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Clayton Nattier

WWII | 369th Bomb Squadron, 306th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

It was the last test. Clayton Nattier's crew was aloft in a B-17 for their check ride, after which they would be assigned to a bomb group in England. The testing officer took them up to a higher altitude than they'd ever been and this contributed to an unfortunate situation which would separate pilot from crew. (6:15)
B-17 pilot Clayton Nattier had a great crew assembled as he readied to join the air war against Germany. He goes through the roster and describes all the men who would be joining him in the skies over Europe. (4:41)
He picked up a new B-17 loaded with freight for some bomb group in England, then Clayton Nattier flew the first leg of the trip up to New Hampshire. That's where the weather got nasty and he and his crew had to wait out several delays. (6:11)
A new B-17 pilot was required to fly two missions with an experienced crew before he flew his own missions. The first of these for Clayton Nattier had him over one of the most heavily defended targets in Germany. He would return more than once. (4:25)
The 306th Bomb Group flew in very tight formations. This greatly lessened the losses from German fighters, which faced withering fire from multiple aircraft if they got close enough to attack. B-17 pilot Clayton Nattier also had the luxury of his own fighter escorts, which were not available earlier in the war. (4:58)
It was his sixteenth mission and, once again, it was Merseburg, site of a synthetic fuel plant. Clayton Nattier's plane had a mechanical failure so a substitute B-17 was brought to the flight line. Everything was fine until, as the flight neared the target, an engine went out. This was only the beginning of a disaster. Part 1 of 3. (5:48)
Tail Gunner Richard Edwards was one of the first to bail out. When he landed, he was beaten by a German worker swinging a lunch pail. Pilot Clayton Nattier was trying to stabilize the plane while the flight engineer tried to put out the fire. Finally, they, too, plunged into the sky over Germany to face an uncertain fate. Part 2 of 3. (5:33)
It was a long descent for B-17 pilot Clayton Nattier, who was barely conscious in his parachute. He heard a German fighter circling above him as he landed near a Luftwaffe training school. After the students worked him over for souvenirs, he was taken to a jail cell where a medic from the school bandaged him up. Part 3 of 3. (5:41)
When he got to the interrogation center, he was placed in solitary confinement, interrupted only by repeated questioning. Downed B-17 pilot Clayton Nattier was determined not to reveal anything, not that he really knew much. After a week of this, he was taken to a train station where he was reunited with the surviving members of his crew. (6:07)
Clayton Nattier was headed for Stalag Luft I on Germany's Baltic coast. His first three weeks were spent in the camp hospital, where he was treated for burns received when his B-17 was brought down by flak. The original bandaging of his wounds, which was done by a German medic near the site of the crash, proved to be a first rate job. (5:23)