By Barbara Title

Byrd “Bert” Ryland in uniform. (Courtesy Barbara Title)“Our target that day was Hanover, Germany. Right after the bombs, we received three close hits that not only knocked out number four engine and caught number three engine on fire but also injured my co-pilot in the right leg, and my bombardier was also wounded in the upper leg. We went from 27,000 feet to approximately 5,000 feet in a spin. As we got it under control at 5,000 feet, the fire went out on number three, and we were able to feather it. By throwing out most of our equipment, we were able to maintain altitude across the North Sea. The crew took care of the wounded, and the co-pilot stayed in his seat to help me control the aircraft.

When the crew inspected the aircraft prior to trying to land my ball turret, gunner told me that the left main gear was partially hanging down and was holding on by hydraulic lines only. I couldn’t get any indication of gear condition, so the engineer tried to crank it down. It still didn’t come down, and I elected to land it in that condition, as I couldn’t have gone around after an approach and sure as hell didn’t want to bail out when I might have been able to save it. I made a good landing as far as it goes until I lost control of speed.