James E. Seamans
B-17 pilot crash-landed on his final bombing run.
By Jeff Werner, BucksLocalNews.com
James E. Seamans was on his 30th and final mission over Germany when disaster struck. It was November 1944 and World War II was raging through Western Europe.
Flack from anti-aircraft gunfire had struck his B-17 bomber, taking out an engine. He and his crew were in a forced nose dive and frantically looking for a place to land over hostile territory.
“I had to make a decision. Could we make it back to England? If we did, we’d be going home. If we couldn’t, maybe we could land in the English Channel. But that’s questionable with a B-17,” said Seamans.
“I called my crew together to see if everyone had life jackets.” Unfortunately, one of the men, in his haste to lighten the plane, had tossed his jacket out the door. “That made my decision easy,” said Seamans.
Known as Seamans’ Demons, the 10-member crew had flown 30 combat missions together, mostly over Germany, between July 17 and Nov. 26, 1944. During those short months, they developed a special bond that continues to this day.
Seamans, who was the pilot, was born and raised in Scranton. He attended Keystone Junior College in Factoryville where he enrolled in a Civilian Pilot Training Course and earned his pilot’s license. The course, he said, was introduced by the Governor of Pennsylvania in 1941 to introduce “guys like me” into the U.S. Army Air Force.
In 1942 he graduated from Keystone, enlisted in the Air Force and joined the aviation cadet program to become a pilot. He earned his wings and was commissioned a second lieutenant. At about the same time, he married his high school sweetheart, Marjorie.
Fresh out of flight school, he was assigned to fly B-17s (nicknamed the Flying Fortress) and was sent to training school. He and his crew trained in Florida before being sent over to England in June 1944 where they were assigned to the 100th Bomb Group, nicknamed the Bloody 100th due to the heavy losses it had sustained.
“We were greeted with that information when we arrived at the base, which didn’t please us too much,” said Seamans. “However, it was a great group and we met some fine people there.”
Up until its final mission, Seamans said the crew was pretty fortunate, suffering only one injury and always returning home with nothing more than bullet holes in the plane. That changed with its last run over Germany.
“We thought it was a milk run, but it ended up being the most difficult,” he said. “it was a short mission to Hann where we were to hit a huge marshalling yard. We figured this was our last mission and we were going to make it without any problem.”
Five seconds before the bombs were to be released the plane took a direct hit on its second engine from anti-aircraft fire. “When you take damage to an engine, the first thing you have to do is feather the engine” to reduce the resistance on the prop and prevent it from windmilling, he said.
Twenty minutes after taking the hit, the prop broke lose from the crankshaft, severed the Plexiglas nose of the plane and compromised the plane’s air lock. Seamans sent the plane into a dive in an attempt to put out a wind fire raging in the engine. “They say it doesn’t always work, but for us it worked twice.”
With the fires out, the crew crash-landed on an airfield in Belgium. “Fortunately my navigator found an air field that had been liberated by the Americans two weeks prior to us needing it,” said Seamans. “But one of the problems was the airfield had been pot-marked with bomb craters and it was just a mess.
“We had a difficult time on the landing. We ended up with our nose into the ground,” said Seamans, but no one was injured. “The Lord was good to us that day,” he said.
Seamans, however, couldn’t get out of the cockpit. His legs had been frozen when the plane’s air lock was compromised.
“They lowered me out of an escape hatch underneath the aircraft. Fortunately they had an ambulance at the base and they took me to the hospital in Brussels. They put me in a room at 32 degrees and thawed me out in 24 hours, just gradually increasing the temperature. And I have not had one problem with my legs since.”
He returned to Scranton on Christmas Eve, 1944, to an anxious wife who was eager to welcome him home.
After his discharge in the summer of 1945, he returned to Scranton where he raised a family. He worked briefly for a print shop before taking a job with United Gilsonite Laboratories, which manufactures do-it-yourself-products. He worked in advertising before becoming the company’s marketing manager.
