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Starting their missions during the most chal-
lenging period in the life of the 100th Bomb Group
in early October 1943 was not an ideal begin-
ning for young combat crews. However, when
such conditions meet strong character, charis-
ma, and personal determination, a legend can
emerge. One of the 100th BG’s greatest legends
was Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal. They began their
operational tour with three combat missions
in three days. On the first of these, on October
8, 1943, they took off in their brand new B-17F
named Rosie’s Riveters for a raid on Bremen.
The mission from which 7 aircraft from their unit
did not return was a horror for the rookies. They
themselves returned with a badly damaged Ros-
ie’s Riveters, which, like Rosie’s crew, was having
a baptism of fire. The next day, characterized by
a much quieter mission, they flew a borrowed
B-17F “Royal Flush”. Another day later, on Octo-
ber 10, 1943, Rosenthal’s crew took off in the Royal
Flush for Munster. On that day, 12 aircraft from
the Bloody Hundredth formation did not return.
12 out of 13! The Royal Flush, with “Rosie” Rosen-
thal and “Pappy” Lewis at the controls, after an
incredible dogfight with German fighters and
an endless crawl home, with only two working
engines, finally landed on the runway at Thorpe
Abbotts to be the only ones to bear witness to the
horror over Munster.
That’s when the young lawyer from Brooklyn
who volunteered for the Army Air Force began
to become a legend. As the crew finished their
operational tour in early March 1944, Robert
Rosenthal volunteered for the second… and lat-
er for the third. He later became commander of
the 350th BS and then the 418th BS. Rosie was
an exceptional pilot and an inspirational leader to
many of his men. He flew as a command pilot for
the 100th BG and the entire 13th CW. His combat
duty ended on 3 February 1945 when he was shot
down in a mission to Berlin. With the damaged
B-17, he continued eastward in an attempt to get
behind the battle lines. After all surviving crew
members parachuted out, he abandoned the air-
craft as well. Rosie parachuted behind the front
lines and, with the help of the Red Army, made
his way to the American Embassy in Moscow and
then back to England.
After the war, Robert Rosenthal was one of the
US investigators at the Nuremberg war crime tri-
als. From the late 1960s until his death in 2007,
he was one of the leaders of the Association,
later Foundation of the 100th Bomb Group.
In early 1944, after receiving a new B-17G as
a lead crew, Rosenthal’s team handed over his
B-17F Rosie’s Riveters to her new users, the crew
of Lt. Ross E. McPhee. They renamed it Satcha
Lass and were shot down with her on 4 February
1944 during a mission to Frankfurt.
Lt. Robert ”Rosie“ Rosenthal crew, 418th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, Bremen mission, 8 October 1943
B-17F 42-3307, later named Skipper, was not
among the aircraft the unit moved to Thorpe Ab-
botts, although it arrived there before the Hun-
dredth began combat flying. Skipper was able
to take part in the unit’s second combat mission
on June 26, 1943. It was chosen as his person-
al aircraft by the 351st Squadron commander,
Maj. Ollen O. Turner. The new B-17 was named
after Turner’s nickname for his wife, although
the nickname soon carried over to Maj. Turner as
well.
During August and September, Skipper flew
several combat missions under the care of its
crew chief, Dewey R. Christopher, and his team.
On October 10, 1943, it was assigned to the com-
bat formation for the raid on Munster. Yes, the
mission from which Robert Rosenthal returned
in the B-17F Royal Flush as the only one of the
whole unit. Skipper was saved from certain de-
struction by a malfunctioning No. 2 engine, which
caused its crew to abort and return early.
On January 24, 1944, the 100th Bombardment
Group headed for Frankfurt. Skipper took its
place in the formation, with the crew of Lt. Ar-
chie J. Drummond aboard. Shortly after take-
off, at an altitude of 700 feet, they were blinded
by the sharp landing lights of a B-24 taking off
from another nearby base. Since the B-24 pilots
apparently did not see the B-17 in front of them,
Lt. Drummond pushed the heavy, bomb-laden
aircraft to the ground in an attempt to avoid
a collision. Skipper thus avoided the Liberator in
Variant 1 - Maj. Ollen O. Turner. CO of 351st BS,
Lt. Jack R. Swartout crew, 351st Bomb Squad-
ron, 100th Bomb Group, Thorpe Abbotts, July
1943
Variant 2 - Lt. Archie J. “Four Mile” Drummond
crew, 351st Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group,
Thorpe Abbotts, 24 January 1944
a right descending turn, but at the same time
came dangerously close to the ground. As he
leveled off, he caught his left wing on the roof
of a farm building about 15 miles from the base.
The gasoline from the punctured tanks turned
the aircraft into a flaming torch. The machine
flew through a small forest and landed in
a field beyond. The impact with the ground threw
the bombardier, Lt. Maurice G. Zetlen, through
the Perspex nose. He succumbed to his injuries
at the scene. Miraculously, the rest of the crew
managed to crawl out themselves from the burn-
ing aircraft. The Skipper, however, was destroyed
where it landed.
Variant 1
Variant 2
Variant 2
INFO Eduard
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