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Ike Gets Ready to Bail Out

As a licensed private pilot, General Dwight Eisenhower had no fear of flying. But, in 1943 he was probably a bit too casual when he climbed aboard a particular B-17 to fly out of Algiers.

World War II B-17 Bomber

The Boeing B-17 four-engine bomber was heavily used by the Army Air Force during World War II. The plane was famous for its ability to take substantial battle damage and still bring its ten-man crew home. After each mission, ground crews would patch up the planes during the night to have them ready for the next mission. There came a time, however, when patching wouldn’t work. Eventually, the bombers suffered from battle fatigue. They had been patched up so many times that the crew chiefs could no longer certify them as safe enough to fly under the heavy load conditions of combat operations. These planes were classified as “war weary” and either stripped for parts, scrapped, or restricted for non-combat freight and local training flights.

Ike’s encounter with a war-weary B-17 came when he heard, in early January 1943, that President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill would be meeting in Casablanca with the combined Chiefs of Staff. They expected him to attend. But Ike’s headquarters was in Algiers and Casablanca was 1,650 miles away. To get there by car would take at least 36 hours on badly damaged desert roads and a drive over the formidable Atlas Mountains. The best plan was to fly to the meeting, but Eisenhower did not have his own plane (even though some of the generals serving under him had their own transports assigned to them). To get to Casablanca he simply told an aide to have the nearest Air Force base make a plane available to him for a few days.

If he had any apprehensions the next morning when he saw the old and war weary B-17 assigned to him, he didn’t say anything. Years later, when writing about the flight, he said that the craft “…did look tired.” He was right about that, but he and a few staff members simply climbed on board and strapped in for the takeoff.

The first part of the flight was routine. Just before reaching the mountain range they landed at Oujda, in French Morocco, where Eisenhower had a fifteen-minute meeting with his deputy, General Mark Wayne Clark.

Afterwards, Ike and his small party got back in the plane for the hop over the mountains and into Casablanca. The mountain peaks were between ten and twelve thousand feet high and the plane seemed to struggle as it flew in spirals to reach that height. Ike, who was sitting by the window near the rear of the plane, pointed out to his naval aide, Commander Harry Butcher, that oil was streaming from of the outer engine on the right wing. Then, just as the bomber reached an altitude high enough to go over the mountain range, the engine abruptly stopped. Eisenhower was not very concerned since a B-17 with a light load could easily fly on three engines. But then there was something to worry about when an engine on the left wing began shaking and belching black smoke. Fortunately, the aircraft had just passed over the mountain peaks and had clearance to make a long, almost gliding, descent towards their destination. But just as they started down, the cranky engine on the left wing stopped. Then a third engine began to misfire. They weren’t far from Casablanca, but not close enough to make the airfield on one engine. The pilot ordered all of the passengers to put on their parachutes.

Ike knew they had plenty of time before the plane reached an altitude that would make it necessary for them to bail out. He and Harry Butcher helped each other put on their parachutes. When Butcher put the thick canvas shoulder straps on Ike, one of the stars on the General’s epaulet ripped off and fell to the floor. Butcher picked it up and tried to pin it back on but his hands were trembling so much that he couldn’t secure it. Eisenhower took the star from him and said he’d pin it on later. Crewmen lined up the passengers facing the small rear door and explained how to open the parachutes after jumping out.

But just before they reached the bailout point the pilot managed to get the stuttering engine back to full operation. He coaxed the plane on two engines to a perfect three-point landing at the air base outside of Casablanca. As soon as he got out of the old bomber, Ike called the base commander and ordered him to have the plane repaired in time for him to return to Algiers the next day.

Less than two hours later General Eisenhower was sitting in a meeting with the Combined Chiefs of Staff when an orderly entered the room and handed him a note from the air base commander:

It is impossible to repair your plane. It is being scrapped immediately and will never fly again.

The next day Lieutenant General Ira Eaker, Commander of all Army Air Forces in North Africa, loaned Ike a brand new plane for the flight back to headquarters at Algiers.

© Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission, Washington, DC, 2005