On April 6, 1944, the crew of a B-17G, nicknamed Banshee, took off as part of a mission with the 15th Air Force from Celone Air Base in Foggia, Italy to bomb an airfield in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (modern-day Croatia).
As the plane lifted off, Sergeant Chester Majewski of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania waited in the plane’s radio room. Once the plane was well into the air and on its way to deliver its 4,000 pound payload he prepared to enter his battle station on the bomber – the ball turret on the plane’s underside.
This position was among the loneliest (and I’d say scariest) crew positions on the B-17, tucked into a narrow, rotating ball with twin machine guns meant to protect the bomber’s vulnerable underside. It was one of the most infamous jobs during World War II.
While making a bomb run over the target at Zagreb, Banshee was damaged by enemy ground fire and set on fire. The pilot and co-pilot dropped the plane from the protective cover of their formation in an effort to blow out the fire consuming an engine. They zigged and zagged after dropping their bombs in an effort to put the fire out as German fighter planes strafed and shot at the damaged bomber.
The fire refused to go out and those in the cockpit decided it was time to abandon the stricken Banshee, and rang the alarm bell to bail out of the plane. As the crew of 10 began abandoning the bomber, they pulled 22-year-old Majewski, veteran of three previous air missions, from his ball turret. The entire crew leapt from the bomber at around 20,000 feet as it flew on towards destruction.
Majewski waited to open his parachute until a safe altitude was reached, free falling through the afternoon sky over Yugoslavia. He opened his parachute and landed safely – in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Now, the young man from Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania would need to use his wits to survive.
He did – and lived to tell the story to a reporter for the Shenandoah Evening Herald in the summer of 1944.
Here’s the story:
Knowledge Of Polish Big Help To Local Airman Who ‘Hit Silk’
Some of the experiences of T/Sgt. Chester T. Majewski, son of Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Majewski, of 202 South Catherine street, are striking examples of the grim reality of war.
Sergeant Majewski made four flights over German controlled territory in Europe and had the sickening sensation of having the plane he was in, a B-17, struck squarely with flak, when flying at an altitude of about 20,000 feet.
In leaving the plane, he waited several minutes before opening his parachute, as required at this height. He was the target of machine gun fire in his descent and all he could do in defense, he said, was to pray.
Landing somewhere in Yugoslavia, Sergeant Majewski said he freed himself from the parachute and ran, being convinced if he was caught, he would have been “shot on the spot.” Sergeant Majewski made good his escape at this point and wandered alone until the next day, when he came upon his co-pilot, Lt. Verl M. Lewis, of California.
For about a week the two soldiers moved along through mountains and strange country, and about the seventh day came upon another member of the 10-man crew, S/Sgt. Leon G. Ballard, of Columbia, Mo., who was a tail-gunner on the B-17. About this time the three Americans joined a guerilla patrol, consisting of men from Yugoslavia.
Days of Danger
The following few days were filled with danger and long periods of fasting, praying and hoping. They crossed German highways, avoided flares, and made hazardous river crossings. Sergeant Majewski said:
“Much goes unwritten and unspoken in the interlude between the bailing out and arriving in Italy.”
One German plane passed over the boys and was so low for awhile they thought it was a large flying truck. In time they learned it was a German HE-126 observation plane.
Sergeant Majewski said his use of the Polish language was practically indispensable in making good his escape from certain death.
After treatment in a base hospital in Italy, the three Americans reported to headquarters, returned to their home base and received a well earned and much needed furlough. Of the 10 men aboard the B-17, three have returned safely to Italy, five are known to be prisoners of war and two are as yet unaccounted for.
Among other awards and decorations, Sergeant Majewski has received the Purple Heart, African and Mediterranean campaign stars and pre-Pearl Harbor service ribbon. He was a radio operator and gunner on the B-17.
After spending a few days in town with his parents and among friends, Sergeant Majewski reported to Alexandria, La., where he expects to be stationed for some time as an instructor.
He entered the service January 11, 1940, and received basic training at Fort Myer, Va. After serving in several camps throughout the country, he went overseas on February 14, 1944, going first to South America, then to Africa and finally landing in Italy about March 14.
Attached to the Air Corps, Sergeant Majewski participated in the Italian campaign and European air offensive. An unassuming chap, the young airman was reluctant in speaking of his overseas experiences.
“Lots of fellows had it much more tough,” he commented.
Majewski and his fellow evaders were not allowed to return to service over Nazi-occupied Europe – their knowledge of the routes and locals who aided in their escape was deemed too important to risk putting them in combat again in this theatre of the war.
He served out his war-time days training new gunners for service in the skies over Louisiana and Ohio.
Majewski survived the war and died in New Jersey in 1990.
Parts of this story come from the account of the doomed Banshee written by Bob Lewis, son of Banshee co-pilot Verl Lewis who escaped with Majewski from Yugoslavia. He published the story on Facebook, and then in San Diego Veterans Magazine.
Read more Coal Region stories from the Air War during World War II
Lackawanna County airman killed in bombing raid featured in “Masters of the Air”
“Look at that smoke coming up” – Williamstown airman killed in plane crash during Second World War
A Pennsylvania airman’s letter about the air war over Europe | 1944
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