Russell Engel was born in Vesta, Minnesota, the son of a farmer who left the farm to work in oil refineries in Caspar, Wyoming. After four years, the refinery closed, and his father rented a farm back in Minnesota. He was the middle child of four boys. [Annotator’s Note: The interviewer asks if Engel remembers the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]. He heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor over a car radio. He had been drafted just three days prior [Annotator’s Note: Engel at first says he enlisted]. Engel attempted to return to his base at San Pedro, California [Annotator’s Note: US Army installation, Fort MacArthur] but traffic was so bad that Engel had to leave the car he was riding in and walk back to the base. He was sent to Biloxi, Mississippi [Annotator’s Note: Keesler Army Air Field, now Keesler Air Force Base] for Basic Training. While there he was pulled and sent to Montgomery, Alabama based on testing he had done for the Air Force [Annotator’s Note: Maxwell Field was home of the 74th Flying Training Wing. Now Maxwell Air Force Base]. While in Montgomery, he took more tests and was then sent to Florida for pilot training [Annotator’s Note: Dorr Field]. Engel washed out after his 60 hours of training. He had wanted to be a pilot and he felt bad. Afterwards, he was sent back to Montgomery for more testing. After two weeks, he was assigned to Navigation School at Turner Field, Georgia. The school was relocated to Monroe, Louisiana [Annotator’s Note: Selman Field], where Engel graduated and was assigned to the 100th Bomb Group [Annotator’s Note: 100th Bombardment Group] in Salt Lake City, Utah. Aircrews were assembled in Boise, Idaho and then sent to Wendover [Annotator’s Note: Wendover Field] for crew training. The crews stayed together until they got to France. Engel says waist gunners were changed over quite often. He only remembers one of two or three other waist gunners that they went through on his crew.

0:11:15:000 – 0:17:42:000 [Annotator’s Note: This interview is conducted in a question and answer style]. Russell Engel, a navigator of the 100th Bombardment Group, [Annotator’s Note: 100th Bombardment Group, 349th Bombardment Squadron, 8th Air Force] and his crew were declared unfit for combat [Annotator’s Note: The interviewer asks for explanation of this. This interview is mostly question and answer style]. Their commander, Alkire, [Annotator’s Note: Colonel Darr Alkire] was replaced. Alkire was sent to Italy to command a different group [Annotator’s Note: 449th Bombardment Group] and ended up in a prison camp [Annotator’s Note: Engel chuckles at this]. Engel can’t recall if they had two different commanding officers after that time, but he thinks so. [Annotator’s Note: The interviewer asks Engel questions regarding rumors of the actions of pilots of the 100th that would be outside the scope of their training. Engel does not recall any of it – says that he never did]. Engel says that his crew flew his aircraft from Kearney [Annotator’s Note: Kearney Army Airfield, Kearney, Nebraska. Now called Kearney Air Force Base] to Gander, Newfoundland [Annotator’s Note: Royal Air Force Air Ferry Command] where extra fuel tanks were placed in the bomb bay so they could make it to England. All of the planes of the 100th flew over the Atlantic Ocean individually without losing a plane. Engel says that trip was the only time he used his celestial navigation training. He also used sightings of wave tops to help determine wind direction. His first mission was somewhere in France in June [Annotator’s Note: 1943], but the details are not clear. He says that his crew never had any issues with either German fighters or anti-aircraft guns until their 13th mission. Engel had personally flown more missions than that with other crews on different aircraft. [Annotator’s Note: The interviewer asks Engel about a mission he wasn’t on and then talks about the heavy losses for the 8th AF during August through October 1943.] Engel says that his crew managed to skim by every time and were not affected by it.

