McCracken, John "Jack" B-17 Flight Engineer

John "Jack" McCracken was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. McCracken joined the Army Air Corps in January of 1943 and was sent to Miami for basic training. His next stop was in Las Vegas for gunnery school, then it was off to Amarillo, Texas for maintenance training on airplanes. He was eventually sent to Florida and assigned to crew #54, 570th squadron, 390th Bomb Group, as the engineer/ top turret gunner. In 1944, after completing their phase training, McCracken and his crew sailed to England and assignment to the air base located at Framlingham, England. McCracken and his crew flew and completed 15 combat missions. During his interview, McCracken recounts his experiences including being saved by his ball turret gunner during a mission; shot down over Dusseldorf on their 16th mission when flak took out 3 engines and all instrumentation; bailed out and landed on a horse that was tilling a field; excellent description of the interrogation process and life as a POW in a German Stalag and being eventually freed by Russian forces in 1945.