Legend of the Phantom Fortress | The Ghost Plane that Flew and Landed Itself

[Music]. world war ii has countless stories of. bravery sacrifice camaraderie and. heroism but the war also has a lot of. mysteries many of them still unsolved. like the legend of the phantom fortress. a b-17 bomber that returned from a. mission with no crew aboard and somehow. landed itself. let's find out why. [Music]. the first thing they heard was the. distant roar of the plane's engines i.

can't hear those fighter planes. and i can hear those fighter planes. why a youtube sunday bloody sunday i. know the song can you at least let me. get into the story. [Music]. okay okay i'm sorry good go ahead with. there what do you think thank you but. i'm right here if you need me. the first thing they heard was the. distant roar of the plane's engines on. november 23rd 1944 the ground crew at. the royal air force base in kortenberg.

belgium looked to the sky if the sound. wasn't a giveaway the distinctive. silhouette was this was a b-17 a massive. 35 thousand pound u.s army bomber called. the flying fortress and this fortress. was headed right for them rapidly there. was no landing schedule that day so the. ground personnel assumed this was an. emergency it was coming in at very high. speed flying erratically and had its. landing gear down and as the bomber got. closer the soldiers started to panic the.

plane was dropping so fast that it. looked like 18 tons of steel fuel and. explosives were gonna crash right into. them the soldiers hit the deck as the. bomber barely cleared the anti-aircraft. guns then they felt the earth shake as. the b-17 crashed into the ground still. moving at high speed the plane tore. through a field the landing was so. violent that pieces of propeller broke. off and shot through the air the wings. were crushed on impact still intact but. badly damaged the plane finally dragged.

to a stop. three out of its four engines were still. running the men on the ground waited. expecting the bomber's crew or at least. some of the crew to emerge. they didn't soldiers on the ground. waited nervously for 15 minutes while. the plane's engines continued to run. nobody came out at this point the men on. the ground were getting suspicious they. were worried this was a trap. finally after 20 minutes of watching and. waiting major john crisp slowly. approached the plane major crisp drew.

his sidearm opened the hatch and climbed. in he expected to see men dead or dying. but the plane was completely empty. he wrote down what he found we now made. a thorough search and our most. remarkable find in the fuselage was. about a dozen parachutes neatly wrapped. and ready for clipping on this made the. whereabouts of the crew even more. mysterious back on the navigator's desk. was the code book giving the colours and. letters of the day for identification. purposes various furlined flying jackets. lay in the fuselage together with a few.

bars of chocolate partly consumed in. some cases aside from what was sustained. from a hard landing the plane had no. damage the parachutes were still there. so the crew couldn't have bailed out. food was left half-eaten it was like. they just vanished. major crisp shut down the engines and. looked for signs trying to piece. together what happened he found the. plane's logbook the final entry. ominously read. bad flak. bad flak.

major crisp climbed out of the plane and. signaled to his men that it was all. clear there was nobody on board the. soldiers asked how could this be. the major shrugged and said. the plane landed itself. so now there are two big questions first. what happened to the men on board and. second how did this plane fly maneuver. and land without them the press called. the plane the phantom fortress and the. ghost ship and the story was published.

in stars and stripes and became an. instant legend. investigators identified the b-17 as. part of the 91st bomber group out of. east anglia england the base had records. that the plane had taken off with a full. crew there was plenty of evidence that. they were on board but now they were. nowhere to be found now that the army. had the names of the men calls went out. to every base and post in the area after. a few days all 10 men were found in. perfect health they were at a nearby air. base in belgium lieutenant harold r de.

bolt was the pilot and explained what. happened his b-17 was flying a mission. over mursburg germany bombing oil. refineries and mersburg dreaded mursburg. as it came to be known had twice as many. anti-aircraft guns as berlin almost 160. b-17s were shot down over the city so. these were dangerous skies. as the bomber group climbed to 28 000. feet to begin its run the bolt noticed. he had a malfunction in one of his. engines and couldn't make it to bombing. altitude then another malfunction forced.

the plane off course. now drifting away from its bomber group. the bolt's b17 was vulnerable the bomber. drifted into german anti-aircraft fire. and was taking a lot of damage both from. the ground and from fighters in the air. the plane quickly filled up with smoke. and fire the bolt attempted to drop his. ordinance but the bomb rack was jammed. then the plane took another hit on its. bombay door the bolt said it was a. miracle that every bomb on board didn't. explode another engine took so much.

