The story of Pete's pilot, Howard Eberly and his 'unendurable ordeal'

Howard Eberly was the pilot of Pete's plane, and it was his decision to 'peel out' of a thunderhead never to be seen alive again. Eberly's decision was probably to avoid what he thought would be catastrope. He had been there before, and in all probability, the men on that plane knew they were commanded by a war hero who had survived an extraordinarily grueling crash only six months earlier.

On March 13, 1943, Lt. Eberly was co-pilot of another B-17 on another combat mission in New Guinea. His plane took off at 6 pm in bad weather, and as the plane approached the target, the weather grew worse. Eberly's plane flew into thunderheads, forcing the plane to 20,000 feet* "in an effort to break through," military reports indicate. Despite icing conditions and extraordinary turbulance, the plane labored for four more hours to reach its target before the crew had to jettison its bombs and fight for survival. They flew for another fours hours through heavy rain and fog until their fuel was exhausted, and they were forced to "ride out a crash landing" in the sea. "The rain and fog continued all the way down to the water, so none of the crew could see, and as a result the nose hit first and sank immediately."

Eberly climbed out the cockpit window, came to the surface and looked for other crew members. He found only two others, and began swimming south. One of the men drowned, despite attempts by Eberly to help him. Eberly and his bombardier then swam for fourteen hours, finally making shore on an island in such exhaustion that they lay on the beach for 24 hours. They were finally discovered by infantry and taken for treatment. Eberly spent two months in a military hospital recovering from wounds, and then at his own request was returned to duty "and at the first opportunity" sought combat flying. According to reports, from the date of his return to duty, Eberly "flew practically every mission this squadron had, and made every effort to have himself scheduled for the few he missed."

For his heroism, Eberly was issued an "Award of Legion of Merit."

No one will ever know what happened in the last wave of lethal thunderheads Eberly encountered. But clearly he had been there on March 13, 1943 and survived. Exactly six months later, On September 13, he did not. But if you were a crewman on that plane, who better than Eberly could you want, a man who survived eights hours of thunderheads and lived to tell about it?