Page 9
The B-17F “Alice from Dallas” was one of the
original aircraft that moved with the unit to
England after completing stateside training.
She was the ship of the crew led by Lt. William
D. DeSanders of Dallas, Texas, who named this
plane after his wife. DeSanders’ crew flew with
Alice from the beginning of the unit’s combat
operations in late June 1943 until the mission
to Trondheim, Norway, on July 24, 1943, after
which the pilot was hospitalized with a type of flu.
The rest of the crew flew the very next day on
a mission in another B-17F with a replacement
pilot and never returned. After heavy flak hits,
the aircraft crashed into the North Sea. For the
raid on Regensburg on August 17, 1943, when
Lt. DeSanders was still hospitalized, Alice was
assigned to Lt. Roy F. Claytor. Subsequently, she
was one of the victims of the first attack by Ger-
man fighters before arriving at the target. Of the
six ships composing the lower squadron, led by
Maj. Gale “Bucky” Cleven, only two remained.
In all, the 100th Bomb Group lost nine B-17s that
day. Without his original crew, William DeSanders
continued his operational tour, which he com-
pleted on February 14, 1944, in the B-17G “Alice
from Dallas II.” Sitting in the other seat in the
cockpit with him was commanding pilot John H.
“Lucky” Luckadoo. After returning to the U.S., Bill
DeSanders lived in Dallas with his wife Alice until
his death in 1983.
The B-17F 42-5867 was built in the 30th pro-
duction block of the F series at the Vega plant
in Burbank. In addition to other specifics typical
of this production, such as larger national insig-
nia on the fuselage and a low camouflage paint
border, it also had one of the evolutionary forms
of the cheek gun window installed on the left
side. Inscriptions of the aircraft name on both
sides were accompanied by a small drawing of
a gremlin releasing bombs from a potty. It was
a simplified figure from the 350th Bomb Squad-
ron emblem.
Lt. William D. Desanders crew, 350th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group,
Thorpe Abbotts, Great Britain, August 1943
The crew of Lt. Glenn W. Dye, one of the origi-
nal 100th Bomb Group crews that moved to En-
gland together after stateside training, was the
first crew of this unit to complete a tour of 25
operational missions. Their aircraft was des-
ignated EP
-
J and named Sunny, but they lost it
on September 3, 1943, when another crew was
shot down with her. They named their new B-17,
designated EP
-
K, Sunny II, and finished the tour
with her on September 16, 1943. The tour at that
time was not completed by the co-pilot, Lt. John
H. Luckadoo, who, because of Lt. Dye’s team pro-
motion to lead crew, was 4 missions short.
Sunny II was later used by other crews who flew
most of her 14 missions, during which she sus-
tained extensive battle damage and not only once
returned with wounded aboard. The aircraft’s
fatal mission was Ludwigshafen on December
30, 1943, when flak over the target knocked out
two of her engines. The lone return ended for
the crew of Lt. George W. Brannan with an
emergency landing on a field near Thorpe
Abbotts. Sunny II was destroyed but was
able to bring her crew home once again.
The original co-pilot of Sunny II, Lt. John
H. “Lucky” Luckadoo, became the opera-
tions officer and commanding pilot of the
351st and later the 350th Bomb Squadron
after his crew mates finished. He complet-
ed his operational tour in February 1944.
Today, at the age of 102, Lucky is one of the
last living veterans of the 100th BG and is
very active in passing on the legacy of his
story, the story of his comrades, and the
entire 100th BG to younger generations.
Variant 1 - EP
-
K, Capt. Glenn W. Dye crew, 351st Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group,
Thorpe Abbotts, Great Britain, September 1943
Variant 2 - EP
-
J, Lt. George W. Brannan crew, 351st Bomb Squadron,
100th Bomb Group, Thorpe Abbotts, Great Britain, 30 December 1943
Variant 1
Variant 2
Variant 2
INFO Eduard
9
Červenec 2024