04/14/2026
May 1st, 1943. Somewhere over the English Channel. A B17 flying fortress is on fire. Flames are ripping through the fuselage. The radio compartment is an inferno. Ammunition is cooking off, exploding in all directions. Three crewmen have already bailed out. Two others are bleeding out from their wounds.
And the only man left standing is a 5’6 staff sergeant that nobody wanted to fly with. His name is Maynard Smith. His nickname is Snuffy. He’s been in England for 6 weeks, and this is his first combat mission. He has 90 minutes to save this aircraft, and everyone’s still on it. The pilots can’t help him. They’re trapped in the cockpit, cut off by a wall of fire.
The gunners can’t help him. They’re either wounded, dead, or floating somewhere in the channel. It’s just Snuffy alone in a burning airplane. 20,000 ft above the ocean and German fighters are still shooting at him. What happens next will make Maynard Smith the first enlisted airman in history to receive the Medal of Honor.
But here’s the thing about Snuffy Smith. When the Secretary of War flew to England to personally present him with that medal, they couldn’t find him...
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