By 1943, Capt. Jay Zeamer along with his hand picked crew of misfits “The Eager Beavers” had made a name for themselves for volunteering on high risk recon missions in the Pacific.
The plane they used was Old 666; a salvaged B17 with a history of being hit on every single sortie. While that didn’t deter Zeamer from doing his job, he did hotrodded the plane with various mods such as a total of 19 50cal MGs, including one attached to his cockpit in which he could use while piloting.
On June 16, 1943, the crew was tasked with photographing a defensive area near the Solomons. Flying solo, with no escort and deep in enemy territory, they were attacked by 20 Zero fighters. The crew shot down several planes including Zeamer scoring a kill himself.
The cockpit was then hit by several 20mm shells and bullets. Zeamer was wounded in both arms, left leg and had a gaping hole in his thigh. The rounds also damaged hydraulics, oxygen, most of the control panels and a fire broke out into the plane.
With no oxygen, Zeamer violently dived 15,000 ft. in a matter of minutes with more fighters on his tail. With the plane heavily damaged, losing blood and most of the crew wounded, he began to repeatedly turn into the oncoming fighters just inside the trajectory of their fixed fire in order to close the gap. He did so until all Zeros ran out of fuel.
Zeamer landed the crippled plane with no flaps, brakes or fuel. The only things working was the rudder, engines and compass.
For his actions he was awarded the Medal of Honor, along with his nose gunner Joseph Sarnoski (posthumously).
The rest of the crew received the Distinguished Service Cross. It remains the most highly decorated single air mission, and Zeamer’s regular crew the most highly decorated, in American history. #ww2