It's June 23rd, 1944.
High above Rumania.
The 97th Bombardment group of the Fifteenth Air force
are making their way towards their targets of oil refineries and storage facilities.
The group are jumped
and Bf-109s swarm all over the 97th.
The gunners put up a valiant defense
but the fighters are merciless.
A plane off the left wing of a B-17 called Opissonya
is critically hit and falls to the ground.
It’s desperate and a second B-17 on the left is also hit
and taken out by the German fighters.
The fighters peel off to the right.
But this is a false peace.
They know that the flak is about to start.
Suddenly plumes of smoke and fire erupt all around the brave men of the 97th.
The German fighters about a mile distant on the right
relay the exact positions to the flak batteries.
Back inside the irreverently named Opissonya,
the Bombardier, 25 year old 2nd Lt David R Kingsley crouches over the bomb sight.
The flak is so thick one of the crew later said,
“You could walk on it”,
and smoke from already bombed targets makes it very difficult to see anything on the ground.
Kingsley tries to ignore the flak shaking the plane
and get’s down to the job of hitting the target.
The pilot, 1st Lt Edwin Anderson
does his best to get the Opissonya in position.
Suddenly the plane is rocked and the crew realize with dread
that the flak has hit them!
The damage is severe but not critical
with one engine destroyed and a fuel tank ripped off.
Kingsley lets loose his bombs
and they fall towards the target.
With the 3 remaining engines screaming,
Anderson manages to get his B-17 away.
The controls are damaged and with only 3 engines
the Opissonya is a straggler away from the main formation.
Stragglers are always the first to fall to hunters
and in the skies over Rumania two Bf-109s smell blood.
A battle begins as they attack the lone fortress.
They do all they can
but the fast buzzing 109s concentrate on taking out the gun positions.
Their first objective is the tail gunner.
An incredibly dangerous job.
Sergeant Michael Sullivan defends his plane as best he can.
But today fortune is with the 109s and Sullivan is hit
by shell fragments that also destroy his intercom.
Without a working tail gun, the Bf-109s press their advantage.
Injured, Sullivan struggles from the tail towards the mid section of the plane
where the waist gunners tried to do what they could for him,
but with the Bf-109s coming in again
they call for the Bombardier, Kingsley to administer first aid.
Removing Sullivan’s parachute and harness,
Kingsley tended to his injuries and managed to stop the bleeding in his shoulder.
At this point the Opissonya was 500 miles from base,
had 3 engines, was low on fuel and had no tail gun.
Things were looking incredibly bleak.
As the 109’s were coming in to deliver the final blow,
two P-51 mustangs appeared.
Quickly the 109’s peeled off in search of an easier target.
For as long as possible the mustangs warded off any would be attackers.
But they too had to peel off eventually as they were low on fuel.
Now completely alone and defenseless they were attacked once more.
This time eight Bf-109s flew out of the sun
and swarmed all over the stricken B-17.
For a quarter of an hour they strafed the Americans,
injuring the ball gunner and peppering the wings and fuselage with holes.
Amazingly the flying fortress kept flying.
But finally it was hopeless
and fearing the plane would disintegrate,
the pilot had no choice but to ring the bailout bell.
Kingsley did what he could to help the injured men bail out.
When he went to help Sullivan, the gunner’s parachute harness could not be found.
In an incredible show of bravery,
Kingsley immediately removed his own parachute harness and put it on Sullivan.
He carried the injured gunner to the bomb bay
and told him to keep his hand on the ripcord and pull when he was clear.
Sullivan later said,
“He told me to bail out.
Before I jumped, I looked up at him
and the look he had on his face was firm, and solemn.
He must have known what was coming
because there was no fear in his eyes at all.”
Kingsley was last seen by the crew members standing on the bomb bay catwalk.
Drifting down they watched the plane hit the ground in the distance.
For extreme courage and selfless sacrifice,
he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on April 9th, 1945.
His remains were found and interred in Arlington National Cemetery.
At the site of the crash a memorial stands today made in part from the wreckage.
The Klamath Falls Airport in Oregon was named Kingsley Field in his honor.
In December 2019 the 173rd Fighter Wing at Kingsley Field
flew an F-15C to Edwards Air Force Base.
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of his heroic action
it was given a special heritage paint job,
painted in traditional B-17 colors with D-Day invasion stripes
and a portrait of the great man who put the lives of his crew before himself.
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