In 1992, the couple retired to Buckingham Springs in Bucks County. The couple has two children, Jim Jr. of Newtown and Diane Laughlin of Pittsburgh, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
James E. Seamans was on his 30th and final mission over Germany when disaster struck. It was November 1944 and World War II was raging through Western Europe.
Flack from anti-aircraft gunfire had struck his B-17 bomber, taking out an engine. He and his crew were in a forced nose dive and frantically looking for a place to land over hostile territory.
“I had to make a decision. Could we make it back to England? If we did, we’d be going home. If we couldn’t, maybe we could land in the English Channel. But that’s questionable with a B-17,” said Seamans.
“I called my crew together to see if everyone had life jackets.” Unfortunately, one of the men, in his haste to lighten the plane, had tossed his jacket out the door. “That made my decision easy,” said Seamans.
Known as Seamans’ Demons, the 10-member crew had flown 30 combat missions together, mostly over Germany, between July 17 and Nov. 26, 1944. During those short months, they developed a special bond that continues to this day.
Seamans, who was the pilot, was born and raised in Scranton. He attended Keystone Junior College in Factoryville where he enrolled in a Civilian Pilot Training Course and earned his pilot’s license. The course, he said, was introduced by the Governor of Pennsylvania in 1941 to introduce “guys like me” into the U.S. Army Air Force.
In 1942 he graduated from Keystone, enlisted in the Air Force and joined the aviation cadet program to become a pilot. He earned his wings and was commissioned a second lieutenant. At about the same time, he married his high school sweetheart, Marjorie.
Fresh out of flight school, he was assigned to fly B-17s (nicknamed the Flying Fortress) and was sent to training school. He and his crew trained in Florida before being sent over to England in June 1944 where they were assigned to the 100th Bomb Group, nicknamed the Bloody 100th due to the heavy losses it had sustained.
“We were greeted with that information when we arrived at the base, which didn’t please us too much,” said Seamans. “However, it was a great group and we met some fine people there.”
Up until its final mission, Seamans said the crew was pretty fortunate, suffering only one injury and always returning home with nothing more than bullet holes in the plane. That changed with its last run over Germany.
“We thought it was a milk run, but it ended up being the most difficult,” he said. “it was a short mission to Hann where we were to hit a huge marshalling yard. We figured this was our last mission and we were going to make it without any problem.”
Five seconds before the bombs were to be released the plane took a direct hit on its second engine from anti-aircraft fire. “When you take damage to an engine, the first thing you have to do is feather the engine” to reduce the resistance on the prop and prevent it from windmilling, he said.
Twenty minutes after taking the hit, the prop broke lose from the crankshaft, severed the Plexiglas nose of the plane and compromised the plane’s air lock. Seamans sent the plane into a dive in an attempt to put out a wind fire raging in the engine. “They say it doesn’t always work, but for us it worked twice.”
With the fires out, the crew crash-landed on an airfield in Belgium. “Fortunately my navigator found an air field that had been liberated by the Americans two weeks prior to us needing it,” said Seamans. “But one of the problems was the airfield had been pot-marked with bomb craters and it was just a mess.
“We had a difficult time on the landing. We ended up with our nose into the ground,” said Seamans, but no one was injured. “The Lord was good to us that day,” he said.
Seamans, however, couldn’t get out of the cockpit. His legs had been frozen when the plane’s air lock was compromised.
“They lowered me out of an escape hatch underneath the aircraft. Fortunately they had an ambulance at the base and they took me to the hospital in Brussels. They put me in a room at 32 degrees and thawed me out in 24 hours, just gradually increasing the temperature. And I have not had one problem with my legs since.”
He returned to Scranton on Christmas Eve, 1944, to an anxious wife who was eager to welcome him home.
After his discharge in the summer of 1945, he returned to Scranton where he raised a family. He worked briefly for a print shop before taking a job with United Gilsonite Laboratories, which manufactures do-it-yourself-products. He worked in advertising before becoming the company’s marketing manager.
In 1992, the couple retired to Buckingham Springs in Bucks County. The couple has two children, Jim Jr. of Newtown and Diane Laughlin of Pittsburgh, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.