Page 15
activated. Its first commander became Col. Darr
Alkire. He led the unit for most of the follow-up
training, until April 26th, 1943, when he was re-
placed by Col. Howard Turner. The training, which
primarily focused on group formation flying,
long-range navigation flights, and bombing prac-
tice, was conducted primarily at bases in Walla
Walla, Washington, Wendover Field, Utah, Sioux
City, Iowa, and Kearney, Nebraska. On May 25th,
1943, the thirty-five original crew members of
the unit began moving overseas. They arrived in
England, at a brand new base near the village of
Thorpe Abbotts, on June 8th, 1943.
In Europe
Several officers who were to see to it that the
base for the unit was ready had already moved
to England at the beginning of May. Among
them was the twenty-eight-year-old Operations
Officer of the 349th Squadron and the future
commander of the 418th Squadron, Maj. John C.
‘Bucky’ Egan. In addition to fulfilling some basic
but necessary activities, he managed to fly two
combat missions as a ‘guest’ of the 305th Bomb
Group on May 19th and 21st, 1943, during which
he almost lost his life. He thus became the first
aviator of the 100th Bomb Group to enter combat.
After the crews arrived with their B-17s and
after their ground echelon - technical support
personnel arrived by sea, the unit was able to
settle into its permanent location. The command-
er, Howard Turner, was transferred to 1st Bomb
Division Headquarters, and the new commander
of the Hundredth became Col. Harold O. Huglin,
with the goal of transitioning the unit into opera-
tional activity within three weeks.
The first two operational flights were referred
to as ‘decoys’. A formation of bombers was sent
out to lure German fighters away from the actual
attack. Although these were not easy tasks, and
although they were not without danger, neither
the airmen nor the unit received combat mission
credit for them. The first actual bombing mission
for the Hundredth came on the 25th of June, 1943,
when the unit hit submarine docks at Bremen.
Already, this first mission cost three crews. Even
those of the aviators who had not yet taken the
war seriously realized that a trip to Europe would
not be just frivolous entertainment.
B-17F Badger Beauty V. s/n 42-30604 was lost on 4 October 1943 on a mission to Hanau-Saarlius, with crew of Capt. Harold B. Helstrom (Ernie Havecker collection)
Control tower of the USAAF base No. 139 Thorpe
Abbotts, home of the 100th Bomb Group from 1943-45.
(John Schwarz collection)
‘It was
August 17th, 1943…’
Combat missions quickly continued – LeMans,
St. Nazaire, Le Bourget, Hamburg, Kassel, Trond-
heim... Command of the unit was taken over by
its first ‘permanent’ commander, Neil B. ‘Chick’
Harding, who then commanded it until March 7th,
1944. Bad luck seems to have taken a liking to the
unit pretty soon. Losses ranged from none to one
aircraft per mission, with most of the unit return-
ing unscathed. But then came the unit’s 16th mis-
sion. It was Tuesday, August 17th, 1943, and the
targets were the aircraft factories in Regensburg.
This was the well-known ‘Double Strike’ mission
against Schweinfurt and Regensburg, for which
nearly 400 B-17s from the 8th Air Force took
off. At that time, the not yet ‘Bloody’ Hundredth
was placed at the end of the stream of bombers
heading for Regensburg, with the intention that
it would continue to North Africa after dropping
its bombs. The rather unsuccessful logistics of
the whole operation threw the bombers heading
for Regensburg ahead of the Luftwaffe fighters.
The 100th Bomb Group was punished for this se-
verely. She lost nine crews and aircraft that day.
Many of the machines that landed in Algiers were
badly damaged. Later, for this mission, the unit
received its first Distinguished Unit Citation (later
called the Presidential Unit Citation). At the end
Thorpe Abbotts base as seen from west to east. The main runway in this direction measured 6167 ft (1 880 m). (100th BG Museum Archives
418th Bomb Squadron Commander Maj. John C. ‘Bucky’ Egan with the B-17F s/n 42-30184 ‘Muggs’, destroyed after
the mission to Hamburg 17. July 1943, when she was able to return with crew of Capt. Charles ‘Crankshaft’ Cruik-
shank. Later, both ‘Crankshaft’ Cruikshank and ‘Bucky’ Egan were shot down during raid on Munster, 10 October
1943. (Gale W. Cleven collection)
HISTORY
Speciál B-17F / The Bloody Hundredth 1943 INFO Eduard
15
June 2024