some thoughts:
My vote goes to the Captain, who made the vicious choice between strict adherence to procedure and human life. The gap between those two is what I think we used to call "airmanship." Airmanship is a term we used before we got so good at what we do that we thought we could write it all down as rules, and not apply any thought.
For the doubters:
what was Max Gross Weight of the B-17G? What was typical takeoff gross weight when it was time to win the war?
My snake in Vietnam had a MGW of 9500 lbs, and the typical mission takeoff weight was 10,700. When I, as the unit SIP, told my CO that we were busting Army regs, he asked me,"What do we leave home, the bullets or the gas?" I never forgot that!
Well Done, Triple Matched Trq!