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that breathes history and where at every step
you can meet those tremendous stories that
were born right there and that today recreate
the legend and legacy of the Bloody Hundredth.
In 2022, the museum received the prestigious
Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service from the
British Queen.
The 100th Bomb Group was formally deactivat-
ed on the 21st of December, 1945. It was reactivat-
ed as a training unit with B-29s on May 29th, 1947
and decommissioned again on June 27th, 1949.
It was later reactivated several more times as
the 100th Bomb Wing (1956-1966, with B-47s), the
100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (1966–1976,
U-2s), the 100th Air Refueling Wing (1976–1983,
KC-135s), followed by seven years on ice, after
which the One Hundredth was reactivated as
the 100th Air Division (1990–1991) and then again
as the 100th Air Refueling Wing (1992–present,
KC-135R aircraft). The unit is based in the UK at
RAF Mildenhall, just a few minutes’ flight from
Thorpe Abbotts, and is the main USAF refueling
unit for the European area. The members of the
100th ARW are justifiably proud of their genera-
tional connection to the 100th Bomb Group, which
is shown, among other things, by sporting the
‘Square D’ on the tails of their giant Stratotankers,
the designation used by the 100th Bomb Group
during World War II. The 100th ARW representa-
tives regularly attend 100th BGF reunions and oc-
casionally volunteer to help out at the museum at
Thorpe Abbotts. They faithfully familiarize them-
selves with the history that preceded their unit
long before they themselves came into the world.
Boeing KC-135R s/n 58-0100, due to its last three digits
of the tail number, usually serves as the commander’
ship of the 100th Air Refuelling Wing.
(100th ARW & Public Domain)
The KC-135R s/n 63-7999 ‘Boss Lady’ was named
after one of the 100th Bomb Group’s aircraft lost over
Kovarska on September 11, 1944. (100th ARW & Public
Domain)
Meeting of Generations. In addition to the human
participants, several 100th BG Foundation Reunions
featured the B-17 ‘The Movie Memphis Belle,’ a flying
warbird with the 100th Bomb Group designation, and
a KC-135R from the 100th ARW. This image was taken
at the 2017 Reunion.
(Museum of Air battle over the Ore Mountains)
On Saturday, September 13th, 1997, after many
years of research, the Museum of the Air Battle
over the Ore Mountains, September 11, 1944, was
established at Kovarska, in the Czech Republic.
It is dedicated to the largest air battle over
Czechoslovakia and at the same time the sec-
ond most tragic mission of the Bloody Hundredth.
It lost thirteen B-17Gs that day. Already after its
opening, the Museum in Kovarska was recog-
nized as part of the 100th Bomb Group Associ-
ation, today Foundation. Together with the three
entities described in this chapter above, that is,
the Foundation itself, the museum at Thorpe Ab-
botts and the 100th ARW USAF, they form, as the
youngest of them, an informal community called
the 100th BG Family, or The Bloody Hundredth
Family. It is thus its only non-Anglo-American
component and also the only representative of
the Bloody Hundredth in continental Europe, the
places where the unit fought in the years 1943-45.
A large number of books have been written
about the 100th Bomb Group since the war, most
of them by the members of the unit themselves,
and the unit has become the basis of the famous
film ‘Twelve O’Clock High’ from 1949. Space is
dedicated to it in many museums in the United
States and Europe, and, more recently, has in-
spired a book by Don Miller, leading to a minise-
Part of the display at the Museum of the Air Battle
of the Ore Mountains on September 11th, 1944 in
Kovarska, Czech Republic. The photo on the right
shows a detail of the display case dedicated to B-17G
44-6089 ‘Leading Lady’, shot down that day with crew
Lt. Lawrence W. Riegel. This plane was several times
flown also by Maj. Robert Rosenthal, Commander of
the 350th Bomb Squadron. (Museum of Air battle over
the Ore Mountains)
The memorial day commemorating the 70th anniver-
sary of the air battle over the Ore Mountains, held in
Kovarska, Czech Republic, in September 2014, was
attended by representatives of the 100th Bomb Group
Foundation, the U.S. Air Force, the 100th BG Museum at
Thorpe Abbotts, and family members of some of the
airmen of the 100th BG lost that day. (Museum of Air
battle over the Ore Mountains)
HISTORY
Speciál B-17F / The Bloody Hundredth 1943 INFO Eduard
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June 2024