“I could fly a four engine 65,000 pound B-17 before I could drive a car,” stated the distinguished soft spoken Naples resident.  Although descended from a Sicilian baron, Carlo Ascari, 87, was born and raised in Hell’s Kitchen in New York City. “I never even owned a pair of roller skates, much less an automobile.”  His goal, when the war broke out, was to become a fighter pilot. Upon hearing that, the Army Air Force decided he would become a B-17 pilot.

Carlo Ascari

He served in the 5^th Air Force as co-pilot and then Captain, flying the B-17 Flying Fortress.  Boeing built around 12,000 of the big planes and there’s over a dozen still flying today. The ship had four Wright Cyclone R-1820’s engines with 1200 hp that could reach a speed of 287 mph with a range of 3,160 mile (2,000 with 6000 lbs of bombs on board). It was over 74 ft in length, stood 19 ft. tall with a wing span of 103.9 ft.  It could accommodate over 17,000 lbs of bombs. Quite impressive “driving” this baby for a New York City boy who couldn’t drive a Chevy down 42^nd Street.  Ascari laughs and says his first solo flight in training resulted in landing in a corn field.

The bomber pilot soon became one of the best of the best.  He served a total of 9 years flying for Uncle Sam in WWII and Korea. He completed 35 bombing missions over Germany, but it was his 17^th mission that got him to thinking about his own mortality. “It was the first time I was actually afraid,” he explained. “My right wing man took a direct hit and the Fortress broke into 3 pieces in front of my eyes, red flames and black smoke, and then he was gone.” Ascari’s group had taken hits before but usually the planes were behind him in formation, or damaged, and limped back to base, met by emergency crews.  He tells of another harrowing incident dropping bombs for the Battle of The Bulge.  That morning 24 B-17’s went out, 12 came back.  His own plane was hit over Berlin. With two engines shot out he had no choice but to drop out of the protection of the formation heading back across the channel.  Fully exposed to the enemy and badly shot- up, Captain Ascari got his ship and crew of 10 back to their airfield.

On another early morning run across the Channel to Germany to bomb a synthetic oil refinery and ball bearings plant, the American formation met up, literally, with the RAF’s formation returning from a night time bombing raid. The RAF was flying instruments and didn’t see the oncoming American’s and they passed through each other’s formation almost touching wings. The captain said it was one of the scariest things he had ever seen and was amazed they came through it without a scratch. It sounds like something else was flying around the heavens that morning and lent a hand.

Captain Ascari recounted another story about a general who wanted to ride along on a bombing mission one day, thus moving the co-pilot down the line to tail gunner. The co-pilot felt he needed to sharpen his skills was told to fire the guns into the channel.  A few minutes later he reported back to the cockpit that one of their planes seemed to be having engine trouble. He continued firing until he felt confidant of his abilities when once again he reported to Ascari that the crippled plane below them seemed to have two engines out now, and was dropping formation. You guessed it.  The misguided co-pilot needed more gunner training. He had been firing on his own squad. Back at the base he was give a mock German medal.  Hard to believe anything more strange could happen, but on another occasion Ascari found a stow-away on board. A member of the ground crew had gotten onto his plane and they were already over the North Sea when he was found.  Ascari had no idea why the man had done it, but, that isn’t even the strange part. When Captain Ascari’s plane started receiving enemy fire, the ground’s crewman bailed out of the plane, sans parachute! Why? Suicidal? Saboteur?  Nobody knows.

The German’s were very curious about our B-17’s and managed to capture and fly several of them. Out on a run of the mill bombing mission to destroy a targeted shipyard and airfield the Captain looked out of his window to see another B-17 flying right along beside of  him. He knew it wasn’t one of his squadron and then he saw the Swastika painted on the plane’s side. One of our own planes…piloted by a German, as though he was laughing at us. “I tried to shoot the son-of-a-bitch but he pulled away too fast and was gone.”

Captain Carlo Ascari, recipient of 12 Air Medals, 35 Heavy Bombardment missions, served in the European Theater of Belgium, England, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland and Poland. He also holds from the French government the Legion de Honneur medal and received from the President of the Republic of Korea a medal honoring him for his services on the 50^th Anniversary of that war. He had the distinction of attending President Roosevelt’s funeral and petting the President’s little Scottie dog, Fowler, in the Rose Garden. A remarkable and impressive life, Captain. “If it wasn’t for the Tuskegee Airmen who flew escort with their red-tailed P-51’s alongside my B-17 bomber I wouldn’t be alive today. I owe them my life. They kept me safe,” the Captain told me with reverence in his voice. At the age of 77, in 2001, Captain Carlo Ascari, carrying with him the B-17 Flying Fortress logo from the steering column of his plane, traveled to the reunion of the 332 Fighter Group, Tuskegee Airmen, all African Americans, to say: “Thank You for keeping me safe.”  Thank you for your service, Captain Ascari.