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SALT LAKE CITY -- A Salt Lake World War II veteran observed an uncommon anniversary Friday. He and his crew were shot down during a bombing run over Germany 66 years ago.
At 89, Clinton O. Norby vividly recalls February 25th, 1945.
"I didn't hear an explosion, and I didn't feel nothing," he said of that fateful moment.
Norby is lucky to be alive, and he has pictures from the crash to prove it. He was the engineer and top turret gunner on a B-17G bomber when it was hit with anti-aircraft fire. The crew was on a bombing run to Munich, Germany, when enemy fire hit their plane.
Norby was busy with his job and, at first, didn't know anything had happened. Then he noticed the navigator was bloodied.
"He was bleeding all across his forehead, just running out like a waterfall," Norby said.
Norby bandaged up the navigator as the rest of the crew scrambled around the bomber to assess the damage. They discovered the pilot's controls were shot out and it was losing engines. As the co-pilot flew the plane, the pilot told Norby to open up the bomb door and dump the remaining bombs so they wouldn't be on board when the plane crashed.
We were in an apple orchard, and we were slicing down trees. We hit the one big tree and came to a crash, and it spun us around.
–Clinton Norby
#norby_quote
"By then, we had gotten down to about 13,000 feet. We had to be careful of going too fast. We didn't want to lose control of the plane," Norby said.
They lost altitude, gradually at first, as the co-pilot tried to control the sinking bomber.
"We didn't bail out, and all of a sudden the engines just quit," Norby said.
It was too risky to bail. Besides, as Norby found out later, the wounded plane was descending into Switzerland.
As Norby braced himself for impact, he looked out the window and saw trees whizzing past at 140 mph.
"We were in an apple orchard, and we were slicing down trees," he said. "We hit the one big tree and came to a crash, and it spun us around."
Norby and seven other crew members escaped. Only the pilot died.
"I received a blessing before I went into the service," Norby said. "It said I would be protected in all my travels, and I used to think about that a lot. After this happened, I can see why."
That night, the crew ate well in a Swiss Inn in Muswangen, where they crashed. A telegram, informing his parents he was missing in action arrived in Utah three weeks later.
"They were shocked. My dad cried," Norby said.
While that telegram was making its way to American, Norby and the rest of the crew were making their way to London. A day after his parents received the distressing news, Norby sent a cablegram to his parents to let them know he was safe.
"All I could say was just so much: 'See you soon,'" Norby said.
He says his experience never became an emotional burden, he felt he was doing what he was supposed to do.
"In those days, you had to grow up fast," he says. Two months later, the war ended, and he was already on a train home to Utah.
Norby came home, got married, and went to work in the post office for several decades. He has five children, 27 grandchildren, and 51 great grandchildren.
E-mail: jboal@ksl.com
