S/SGT Charles Sibray

AN EIGHTH AIR FORCE BOMBER STATION, England -- Alone in a flaming plane, Staff Sergeant Charles Sibray, Jr., Odon, Ind., B-17 Flying Forgress tail gunner who 'didn't hear the order to bail out." Sat snugly in the tail for more than an hour, unaware that he was the only man left in the plane and rode to safety inside allied lines from over 150 miles in Germany.

The Eighth Air Force formation dropped its bombs on the rail yards at Ansbach, Germany and started to head for home. Nazi flak shook SGT. Sibray's Fort. Soon after the bombing the tail gunner received a call on the interphone telling him that an engine had been hit and switched off.

"I turned around from my tail position," said SGT. Sibray, "and saw that the left wing was on fire. I immediately reported this to the pilot, and, in turn, he told the crew to prepare to bail out."

After snapping on this parachute, the tail gunner un-plugged his earphones and kicked open the emergency door. Unknown to h im, during the short interval he was out of communication with the rest of the crew, the pilot had ordered the men to bail out. SGT. Sibray, all set for a jump now, re-inserted his headset and awaited further instructions.

But, the instructions for which he waited were not forth coming, as the pilot and every other man except the unknowing tail gunner had left the flaming fort. He tried to contact the pilot several times, but heard nothing over the interphone system.

"Of course," said SGT. Sibray, "it was strange as all get out to hear that dead silence over the phones, but I figured that either the men up front were too busy or that there was a flaw on the radio equipment. I didn't dare leave my tail guns to investigate because we were still in "bandit country" where we had been briefed to expect enemy fighters. Anyway, the plane was flying along pretty smoothly, and the emergency seemed to have passed."

SGT. Sibray was unaware that the pilot had placed the controls of the aircraft on automatic pilot and the "smooth ride" that he was getting was completely mechanically controlled.

Finally, as the Fort soared over the battle lines and back over friendly territory stray bursts of German anti-aircraft fire from the front lines exploded perilously close. SGT. Sibray called out the position of the bursts to the pilot--still no answer.

This time the tail gunner was worried. Maybe something was wrong with the men in the cockpit. The interphones seemed to buzz healthly, perhaps someone in the nose was badly injured. Hesitantly, SGT Sibray crawled from his tail position and went forward to the nose of the fort.

The young Hoosier passed the waist and found no sign of the waist or ball gunners. The radio room was empty. He squeezed through the catwalk in the bombay. No engineer rode the top turret. Excitedly, he rushed into the nose. In front of the empty pilot, navigator, bombardier and co-pilot seats he stared at the blinking light of the automatic pilot.

Now aware of the fact that he was the sole occupant of the bomber and had been for some time, SGT Sibray checked the condition of the Fort. The fire in the left wing was still going. The one engine which had been hit earlier was switched off and there were a few flak holes in the wing around it. "First thing that came into my mind," the tail gunner remarked, "was to pray. I prayed hard. Then after staying in the aircraft for more one more minute, I hit the silk."

The jump was smooth, and the sergeant landed unhurt in France. He was immediately picked up by the French police. Then he told his story. The French turned him over to American forces in he continent and he was flown back to his base in Britain.

Son of Mr. and Mr.s Charles Sibray, Odon, SGT Sibray graduated from Odon High School before entering the Army Air Forces in January 1944.

The Indiana tail gunner, holder of the air medal with three oak leaf clusters for "courage, coolness and skill in aerial combat" is a member of the 486th Bombardment Group, a unit of the Third Air Division, the Division cited by the President for its England-Africa shuttle bombing of messershmitt plants at Regensburg, Germany.

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