World Battlefronts: BATTLE OF THE SKIES: Reflex

The B-24 Liberator, Sweating it Out, was doing just that. Over the European target it had taken such a beating from flak that its bombs jammed and would not drop. Now it was limping home, crossing the Channel, with all four engines damaged and the hydraulic system shot to bits.

With the landing crack-up almost certain, Bombardier Lieut. Edward M. Gibbens, of Mountain Home, Idaho, took a crash ax, doffed his parachute, perched on the narrow catwalk of the bomb bay and started knocking the bombs loose. As the last one dropped away, Gibbens skidded on the leaking hydraulic fluid and fell. With a frantic, one-handed clutch he caught hold of a bomb rack, slowly and painfully pulled himself back to safety as other crewmen came up to help him.

Then Gibbens stared at his other hand. It was still holding the ax.