damage from any aircraft fire that it. practically sheared off from the plane. the weather was bad and with only two. working engines devolt pulled out and. turned back to england the bomber badly. damaged kept losing altitude de bolt. knew they were in trouble he ordered the. crew to throw everything overboard. hoping to lighten the plane it didn't. help it kept falling at this point it. was clear that the bomber was not gonna. make it all the way across the english. channel not with only two engines so de. bolt ordered the crew to ditch and the.

men parachuted safely behind allied. lines in belgium the last thing he saw. was his bomber flying into heavy fog he. figured it would crash a few minutes. later. it didn't the bolt's plane continued to. fly for miles and finally made a rough. but relatively clean landing at an. allied airfield in belgium investigators. were now left with a puzzle the bolt. said he lost two engines and the plane. was severely damaged but eyewitnesses. like major crisp said three engines were. working and the plane had no damage at.

all and all parachutes were accounted. for investigators said they probably had. extra parachutes on board and the third. engine could have come back on by itself. and the plane landing in an allied. airfield was just a coincidence it was. good luck. this explanation was enough to satisfy. investigators and the case was closed. luck a plane flies itself back home and. lands on its own and it's luck that's. the report i don't buy it well. eyewitnesses didn't buy it either they. felt that something supernatural had.

taken place. and the legend of the phantom fortress. was born. [Music]. i had never heard of the phantom. fortress before this topic like most. topics i cover was submitted by you so. if there's a story you'd like to see and. see us get to the bottom of go to the. y-files.com tips i can't do every story. but i read every message so the phantom. fortress is it true yes and no this. legend is actually two stories that got.

mixed together in 1943 a b-17 crashed. near the home of a young boy named john. gell in england and gail and his family. saw the bomber flying toward their. village engines sputtering and that. plane crashed into an outcropping of. trees near the boy's home when john. gill's father rushed to help the crew he. found nobody on board and about 40 years. later john gill was relaying the story. that he saw a bomber maneuvering with. its squadron flying in formation. but it eventually crashed and when they.

searched the plane it was empty they. later learned that the crew had. parachuted behind enemy lines fought. their way out of germany and were back. in another b-17 soon after this didn't. happen most likely john gell heard the. story of the phantom fortress and pulled. some of the details into his story and. then as every good storyteller does. added his own flair and tell the story. enough times your brain can actually. form memories to reinforce that story. the b-17 that crashed near gel's home.

was actually the cata9 tails the plane. took a lot of damage over germany but. made it back across the channel quickly. running out of fuel the crew bailed out. over john gale's village and in 1944 a. british anti-aircraft crew saw a b-17. make a hard landing in a nearby field. one of the plane's wings hit first. causing it to spin around and major john. crisp was indeed the officer who. searched the plane and found it empty. this was the bomber flown by de bolt's. crew. but how does a plane land itself well.

before jumping out de bolt had engaged. the autopilot which is protocol when. ditching the plane was moving slowly and. descending and the autopilot kept it. level it finally came down in an open. field near an anti-aircraft installation. but not on an air base it could have. easily crashed in the sea in the woods. or in a village like the other b-17 and. this type of thing happened all the time. but this plane happened to come down in. a field the other aspects of the story. like the half-eaten chocolate bars and.

the parachutes being intact were added. to the story later in legends like. roanoke island or the mary celeste. tables are set for dinner and food is. left half-eaten this really ups the. creepy factor so i can understand why. these details were eventually added. besides nobody eats half a chocolate bar. that's true we know what really happened. because there are detailed records of. these planes their crews and their. missions and i'll link to them below if. you want to learn more the legend of the. phantom fortress while a great ghost.

story is just a story but let's be. honest. even without the supernatural aspect. what actually happened that a massive. b-17 landed gently on its own is still. amazing and because it's true. i think it makes the story better. thank you so much for hanging out with. me today my name is aj that's hecklefish. this has been the y files if you had fun. or learned anything do me a favor and. like subscribe comment and share i know. i sound like a broken record but it.

really helps the channel and special. thanks to our generous patrons who make. this channel possible that's gonna do it. until next time be safe. be kind and know that you are. appreciated. [Music].

you.