All American (aircraft) plane together or for an in-flight rescue of crew members from the isolated tail section. The Harold Adamson and Jimmy McHugh 1943 song “Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer” was not written about "All American" as sometimes reported, but was about another 97th Bomb Group B-17, "Thunderbird." Navigator Harry C. Nuessle listed the "All American's" crew on its February 1, 1943 flight: All American (aircraft) The All American (full name All American III) was a World War II Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress bomber aircraft that was able to return safely to its base after having its rear fuselage
Alan Magee Alan Magee Alan Eugene Magee (January 13, 1919 – December 20, 2003) was an American airman during World War II who survived a 22,000-foot (6,700 m) fall from his damaged B-17 Flying Fortress. He was featured in "Smithsonian Magazine" as one of the 10 most amazing survival stories of World War II. Immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack, Magee joined the United States Army Air Forces and was assigned as a ball turret gunner on a B-17 bomber. On January 3, 1943, his Flying Fortress—B-17F-27-BO, "41-24620", nicknamed "snap! crackle! pop!"—part of the 360th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group, was on