Bill Sheaves By Charlotte Burrous

It was supposed to be an easy mission; fly over Paris, drop the bombs, then get out and return to their base in England but it turned into a nightmare. Bill Sheaves, a non-com flight engineer, was on his 14th mission with the Army Air Corps when his plane was shot down over Paris on Sept. 9, 1943. "We were at altitude," he said. "We had taken a hit from 88mm anti-aircraft fire, which took out all our oxygen. We had no choice but to get down to a low level fast! You can't fly at 30,000 feet with no oxygen." However, as the B-17 attempted to make its way back to England, they encountered five German fighter planes that cam up from behind. "After four of their planes were hit by our tail-guns, the fifth one abruptly left the area," Sheaves said.

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