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True great legends are not born by accident.
It takes exceptional and strong personalities to
create them. One such person was Robert Rosen-
thal. When his young crew arrived at Thorpe Ab-
bots in late September, 1943, the 100th Bombard-
ment Group had completed thirty missions and the
first ‘lucky bastards’ of the unit’s original line-up
were close to completing their 25-mission oper-
ational tour.
Robert Rosenthal, nicknamed Rosie, was already
a twenty-six-year-old officer at the beginning of
his combat career, a true leader for his crew, who
respected him for his firmness as well as his
friendly and kind nature. His path to the combat
unit was not very direct, but from the beginning
it bore signs of great determination and a sense
of justice and responsibility. After graduating from
Brooklyn Law School, he worked in a law firm in
Manhattan. On December 8th, 1941, the day after
Japan attacked the United States, he volunteered
for the Army Air Force. After completing basic
training, he worked as a gunnery instructor for
several months. But he wanted to fight. Especial-
ly against Nazi. Therefore, on February 1st, 1943,
he left for further training as a B-17 bomber pi-
lot. After his crew was assembled, he completed
training in mid-August 1943 and moved to Europe.
B-17F serial number 42-30758,
of the 418th Squadron, was a re-
latively modern aircraft from
the 120th production block from
Boeing. It arrived in England on
the last day of August in 1943 and
was flown to the base at Thorpe
Abbotts shortly afterwards. Un-
usually, the aircraft was assigned
to a newly arriving crew. The For-
tress was named Rosie’s Riveters
after her commander. In addition
to the commander’s name, the ti-
tle is a play on words and a trib-
ute to the American women who
went to the aircraft, shipbuilding,
and armaments factories to join
the war effort and were nick-
named ‘Rosie the Riveter.’
The mission of October 8th, 1943
may have been the first and last
for both B-17F ‘Rosie’s Riveters’
and Rosenthal’s crew. The term ‘baptism by fire’
took on a full meaning here. During the raid on
Bremen, the unit lost seven crews, including the
commander of the 350th Squadron, Maj. Gale W.
‘Bucky’ Cleven. Robert Rosenthal was able to bring
the seriously damaged aircraft back from his first
mission, with many hits from flak and fighters.
And it should have been worse.
The rookie crew didn’t get much of a chance to
shake off the shock of their first mission. While
Rosie’s Riveters was being repaired, the crew con-
tinued their combat flights the next day and the
next after that. They replaced their own aircraft
with a B-17F named ‘Royal Flush’. The target for
the third mission in three days was Münster on
October 10th, 1943. If not two days earlier, then
on this day the legend of Robert Rosenthal was
certainly born. The 100th Bomb Group flew as
one of the combat units of the 13th Combat Wing.
Out of thirteen aircraft from the Hundredth, only
one returned that day. Royal Flush. With only two
working engines, countless bullet holes, disabled
intercom and oxygen systems, wounded on board
and a large hole from a Wfr.Gr.21 rocket in the right
half of the wing, the bird limped home. The unit
lost twelve crews, including Rosenthal’s squadron
commander, Maj. John C. ‘Bucky’ Egan.
On board Rosie’s Riveters, the crew flew a large
number of their operational missions through to
the end of 1943. She also became a lead aircraft
during this period, leading a formation of the
13th Combat Wing five times in addition to lead-
ing the squadron. This demanded a newer aircraft.
During January 1944, they received a new, more
modern B-17G, which they also named ‘Rosie’s
Riveters’. The original Rosie’s Riveters, a B-17F,
Text: Jan Zdiarský
Color profiles: Michal Fárek
Photos: 100th Bomb Group Archives
ROSIE’S RIVETERS
B-17F-120-BO 42-30758 LD
-
W
Title photo: A trio of B-17Fs from the 418th Bomb Squadron at Thorpe Abbotts. From left to
right are ‘Rosie’s Riveters’ LD
-
W, ‘Messie Bessie’ LD
-
X, and ‘Terry n’ Ten’ LD
-
O.
Rosie the Riveter was the name given to the women and girls who joined the US war industry
to contribute to the common cause in the factories.
was taken over by a new crew led by Lt. Ross E.
McPhee, who renamed the aircraft ‘Satcha Lass’
after several missions. Rosenthal’s original B-17F
became McPhee’s crew’s ‘own’ plane. They were
proud of her and together they were shot down
on February 4th, 1944 during a raid on Frankfurt.
The aircraft, which had saved Robert Rosenthal’s
rookie crew on its first combat flight a few months
earlier, did not disappoint this time either. The for-
mer Rosie’s Riveters bellied in on a plowed field
in the middle of Germany and her surviving crew
were captured.
It is certainly worth noting the fact that the sec-
ond Rosie Riveters, the B-17G with which Rosen-
thal’s crew completed their operational tour, was
Lt. Robert Rosenthal
Below: the crew of Robert Rosenthal, fall 1943.
Speciál B-17F / The Bloody Hundredth 1943 INFO Eduard
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June 2024