Lucky 13: A last-minute swap saved this airman’s life during WWII bombing run

It was Friday the 13th when the airmen of the 451st Bomb Group of the 15th Air Force based in Castelluccio, Italy, gathered in an ancient wine cellar which housed Group Operations.

“Gentlemen, our target today will be … Vienna,” Ed Ryan later recalled in Veteran Voices Magazine. Audible groans could be heard throughout the cellar. Experienced crewman knew how well defended the Austrian city was, laced with anti-aircraft guns.

Ryan, who served as a navigator, knew too, as he had flown 12 missions prior to that October day. It would be his 13th bombing run — set on the 13th.

“Friday, October 13, 1944: Friday the 13th. My lucky day,” Ryan wrote. “For the rest of my life, I would celebrate Friday the 13th whenever it appeared on the calendar. It was the day I should have died, but didn’t.”

It was overcast as Ryan’s B-24 took off, positioned in at the rear of the squadron. The men morbidly called it the “Purple Heart” position, as it left whoever was flying in that spot the most vulnerable to flak.

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Source: Military Times
Website: www.militarytimes.com