Page 18
of September, the first crew of the Hundredth
completed its operational tour of twenty-five
missions. The average lifespan of B-17 aircrews
for the Eighth Air Force at the time was eleven
missions. However, this lucky crew ended up be-
ing the only one of the original thirty-five who
came to England to celebrate the milestone!
Another two dark days for the Hundred came
on the 8th and 10th of October, 1943, the climactic
days of Black Week, when it lost 7 and 12 flying
fortresses in raids on Bremen and Münster, re-
spectively. During these two missions, the unit
also lost two of its Squadron Commanders, great
friends, Maj. Gale W. ‘Buck’ Cleven and Maj. John
C. ‘Bucky’ Egan. Fortunately, both of them sur-
vived the destruction of their Fortresses and
were captured. Others were not so lucky. At the
same time, a new legend and inspiring personal-
ity of the Hundredth began to develop, Lt. Robert
‘Rosie’ Rosenthal, who brought back his B-17 with
only two working engines from the second of the
named missions, making his the only crew to re-
turn from the mission. He was awarded the Sil-
ver Star for this, only his third combat flight, and
later became commander of two squadrons and
flew 52 combat missions, the most of the entire
100th Bomb Group.
Unidentified B-17F from the 100th Bomb Group. (John E. Schwarz collection)
Not all B-17s from the 100th Bomb Group ended up in direct combat with the enemy. B-17F 42-3474 ‘King Bee’ was lost in a collision with two other two B-17s during taxiing
on 27 December 1943. (Percyk collection)
HISTORY
INFO Eduard
Speciál B-17F / The Bloody Hundredth 1943
18
June 2024