[Annotator’s Note: This interview is conducted in a question and answer style]. Russell Engel was a navigator in the 100th Bombardment Group [Annotator’s Note: 100th Bombardment Group, 349th Bombardment Squadron, 8th Air Force]. Engel doesn’t remember much about the start of the mission to Stuttgart, Germany, 6 September 1943. He does remember a German plane coming in and shooting them with 20-millimeter cannon shells. He says he can still hear the noise of the shells coming through the glass. He had lost the vision in his right eye due to an earlier shrapnel blast. He was later hit with shrapnel in the head and the same eye. Engel says the top turret gunner was given credit for shooting the German fighter down. He says that the time involved in that battle was so short, he does not see how anyone can know for certain that it was only one enemy fighter. The only crew hit with the shrapnel were the officers. The bombardier could not see at first due to his injuries. Engel feels the bombardier went into shock after the attack as he was just sitting motionless. Engel treated his own wounds with supplies he could find and bandaged Pete’s [Annotator’s Note: Second Lieutenant Peter F. Delao, bombardier] as well. He says the co-pilot was trying to get back to his seat. Pope [Annotator’s Note: SSGT. Harold L. Pope] kept trying to put the co-pilot down in lower area of the plane without much success as the co-pilot would continue to try to return to his post despite being severely wounded. Engel says that Reeder [Annotator’s Note: First Lieutenant Sumner H. Reeder] was hit by shrapnel in the shoulder and but he was still able to fly the aircraft. Engel says he can’t remember the sequence, but after Edeburn [Annotator’s Note: Co-Pilot, Lieutenant Harry Edeburn] was brought down, he gave oxygen to him and then got a bottle for himself. Engel then went up to help the pilot because he had been through pilot primary training in the B-17 [Annotator’s Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress] although he had never landed one. The pilot had Engel perform the co-pilot’s duties. Engel’s oxygen went out and he had swallowed a lot of his own blood, so the pilot ordered him to go down to the radio room and rest. He does not remember anything other than the pilot flying into clouds to evade enemy fighters. At one point the pilot performed a split-S maneuver which inverted the B-17. Engel and the radio operator almost fell out of the hatchway then, but Brewster [Annotator’s Note: Technical Sergeant Connor D. Brewster, gunner] grabbed something and kept them inside the aircraft. Engel guesses he helped the pilot for approximately 30 minutes.

[Annotator’s Note: This interview is conducted in a question and answer style]. Russell Engel was a navigator in the 100th Bombardment Group [Annotator’s Note: 100th Bombardment Group, 349th Bombardment Squadron, 8th Air Force]. Engel says that they didn’t drop their bombs on the mission despite being in the bomb run over Stuttgart, Germany, 6 September 1943, when German fighters attacked their B-17 [Annotator’s Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress]. He says that even though the nose cone of the aircraft had been shot out, the bombardier stayed in it. Engel tore some of covering of the passageway off to help Pete [Annotator’s Note: Second Lieutenant Peter F. Delao, bombardier] be protected from the 140 mph, minus-34-degree, wind. Pete did not suffer from any frostbite. Engel says he does not recall not thinking they were not going to make it back to England. Engel told the squadron commander that he not done anything special after the attack and just did everything he could to get the crew back home. He felt that the fighters who attacked them must have been trainees because they never were able to shoot them again despite chasing them for two hours. The B-17 landed on the coast of England. Engel says Reeder [Annotator’s Note: First Lieutenant Sumner H. Reeder, pilot] had Brewster [Annotator’s Note: Technical Sergeant Connor D. Brewster, gunner] tune to a local radio station to help determine where they were. Engel was unable to assist due to his injuries. Reeder was worried about flying over France again and asked Brewster for guidance but also called Engel. Engel says Dolsen [Annotator’s Note: Staff Sergeant Francis G. Dolsen, tail-gunner] stated that Engel told Reeder, if Brewster says fly three degrees, then fly three degrees, however. Reeder flew north and saw England. Reeder then flew up and down the coast to find a landing strip. He spotted a British bomber on the ground and decided to land there. The B-17 was later flown back to Thorpe Abbots [Annotator’s Note: Station 139, Thorpe Abbots, England]. Engel thinks the fighters had been attacking the formation for a while, but they were not aware of them before they were hit. He says they left the formation shortly after being hit due to the co-pilot being injured.

[Annotator’s Note: This interview is conducted in a question and answer style]. Russell Engel was a navigator in the 100th Bombardment Group [Annotator’s Note: 100th Bombardment Group, 349th Bombardment Squadron, 8th Air Force] and had been severely injured in an attack by a German fighter on his Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress on 6 September 1943. He says the sound of the rounds hitting was a very loud bang. Everything then went black-took a few seconds for him to wipe the blood away. He then applied first-aid to himself. He heard afterwards that the top turret gunner Pope, [Annotator’s Note: Staff Sergeant Harold L. Pope] destroyed the fighter. He does not think they were attacked again. Engel could tell his cut started high over his left eye, went across his nose, through his previously injured right eye. He was elated when he first saw something, realizing he had not been blinded. After landing back in England, the British came in to where Engel was laying on the floor in the radio room. As soon as Engel tried to stand, he became sick and vomited up blood. He still remembers how it looked like coffee grounds. His next memory was waking up after surgery to hear that his eye had been removed. He was also told that Edeburn [Annotator’s Note: Lieutenant Harry Edeburn, co-pilot] had died of his injuries. Engel slipped in and out of consciousness until being loaded into the ambulance to the evacuation hospital in southern England. He said he could feel every bump in the road they hit. During a month or so in the hospital, he had most of his plastic surgery work. He was transferred to a hospital near London where more plastic surgery was done, and he received an artificial eye [Annotator’s note: Engel laughs at how the first eye looked]. He returned to Thorpe Abbots [Annotator’s Note: Station 139, Thorpe Abbots, England] to see his squadron commander, November of 1943. Engel says that he does not remember a lot about any other crew than his own.

