Amazing story of an airplane and its crew

Rico's friend Dave, the arch-perv. sends this article about World War Two:

A mid-air collision on 1 February 1943 between a B-17 and a German fighter over the dock area of Tunis, Tunisia became the subject of one of the most famous photographs of World War Two. A German fighter attacking a 97th Bomb Group formation went out of control, probably with a wounded pilot, then continued its descent into the rear of the fuselage of a Flying Fortress named All American (photo, top), piloted by Lieutenant Kendrick R. Bragg of the 414th Bomb Squadron.
When it struck, the fighter broke apart, but it left some pieces in the B-17. The left horizontal stabilizer of the Fortress and left elevator were completely torn away. The two right engines were out, and one on the left had a serious oil pump leak. The vertical fin and the rudder had been damaged, The fuselage had been cut almost completely through connected only at two small parts of the frame. The radios, electrical, and oxygen systems were damaged, and there was also a hole in the top over sixteen feet long and four feet wide at its widest; The split in the fuselage went all the way to the top gunner's turret. The tail actually bounced and swayed in the wind and twisted when the plane turned, and all the control cables were severed, except one single elevator cable still worked, and the aircraft, miraculously, still flew.
The tail gunner was trapped because there was no floor connecting the tail to the rest of the plane. The waist and tail gunners used parts of the German fighter and their own parachute harnesses in an attempt to keep the tail from ripping off and the two sides of the fuselage from splitting apart.
While the crew was trying to keep the bomber from coming apart, the pilot continued on his bomb run and released his bombs over the target but, when the bomb bay doors were opened, the wind turbulence was so great that it blew one of the waist gunners into the broken tail section. It took several minutes and four crew members to pass him ropes from parachutes and haul him back into the forward part of the plane. When they tried to do the same for the tail gunner, however, the tail began flapping so hard that it began to break off. The weight of the gunner was adding some stability to the tail section, so he went back to his position. The turn back toward England had to be very slow to keep the tail from twisting off; they covered almost seventy miles to make the turn home. The bomber was so badly damaged that it was losing altitude and speed, and was soon alone in the sky.
For a brief time, two more Me-109 fighters attacked the All American. Despite the extensive damage, all of the machine gunners were able to respond to these attacks, and soon drove off the fighters. The two waist gunners stood up, their heads sticking out through the hole in the top of the fuselage, to aim and fire their guns. The tail gunner had to fire in short bursts as the recoil of his gun was causing the plane to turn.
Allied fighters, P-51s, intercepted the All American as it crossed over the Channel and took pictures. They also radioed to the base that the appendage was waving like a fish tail and that the plane would not make it, so they should send out boats to rescue the crew when they bailed out.
The fighters stayed with the Fortress, taking hand signals from Bragg and relaying them to the base. Bragg signaled that five parachutes and the spare had been "used", so five of the crew could not bail out. He made the decision that, if they could not bail out safely, he would stay with the plane to land it.
Two and a half hours after being hit, the aircraft made its final turn to line up with the runway, though it was still over forty miles away. It descended into an emergency landing and a normal roll-out on its landing gear. When the ambulance pulled alongside, it was waved off, because not a single member of the crew had been injured. No one could believe that the aircraft could still fly in such a condition. The Fortress sat placidly until the crew all exited through the door in the fuselage and the tail gunner climbed down a ladder, at which point the entire rear section of the aircraft collapsed. The old bird had done its job and brought the entire crew home uninjured.

Crew of the B-17 All American from the 414th Squadron, 97th Bomb Group:
Pilot: Ken Bragg Jr.
Co-pilot: G. Boyd Jr.
Navigator: Harry C. Nuessle
Bombardier: Ralph Burbridge
Engineer: Joe C. James
Radio Operator: Paul A. Galloway
Ball Turret Gunner: Elton Conda
Waist Gunner: Michael Zuk
Tail Gunner: Sam T. Sarpolus
Ground Crew Chief: Hank Hyland

Rico says they didn't call them the Greatest Generation for nothing...