On Friday March 11, our speaker was Steven Snyder, son of World War II Air Force pilot Howard Snyder.  Steven recapped the history of his father who served initially in the Army, subsequently enlisting in the Air Force and trained as a pilot, who was shot down over Belgium in the war with Japan and Germany.

Howard Snyder married in about 1940, welcomed a baby in 1941, seeking opportunity volunteered for the US Air Force in 1942, completing Advanced Pilot Training, and training on the B-17 Bomber before being sent to Thurleigh England to fly bombing runs on the Germans.

The B-17 Bomber has 4 Officers (Pilot, Co-Pilot, Navigator & Bomber) plus a crew of 6, each of which supports defensively with machine guns fore, aft, waist and belly.

Bombing runs often lasted 8 – 10 hours, with temperatures down to -40, the crew needing warm gear, oxygen facing anti aircraft fire, and enemy fighter planes.  On February 8, 1944 the bomb bay doors stuck open, causing the plan to fall behind the group mission, then attacked and shot down by enemy fighter planes over Belgium.

Howard was taken in and hidden by Belgium farmers initially and moved house to house depending on German ground forces. This lasted for several months, before he joined up with the French resistance forces working to thwart the German war efforts.  Howard was liberated in September 1944 by Americans.  Steven has done extensive research on his dads story from his diary and many letters he wrote to his wife while in Belgium.  Steven was even successful in finding the German pilot who shot down his dads plane.

In 2012, Steven published the book “Shot Down”

recounting this part of the war and tracking all of the Officers and crew of the B-17 named “Susan Ruth”.