[Annotator’s Note: This interview is conducted in a question and answer style]. Russell Engel was a navigator in the 100th Bombardment Group [Annotator’s Note: 100th Bombardment Group, 349th Bombardment Squadron, 8th Air Force] and had been severely injured in an attack by a German fighter on his Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress on 6 September 1943. Engel got married shortly after being sent to a hospital in Temple, Texas. He received temporary leave and went to Los Angeles to see Odena [Annotator’s Note: Odena Engel], going home to Minnesota, and then back to Los Angeles before Christmas to see her again. They decided to get married on 29 December 1943. Their honeymoon was short due to Engel having to be back in Texas by January 1944. Engel was discharged from the hospital to the redistribution center in Santa Monica, California where he stayed with his wife’s family. He was sent to a hospital for final plastic surgery in San Francisco, California.

[Annotator’s Note: This interview is conducted in a question and answer style]. Russell Engel was a navigator in the 100th Bombardment Group [Annotator’s Note: 100th Bombardment Group, 349th Bombardment Squadron, 8th Air Force]. Engel says that during the training period, command felt that the units were not fit for combat and moved them from Kearney, Nebraska - [Annotator’s Note: Kearney Army Airfield, Kearney, Nebraska. Now called Kearney Air Force Base] to a field north of San Francisco, California. The whole Group went–over the Wasatch Mountains the squadrons could not see each other due to clouds. Reeder [Annotator’s Note: First Lieutenant Sumner H. Reeder, pilot] decided to turn around and go back. They went further south to get out of the storm. The crews had been ordered to not enter San Francisco to avoid being shot down by fighters patrolling the area. They had been ordered not go to Reno, Nevada as well, so Engel told Reeder to go to Las Vegas, Nevada, which they did. Engel says the only thing that kept them from going to jail is that the Group Commander [Annotator’s Note: Colonel Darr Alkire] ended up in Las Vegas too [Annotator’s Note: Engel laughs at this story]. The next day they were ordered to San Francisco. The Group Commander was fired and then the group was ordered overseas. Engel says that he thinks about the Stuttgart mission some, [Annotator’s Note: Engel’s Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was part of a bombing mission to Stuttgart, Germany, 6 September 1943. They were attacked by a German fighter plane and most of the crew was severely wounded, with Engel losing his right eye] but he says it didn’t really affect him all that much. He won’t forget it, but he does not obsess over it. He has had sleepless nights thinking about that mission however. [Annotator’s Note: Engel has difficulty remembering and answering the interviewer’s questions regarding this time period]. Engel did not keep up with his former officers, but he did keep up with other crew members. [Annotator’s Note: The interviewer asks about Engel’s Distinguished Service Cross]. Engel says that while he was in the redistribution center in Santa Monica, California after being sent back to the United States, he was given his Distinguished Service Cross unceremoniously. [Annotator’s Note: Engel laughs at this]. He said he had a larger ceremony for his Purple Heart medal. Engel says that now 72 years later he still feels that he just did what he did to get home. He thinks that the crew might have done just as well if he had just laid down somewhere and bled to death. [Annotator’s Note: Engel grows very quiet]. He says he does feel that maybe he did help-at least he helped keep Delao alive [Annotator’s Note: Second Lieutenant Peter F. Delao, bombardier, was also severely injured in the attack. Engel applied first-aid as best he could]. Delao got discharged due to his injuries. Engel says his most indelible memory of the mission is the moment of the attack. He says he would do it again and then qualifies that if he had known what would happen, he might not. [Annotator’s Note: Engel and the interviewer both laugh at this].

[Annotator’s Note: This interview is conducted in a question and answer style]. Russell Engel was a navigator in the 100th Bombardment Group [Annotator’s Note: 100th Bombardment Group, 349th Bombardment Squadron, 8th Air Force]. Engel was discharged from service right after the war in Europe ended. He was teaching navigation in Temple, Texas when discharged. He went to school using Proposition 13 which was similar to the G.I. Bill but was for wounded veterans. He enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles studying Civil Engineering at first, then later switched to Forestry. Engel attended three semesters of remedial courses in order to get into engineering before switching to Forestry. He received his degree in Forestry and went to work as a Recreation Aid in Mount Laguna, California for two years. His oldest son was born when he finished his first semester at USC. He later moved to University of California, Berkeley, in Berkeley to finish his degree. His next son was born in La Mesa, California. Engel spent his whole career in California–mostly in the Cleveland National Forest. He later became a Ranger for Shasta-Trinity National Forest near Weaverville, California. He worked quite a bit outside of the state as a forest fire fighter when needed during the last three or four years of his career. [Annotator’s Note: The interviewer and some people off-screen make some jokes regarding retirement and laugh heartedly. The interviewer then thanks Engel for his service].