Horny II

‘One day you’re up, the next you’re down’ is a translation from a well-known Czech song, which is only three years older than the B-17 prototype, the Model 299. The opening chorus of the song by the trio Voskovec, Werich and Ježek can be correlated with the fate of B-17F No. 42-5957 without much alteration. The aircraft was built in the forty F-series production block at Vega's Burbank facility. It was taken over by the Air Force on May 24th, 1943, and two months and one day later she was in England. She was subsequently assigned to service with the 349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group.

The aircraft returned from its first mission on September 6th, 1943, with the co-pilot dead and the pilot, bombardier and navigator seriously wounded. The mission to Stuttgart that day, in a B-17 coded XR-D but as yet unnamed, was flown by a crew commanded by Lt. Sumner H. Reeder, one of the future commanders of the 349th Bomb Squadron. While it was the first mission for the plane, it was the thirteenth for Reeder's crew!

During a direct flight while sighting the target, the group was attacked from the sun and the 2 o'clock position, almost head-on, by German Focke Wulf Fw 190 fighters. Almost immediately, Reeder's plane was hit. Shells from 20mm cannon hit the nose and the cockpit, and punctured one wing tank. The dorsal gunner, T/Sgt. Harold L. Pope managed to hit the attacking aircraft at a distance of 400 yards. The ‘190 exploded just in front of the B-17 it was attacking, and the debris damaged its tail surfaces. But that wasn't the worst part. One of the rounds that hit the cockpit went through co-pilot F/O Harry E. Edeburn's side window and exploded on the armor of his seat. Edeburn slumped up against the steering wheel, covered in blood. Additional shrapnel tore off part of the pilot's seat. Tearing into Lt. Reeder's right arm and leg. The seriously injured co-pilot was able to straighten himself up in the seat so that he did not obstruct the steering. Reeder descended to the lower levels of the combat box, where he sought the protection of the other aircraft and continued his flight to the target. He did not yet know that the bombardier and the navigator were also seriously wounded and bleeding profusely. Immediately it became clear that the oxygen distribution system and the radio were damaged. Bombardier, Lt. Peter E. Delao was wounded by shrapnel in the face, legs and hands. The navigator, Lt. Russel D. Engel, suffered face injuries from the shrapnel and from explosive rounds that took one of his eyes.  Incredibly, he refused a morphine injection to be able to help the pilot fly the stricken bomber on behalf of the dying co-pilot. Sumner Reeder left the formation and turned for home. It was necessary to descend to a lower altitude where they could operate without oxygen. Although they were still attacked by fighters, no further serious damage was done. The pilot shook off the fighters with almost aerobatic evasive maneuvers, and a couple of still functioning machine guns helped in the defense. Finally, the plane ducked into some local cloud cover, where the pilot changed direction several times so that the intercepting fighters could not guess from where they may emerge. Several times they flew from cloud to cloud, changing their course by 180° and thus confusing the fighters.

When there was no immediate danger from enemy fighters, the top turret gunner, T/Sgt. Pope, dismounted and entered the cockpit to lay the wounded co-pilot on the floor. However, the latter, F/O Edeburn, tried to return to his seat three times to help the wounded commander fly the aircraft. On the third attempt, he fell on his back into the space behind the seats and did not get up again.

When Reeder managed to shake off the fighters, they were low above the terrain, with no idea where they were. After some time, despite his injuries and the loss of navigational aids, the navigator was able to advise the pilot of an approximate course to England. Once they reached the coast, they followed it north in order to be over land in case they had to make an emergency landing or abandon the plane by parachute, since as at least one of their two dinghies was destroyed. Several times they headed blindly 40-50 miles west over the sea, but then always returned to the French coast and continued along it. Finally they spotted a faint haze in the west. Running low on fuel, they tried again, successfully this time. In England they started looking around for an airport big enough to land on. Finally they saw a bomber on the ground. It was an RCAF base where they were taken care of. After landing Lt. Reeder climbed out of the plane and lay motionless on the grass for several minutes. He then telephoned his base and, like his comrades, was taken to hospital. He did not return to active duty until early January 1944. The bombardier and navigator were decommissioned due to their serious injuries and sent back to the US.

For his performance on this mission, Lt. Reeder was awarded the DSC (Distinguished Service Cross), seriously wounded lieutenants Engel and Delao received the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross). This was also posthumously awarded to co-pilot F/O Edeburn for his heroism and efforts despite serious injuries to assist the also wounded pilot in controlling the damaged aircraft.

With Lt. Reeder on the mend, the rest of the crew continued their missions with a new pilot and co-pilot. They did not return from a mission after a controversial incident - on 5 November, most of them had to leave the aircraft over enemy territory, while the replacement pilot and co-pilot flew the B-17  back to England (see Mugwump and Squawkin’ Hawk medallions). One of the crew was killed when his parachute failed to open, four were taken prisoner and three managed to escape from the enemy.

After being discharged from the hospital, Sumner Reeder became the Operations Officer for the 349th  BS and later its commander. He completed his operational tour in July of 1944, passed on his squadron command and returned to the United States. There, he joined the Transport Air Force and was killed off the coast of Florida on March 19th, 1945 during a training flight in a C-54.

Aircraft 42-5957 was repaired and returned to combat service. It was assigned to the crew of Lt. Henry M. Henington, who lost their aircraft christened ‘Horny’ plane on September 3rd, 1944 when it was forced to land in the English Channel after a raid on Le Roger Airfield near Paris. The new aircraft was named ‘Horny II’ and they added a drawing of a long-horned Texas bull to the name, whose expression more than emphasized the name of the aircraft. The date when the very first mission of the crew in their new aircraft took place (they already had eleven under their belts) could give an idea of ​​the content of the following from October 8th, 1943, and the destination was Bremen.

With two engines knocked out and fuel tanks punctured, they dragged themselves home across the North Sea at 4,000 feet. After the previous experience, they definitely did not want to end up in the drink again! When they landed at Thorpe Abbotts, the aircraft ran out of fuel while taxiing.

Horny II was once again in the care of the ground crews, and as a result, neither she nor her crew could take part in the disastrous mission to Münster two days later.

Henington's crew completed their operational tour of twenty-five missions in late 1943, with a large number flown in this aircraft. The last one, the twenty-fifth, took place on December 31st of that year. The destination was again Paris, and once again Henington and Horny II returned to the Channel with only two working engines and with flat tires. Fortunately, this time it went relatively well.

At the beginning of 1944, the aircraft was rotated through several crews. Damage was a constant factor but the mission score rose as well. The pilot of the last Horny crew was Ferdinand J. Herres, who brought the plane successfully back from Berlin on May 7th, 1944. It was the 49th mission for Horny II bringing her to within just one combat flight away from becoming one of the first Eighth Air Force B-17 to fly fifty. Two days later, a tragic accident caused by a certain degree of carelessness ignited a spark that caused an explosion of gasoline vapors and a subsequent fire when the airplane was on the apron, as its chief mechanic, Sgt. Chris Starr, conducted some cleaning procedures with gasoline. A proud veteran of almost fifty missions, she was destined to not be recorded into the history of the 8th Air Force. However, during her forty-nine sorties, despite significant damage and dead or wounded on board, Horny II was always able to reliably bring her crew back home.