Craig Scott

The book Final Flights along with the letters my sister discovered between our late father and the author Ian finally gave me some insight as to what our father experienced while flying B-17s during WWII. Our father, 1st. Lt. John Scott, like so many other veterans never discussed with anyone as to what their war was like. I discovered that after their crew completed the mandatory 35 missions over occupied Europe, my father along with the crew’s pilot and engineer volunteered for a Top-Secret mission named the “Aphrodite Project”. Until I discovered Final Flights, the information that was made available to me about this Top-Secret mission lacked in details. Ian researched the very first mission of the Aphrodite Project (chapter 6 in his book) and discovered that our father was on that mission. In the letters between our father and Ian, our father discussed that their B-17 was designated as the navigational Fort for that mission and that the ill fated remotely controlled Fort/“baby” was to follow them around the small towns in East Anglia. Our father was at the controls of the navigational Fort when the baby suddenly pitched up and rolled towards my father’s Fort. Our father mentioned in his letter that he needed to roll their Fort sharply to the left to avoid the midair. Since the mission was designed to have the baby fly at a very low altitude (1800’), it was only a matter of seconds that the out-of-control baby along with the 20,000 pounds of Nitrate hit the ground and exploded. The explosion vaporized the Fort along with her pilot and the ensuing shock wave from the blast, sent my father’s Fort for a short and violent uncontrollable ride. Luckily for the crew in my father’s Fort, no one was seriously injured. This book and this chapter is very special to me. It’s as if my father was telling me all about this ill-fated mission. My sincere thanks to Ian as his research. Cheers