that the Beavers were classed as 'screw-ups' and renegades. The USAAF should have listened to them and up-gunned and armoured all B-17s. The collective effect on the IJAF would have been devastating.
If 'Beaver tactics' had been used in Europe the Luftwaffe would have disappeared from the skies even more rapidly than they were; with a significant reduction in the appalling casualty numbers of the Eighth Air Force and Bomber Command.
Sometimes, 'non-military' thinking and bending the rules can be a positive advantage. Here's to the 'Eager Beavers' and all those like them. Sadly, their contributions can never be properly estimated, however, they were, without doubt at the forefront of being on the winning side. BH
You can blame the bomber mafia for the staggering losses of the 8th Air Force.
@@centurian318 not many know of them, after all they weren't in the air, they were behind a desk
Dude I’ve read an article in a magazine about that plane and the crew years ago. Really awesome read. The Japanese pilots didn’t know what they where up against
This story should be a movie, or even a streaming series
That's exactly what I'm working on. Going out to producers right now, in fact. I could use everyone's support on the poll about this on my page to help me convince them of the audience for it.
Wow. This is really interesting to me since I live in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea where Old 666 was based.
Damn! That's awesome.
That is the crew that gets the job done. Outstanding work, Eager Beavers!
I've been waiting for someone to do a video on this story
When folks say thank you for your service this a level above and beyond the call of duty. Awesome so many folks alive today owe a debt of gratitude to heroes like these who just got on and did it. Awesome
Great documentary of great men doing great things. They have my respect.
I would like Tom Hanks to produce a "Greyhound" with this plane.
Oh, I remember this one from the Discovery Channel Series...
"Zeimer's men rigged the fortress with extra guns, the waist guns were converted into twin .50cals, an extra .50 call was fitted in the chin for the bombardier, in the nose a fixed gun was installed for Zeimer to operate... In the end, Old 666 was loaded with 19 machineguns, 6 more than the standard B-17, IT WAS THE MOST HEAVILY ARMED BOMBER IN THE PACIFIC".
HANKS ? NO THANKS !
@@silent1967 Then Who? M Bay to have everything explode?
Watching this video, and since relatively little combat film of B-17s in the Pacific Theater exists, most of the ground and combat scenes in this video were taken from European Theater official films such as "Memphis Belle" and Target for Today" depicting the 8th AF operations. Still, it tells an interesting and little known story of bravery under fire and the miserable flying conditions of the southwest Pacific operations in WWII.
This would make an incredible film. Memphis Belle meets Saving Private Ryan meets Letters from Iwo Jima.
Imagine what they could have done if a damaged M-17 half-track, with its quad .50s, had been laying around. JFK did something like this to his PT109. He had a 37mm anti-tank gun mounted on the boat.
I've been to Port Morsbey, New Guinea. I went there as part of the crew of the USS Fletcher DD 992. Go Navy
Very nice place.
I'm glad this story is getting more exposure
Back in 87 , I was part of a crew roofing this older man's house, his tag was military so at lunch time Mr Lewis ( his name ) and I started talking about his service in world War 2 . He told me on his 3rd mission his plane was shot down and he spent 11 months in a German pow camp. I considered myself a very amateur world War 2 buff but his story amazed me , his B 24 was modified for decoy missions. When axis fighters attacked his group his plane was to devert the fighters attention acting like his plane was hit and they would drop out of formation drawing the planes away from the group . His plane carried no bombs and was reinforced with armor plates and they added more machine guns . He thought the Germans had caught on to what his crew was doing and his plane was shot down on that 3rd mission I have no reason not to believe him in part because he was a very prominent person here . Very nice man
I assume that the entire crew had earned the right to be called Aces on that day, it does sound like they downed at least 5 enemy aircraft
Correct. I know because my father was a 43rd Heavy 45th Squadron B17 engineer/top turret gunner at the same field, 7 Mile. He said that kills were shared equally among crew members because no single gun could be identified as having delivered the fatal shots. I have the original purple ink mimeographed general order from 1943 crediting my father’s crew with two kills.
I guess there's a fine line between bravery and insanity. A salute to the Eager Beavers and Ol' 666, and a big thank you for their service.
holy shit i remember reading this story in an old book as a kid, it stuck with me enough to remember the name Jay Zeamer years later
It was probably Flying Forts by Martin Caidin. He used his earlier magazine article "Mission Over Buka" as the first chapter of that book. Many mistakes and myths passed down in it, but it's what got me hooked on the story almost thirty years ago.
I would like to nominate this narrator for The Silliest Voice Ever Award? He is in a class on his own -surely this must be Olympic-level silliness. At first I thought it was Robin Williams, camping it up with the breathless delivery, then I realised it was someone being deliberately awful on purpose. So awful, he deserves an award.
You tell a great story my friend...
Absolutely excellent.
Cheers from Ireland all!!
Who knows, these men may have saved my Uncle's life with the better planning...he went into Bougainville with the 6th marine Division...Uncle Leo trained with the British Commandos in Scotland for 6 months in 1942 and was one of 12 Marines who came back to the United States and taught the Marine Raiders...Commando tactics, hit fast and then scoot...
They talked about this very mission in an episode of Dogfights (the episode where they went over encounters of bomber aircraft participating in aerial dogfights with the enemy) and it's one of my favorite stories ever.
Well-done video! Great stories deserve to be told and you did this one justice. Keep up the great work. And yeah, those Eager Beavers were crazy brave young men.
Nice touch, naming all of the crew members.
'We need photos taken deep inside enemy territory of an island men
.' Eager Beaver crew, 'hold our beer.'
How much many guns do you want on this plane?
Eager Beavers: *YES*
Captain says :
"I volunteered for a dangerous mission!"
Crew says :
" that's fine with us !"
Truly they were crazy, brave , courageous, heroes.
It may have been an 'Unloved.' And 'Unwanted.' Plane but it came through for them when it was needed!
Actually heavy armored B-17s were tried in the ETO. The AAF didn't support the concept
Too slow
This is amazing! That is a badass plane, for sure.
Ol 6 was a bad*** crew. They went up against long odds and won. Simply amazing
Very cool brother thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise
My dads outfit... he was in Port Moresby earlier though, 44 bombing raids he was in. Miss you dad! He lefts us at age 97. Bronze Star Chief
You should do something on the first men on Guam, my grandfather was one of only a hand full of men to have lived,he and his platoon where ambushed all killed my grandpa pulled his best friends body over his and acted dead after being stabbed twice and shot 2 times his name was Robert Bulkley,he lived and was awarded 4 purple hearts and the is honor at camp William's in utahhe was one of the highest decorated soldier in that campaign
What a great story! I never heard of them before, even though I've read many books on WW2 and watched many documentaries over 40+ years. Thank you
Now that was a damn fine video. Thank you for this.
Once again you have given us unheard of(to me) interesting content.Thanks for your efforts and I hope they keep coming!
WOW 😳😳😳😳 definitely needs to be made into a movie 🤩🤩🤩 good job man keep up the good work love your videos 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
The crew of that plane are definitely hero’s and hopefully one day a movie will be made telling their story.
The way you introduce each part is quite compelling I could say.
I know you guys just did the OV-10, but y'all really need to cover the O-1G and the FACs and Ravens, those guys flew into battle in door-less tiny cessnas, tossing grenades and firing m-16s from the cockpit.