On November 23, 1944, at an allied base in Cortonburg, Belgium, a lone B17 Bomber was seen approaching the strip. The plane crash landed on its belly with the engines still running and the ground personnel awaited for the crew to come out. After 20 minutes, with no one exiting the plane, the ground crew approached the plane, only to discover that no one was inside. The plane had clear signs of being occupied, but no trace of the crew itself was present.
The actual crew was found in another airbase in Belgium, all alive.
Completely mesmerized, they began to investigate. From the serial number, the bomber belonged to the 91st Bomber Group tasked with a mission over Germany the day before.
The crew told command that after suffering damage from FLAK, and with no hope of heading back to the UK, the pilot steered the plane towards Belgium, turned the autopilot on and ordered his men to bail out, with the hopes that the plane would crash into the sea.
The plane kept flying until it began to lose altitude ultimately crash landing at the airbase.
Many mysteries surround the Phantom Fortress. The actual incident happened, but many questions still remain unclear on how the plane made it back and how the events unfolded. Such as the pilot reporting that only 2 engines were running prior to bail but when the plane landed, all 4 were on. Or that parachutes were still on the plane. The best theory developed boiled down to coincidence. The bomber, losing altitude at the right speed and angle for a descent, happened to crash land in a way as only such a legendarily sturdy bomber could theoretically do.
There lots of articles on this if anyone is curious.
Regardless, another reason on why the B17 was a legendary plane.
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