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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)
Berlin!
The autumn and winter of 1943/44, often ham-
pered by bad non-flying weather, were not a walk
in the park for the unit. However, her losses did
not deviate from the established averages. The
turning point came in a trio of attacks on the
very heart of the Third Reich, Berlin, on March
3-6, 1944, when the One Hundredth lost first
three, then one, and then fifteen aircraft. Berlin
on March 6th, 1944, became the unit’s most trag-
ic mission during its existence. Despite heavy
losses, the Squadron managed to accomplish
the task during these missions and received the
unit’s second Distinguished (Presidential) Cita-
tion for its performance.
Popular Commander “Chick” Harding, who had
a large part in the overall standing of the unit
during these months, had to leave his post due
to illness and was replaced by Col. Robert H. Kel-
ly, who, however, was shot down during his first
mission with the One Hundredth on April 28th,
1944, a week after taking command. Prior to the
arrival of Col. Kelly, as well as after his being
downed, the unit was temporarily led by Lt. Col.
John Bennett, Air Executive and Commander of
the 349th Squadron.
Then, at the beginning of May, 1944, came the
arrival of Col. Thomas S. Jeffrey, who would re-
main for a significant length of time. Under his
leadership, the unit participated both in the
campaign against targets connected with fuel
One of the most famous B-17Fs from the 100th Bomb Group, 42-6087 ‘Royal Flush’ / ‘Harpers Ferry’, with which the crew of Lt. Robert Rosenthal was the only one to return
from the Münster raid. The photo shows the Royal Flush with the crew of Lt. James C. Harper, who was assigned to the unit in late November 1943. (Russel W. Heckman
collection)
B-17F 42-30796 ‘Sunny II’ with her ground crew. Her first flight crew, under the command of Capt. Glenn Dye, gave
her the name. Flying Sunny II, they completed a 25-mission operational tour, as the only crew of the unit’s original
cadre to finish. (Robert Stewart collection)
HISTORY
Speciál B-17F / The Bloody Hundredth 1943 INFO Eduard
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June 2024