Tomasik: How a B-17 nearly clipped the Cardinals in the World Series
From SABR member Mark Tomasik at RetroSimba on October 4, 2013:
Facing the Bronx Bombers, the 1943 Cardinals got buzzed by the real deal.
Seventy years ago, during Game 1 of the 1943 World Series between the Cardinals and Yankees at Yankee Stadium, a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber startled players and spectators by passing so low across the ballpark it nearly scraped the top of the flagpoles.
Three months later, the pilot, Lt. Jack W. Watson of the U.S. Army Air Force, made a brave landing of a burning B-17 at an airfield in England.
On Oct. 5, 1943, the Yankees were on their way to a 4-2 victory over the Cardinals when, in the eighth inning, four B-17s suddenly rumbled above the stadium packed with 68,676 fans.
Imagine the sight: The B-17 was a massive Flying Fortress that “bristled with armament,” according to the Boeing Web site. It was 74 feet long with a span of 103 feet. Powered by four engines, the B-17 carried about a dozen machine guns and was capable of holding up to 9,000 pounds of bombs.
Read the full article here: http://retrosimba.com/2013/10/04/how-a-b-17-nearly-clipped-cardinals-in-world-series/
Originally published: October 8, 2013. Last Updated: October 8, 2013.