Paul Lee Kunsman was a real life hero. Paul was a Technical Sergeant - Flight Engineer and Top Turret gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress. There is both tremendous heroism and irony in his life and death. A tour of duty for a Flying Fortress crew was 20 missions and many men anteed up a second time. Men like Paul fulfilled their duty knowing full well that with each new mission the probability of being killed or captured increased expotentially. One in eight Flying Fortress missions over Europe were shot down. One of every ten American armed forces WWII casualties were men of the 8th Air Force in Europe. A turret gunner was particularly vulnerable as he was situated in various exposed external positions on the aircraft. They were a prime target of German FW-190 fighters as taking out a turret gunner made the B-17 much more vulnerable. Paul served on the B-17G "Duration Plus" part of the 8th Air Force, 306th Bomber Group, 367th Bomber Squadron. The 367th BS suffered the heaviest losses of any squadron in the entire 8th Air force from October 1942 through August 1943. They adopted the nickname 'Clay Pigeons', which shows these men understood their potential fate all too well and demonstrates their uncanny ability to maintain their sense of humor despite their dire circumstances. Paul survived those dismal odds and made it safely home only to suffer a tragic and senseless accidental death several years later while trying to help a stranded truck along a stretch of Pennsylvania highway. The "Duration Plus" was eventually shot down near Ammendorf, Germany on September 13, 1944 while on loan to a 369th Bomber Squadron crew. Three crewmen were killed in action and six were taken prisoner by the Germans.
On a personal note I wish I could have known Paul as I am certain he would have been someone to look up to and admire. The dictionary defines 'hero' as: A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose. It seems to me that Paul was both brave and nobel and so was a hero no matter how you define the term. What follows are a series of photos and news articles that chronicle a small part of his fascinating life and tragic ending. Our nation owes an immeasurable debt to Paul and his brave comrades. Paul... you did your family proud.
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The B-17 Flying Fortress
Photos at left and below are of the "Yankee Lady". From these photos you can see the nose, front side, top turrets, and the infamous ball turret of a B-17G, the last and most widely produced of the B-17 series. The B-17G had thirteen .50 caliber machine guns, the most out of the several variations of production B-17's. This version was the most feared by the Luftwaffe since there was no safe angle of approach as with some earlier models. You can clearly see how vulnerable these men were. Try to imagine yourself inside one of these glass bubbles with German fighters buzzing all around, machine guns a blazin'. I suspect the men had little time to be afraid during battle and I can only imagine what thoughts raced through their minds in route to their mission.
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The pair of photos above show the ball turret which was positioned on the belly of the B-17. The ball turret gunner had to enter from the hatch on the left before take-off. Once air born this gunner was isolated from the rest of the aircraft. There were cases where landing gear failed and the ball turret gunner was crushed to death upon landing. The ball turret was capable of nearly a full range of motion. Try to imagine being curled up in a near fetal position inside this bubble flying along at several hundred miles per hour while rotating and swiveling in nearly all directions. Needless to say nausea was a frequent problem for the ball turret gunner. It certainly took a brave soul to occupy any of these gunner positions.
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Top Turret View
The view at left is what Paul would have seen from his Top Turret position. It was the Flight Engineers job to man the top turret once the enemy was engaged. The top turret was operated in a standing position as illustrated below.
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The "Duration Plus" Nose Art
I suppose there were planes with a bit more artistic nose art (left) but the message here is clear. This crew was going to go the duration and then some. The bomb decals on the fuselage are mission symbols indicating the number of missions this aircraft flew. I count 44 which proves the crewman flying the "Duration Plus" defied the odds many times over. The 367th Bombardment Squadron insignia appears below. Again the crews sense of humor is evident with this comical yet frightening character.
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This is the "Duration Plus" final flight crew that went down in Germany on September 13, 1944. Crewman are: Kneeling - Gunners Sgt. B.R. Lussier, Sgt. M.H. Kimmel, Sgt. C.A. Richard, Sgt. R. Edwards. Standing - Engineer S/Sgt. E.J. Blaaskosk, Navigator 2nd Lt. B.A. Weinstein, Pilot 2nd Lt. C. Nattier, Co-pilot 2nd Lt. G.I. Johnson, Bomber 2nd Lt. W.A. Gregory, Radio Officer S/Sgt. E. Block. I am not certain if this is the actual "Duration Plus" aircraft or some other. It is a B-17G as evidenced by the front turret arrangement. Unfortunately the nose art is on the opposite side of the plane. Pilot 2nd Lt. C. Nattier and two other crewman perished. Six other crewman survived and were taken prisoner .
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One item I cannot reconcile in my research for this feature is the Col. James L. Travis referenced in the above news clip. In researching Col. Travis I find him as 96th bomber group commander. Perhaps Paul was part of the 96th BG at the time of his promotion and was later transferred to the 306th BG. I have a list of all 306th BG commanders over it's entire history with no gaps in time. Col. Travis was not one of them. Unfortunately I don't have the date these news clips were originally published which could help explain it all.
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Focke-Wulf 190
Considered Germany's finest fighter aircraft of the era the photo at left shows a FW-190 in flight. This would be the type of plane shot down by Paul as described in the newspaper clips.
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If the hand written date on this newspaper clip is correct it would mean Paul was flying on the Duration Plus just 42 days before it was shot down while on loan to a 369th BS flight crew.
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