They Called This B-17 "Cursed" — Until One Crew Destroyed 17 Japanese Zeros Alone

Why Captain Jay Zeamer's crew rebuilt a cursed B-17 that everyone refused to fly during WW2 — when a solo mission over Japanese territory awaited. This World War 2 story reveals how nine men transformed a damaged bomber into a 19-gun fortress against impossible odds.

June 16, 1943. Captain Jay Zeamer Jr., pilot of the 65th Bombardment Squadron, prepared to take off from Port Moresby in B-17E number 41-2666. The aircraft was considered cursed — shot up on every mission, cannibalized for parts, abandoned at the runway's end. Zeamer and his crew had rebuilt it anyway, stripped 2,000 pounds, added 19 fifty-caliber machine guns. Command called the solo 1,200-mile photo-reconnaissance mission to Bougainville suicidal. Every other pilot had refused. Old 666 would face seventeen Japanese Zero fighters alone, 600 miles from friendly airspace.

They were all wrong about the curse.

What Zeamer's crew was about to discover that morning wasn't about luck or fate. It was about firepower and crew determination in a way that contradicted everything the Pacific Theater had taught about bomber survival. When Japanese fighters intercepted them over Bougainville, the longest aerial combat mission in aviation history was about to begin. Nine men. Nineteen guns. One mission everyone said was impossible.

Could a single modified bomber survive what was coming? The answer would change Pacific air warfare forever.

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⚠️ Disclaimer: This is entertainment storytelling based on WW2 events from
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