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Proclamation recognizing the 70th anniversary of the historic December 31, 1944 Piggy Back Flight during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.
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WHEREAS, at dawn on December 31, 1944, on their 22nd mission, 1st Lieutenant Glenn H. Rojohn, a native of Greenock, Pennsylvania and 2nd Lieutenant William G. Leek, Jr., from Washington state, flew B17 The Little Skipper from Thorpe Abbotts, England towards their target of Hamburg, Germany, with the Eighth Air Force 100th Bomb Group, as part of the Battle of the Bulge during World War II; and
WHEREAS, while flying over the North Sea, The Little Skipper and B17 Nine Lives, piloted by 1st Lieutenant William G. MacNab and 2nd Lieutenant Nelson B. Vaughn, encountered wave after wave of German fighters. Facing enemy fire, Lt. Rojohn and Lt. MacNab maneuvered their planes to fill a void left by one of the downed B-17s, but something went wrong and the top turret guns on Lt. MacNab’s plane pierced through the bottom of Lt. Rojohn’s plane, binding the two planes together like “breeding dragonflies;” and
WHEREAS, Rojohn and Leek ordered both crews to bail out; As the senior officer, Rojohn ordered his co-pilot to join the crew members and bail out, but Leek refused the order and instead stayed with his friend; and
WHEREAS, Leek helped Rojohn miraculously land the two planes, still stuck together like “breeding dragonflies” near Wilhelmshaven, Germany; remarkably, ten of the two plane’s sixteen crewmen, including Rojohn and Leek, survived what has become known as “The Piggyback Flight.” After being interrogated about the new American “super jet” the ten men were taken to a German prisoner of war camp and were released at war’s end five months later; and
WHEREAS, for their efforts, Rojohn and Leek were awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart and Air Medal;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that Allegheny County Council does hereby celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the historic Piggyback Flight, and...
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