100-Year-Old 8th Air Force Veteran Shows His WWII Bomber Jacket

At 100 years old, Bruce Cook still remembers what it felt like to climb into the belly of a B-17 Flying Fortress. As a ball turret gunner with the 8th Air Force’s 379th Bomb Group, he flew 35 missions over Europe in one of the most dangerous jobs on the crew. Small enough to fit into the cramped bubble underneath the plane, Bruce couldn’t even wear his parachute inside the turret. He just tucked it nearby and hoped for the best. Recently, Bruce pulled out the original leather bomber jacket he wore on those missions – worn, faded, and torn – but a valuable piece of history that survived his wartime service and 80 years of postwar life.