The machine spirit was willing.

More importantly, they were losing altitude. But guess how much of an effect even a dozen-ish human bodies can have on that? Once they bailed out, the aircraft was lighter by enough that you would be surprised just how much of a difference that makes in the ability of the aircraft in its state to at least lose altitude much more slowly.

If all the facts stated are true, this is the best explanation. Except we don't really know they got transported to a parallel universe, but just disappeared from this one. Solved.

Most reasonable explanation so far.

Daniel keirstead sr Airspeed definitely not trim I don’t think it’s autopilot or any autopilot at the time could adjust the trim I’m not sure when aircrafts we’re equipped with autopilot that can do all of that but I’m guessing around the 1960s as jet powered aircrafts like the DC-8 and 707 where the pride of the aviation industry the DC-8 was planned in 1954 in a competition Between Boeing to build a mid air refueling aircraft but Douglass lost the competition a year later PanAm was the first to order the DC-8 soon other airline did as well and rolled out of the Long Beach Airport in 1958, in 1959 FAA certification was achieved and the aircraft started service in Delta. The Boeing 707 (which won the competition between Douglass for a mid air refueling aircraft for the USAF) first flew in 1957 PanAm started regular service with the aircraft in 1958 and was built surprisingly until 1979. The 707 inspired Boeing to build the 720 back in which first flew in 1959 and entered service in 1960, the 727 launched in 1960 the first 727 rolled out in 1962 and first flew in 1963, the 737 was envisioned in 1964 first flew in 1967 and began operations in 1968, the 757 did its maiden flight in 1982 and entered commercial serving in 1983

It is possible the Pilot lowered the landing gear before activating the autopilot to further slow the aircraft to make it slightly safer to jump. It was stated in the video, the crew claimed 2 engines were out; so, the pilot might have also extended the flaps to give additional lift. The aircrew was discovered in Belgium, so they must have bailed out fairly close to where the aircraft (gently) crash landed. (I say fairly close, because Belgium isn't very big.)

One might suspect that, at least just for the parachutes, that some logistics mishap ended up giving them an extra set of them. For the rest... well, human bodies weigh a good deal, you know? They were losing altitude, and so they bailed out. The weight of these people was enough to at least slow that loss of altitude enough to make it home. Even if it was just a very rudimentary autopilot they left behind. It was still falling, it just was doing so much less slowly now. By some miracle, it landed at a good spot.

The crew was accounted for. I'd like to hear what they had to say.

@@danielkeirsteadsr6939 What a story. Not sure if this is true or not, but I was told when planes were hit and going down under 2,000 feet the parachutes would not work properly. Once the plane was at 50 feet or so would jump out onto the German Hay stacks hoping to hit them and survive. I know there were Americans and Soviets who fell/jumped out of planes and survived the fall without parachutes.

The crew were hundreds of miles away in Belgium! Did they use Jedi Mind Powers to land the plane? People like you amaze me! Does autopilot put down the landing gear too at just the right time? at an RAF base!

@@beyondroom3133 Sounds fishy right from the start. If they bailed out what were their chutes doing hanging on the wall and who closed the escape hatch..Sounds like a story.

The difference being that there were living proof of extreme fall survivors, but there are none supporting this story. Even the Reader's Digest would not print such BS.

Highly unlikely that the crew could evacuate the plane unnoticed.

@@warfriday Not sure how far away that AA unit was, but the possibility is there.

And someone said there was 2 engines that worked but they all worked when it landed 😂

@@zacharysavoy3551 Yes, it Sounds like a BS story to me..

the double parachutes is the real URBAN LEGEND which developed in the last decade.

Reminds me of the "vanishing hitchhiker" legend.

All it takes is a logistics mixup. Records say that the parachutes were removed or something, but for some reason this did not occur. And so, someone just tosses aboard extra parachutes. Heck, maybe the crew themselves didn't even notice, because maybe there actually were some redundant parachutes to begin with. You know, in case that the aircraft was too badly damaged to reach the area where some of them were stored, and the crew happened to be more concentrated in the aft or fore area of the aircraft at the time. Or maybe, it is natural for the parachute complement, specifically in CASE of such an incident (the B-17 was noted to have a weakness amidships after some experience), is actually higher than the normal crew. Just in case of splitting aircraft or other issues, such as even mundane additional last minute additional members or observers for some reason (military beaurocracy of some form?). Setting whatever autopilot (or rudimentary excuse for one) to head home is a standard tactic to let your aircraft perish either at sea or at least far enough away that the enemy will not be able to salvage your vessel for scrap to power their own technology and/or war machine.

probably they did but those didnt survive as only less than 5% of all pictures taken from ww2 and before remain

Well, the Americans lost their one and only super heavy tank for 30 years

No footage of the actual landing exists. So everyone who covers this topic just chooses whatever random footage they find of damaged B-17s landing in fields.

That's a different plane