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of flak and one of the rounds exploded near the
No. 3 engine. Its shrapnel severely damaged the
engine and the B-17G began to lose altitude. When
checking the crew over the intercom, the bombar-
dier and the navigator did not report. Bombardier,
Lt. Lester D. Torbett, was found bleeding profusely
in the radio operator’s station. Navigator Lt. Har-
old C. Becker was found killed in the nose of the
plane. Hard Luck II ‘903’ was repaired and later
lost on the 29th of July, 1944.
But, getting back to the original Hard Luck, at
the end of 1943 and beginning of ‘44, other crews
occasionally flew lucky 413: George H. Gough and
Randall T. Chadwick in the early spring of 1944,
and then John M. Shelly (three missions) and no-
tably, John S. Giles (eight missions).
The aircraft had several near misses during this
period, when over Berlin on March 6th, 1944, flak
damaged the right wing and the left stabilizer.
Lt. Chadwick and his crew made it home. A few
missions later, on April 13th, 1944, Lt. John M.
Shelly made it back from Augsburg with severe
damage to the left wing and fuel tank. Two days
later, however, Hard Luck flew on another mis-
sion, this time with the crew of John
S. Giles for the first time. Hard Luck
was assigned more combat missions
to this crew between April 19th and
May 8th than she was finally credit-
ed. Twice before take-off, Hard Luck
was replaced by a spare aircraft, and
on May 1st, 1944, she was designated
as a ‘flying spare’, a plane that took
off together with the formation and,
if necessary, replaced an aircraft
that for one reason or another had
to abort the mission. Hard Luck was not needed
that day, so John S. Giles returned to base with
her and the bomb load. Not long after that, due
to bad weather, the rest of the group turned back.
The mission was scrubbed. The last mission with
Hard Luck was completed by Giles’ crew on May
8th, 1944. After that, the aircraft had a long break,
during which it underwent significant overhaul.
From other aircraft serving as hangar queens –
a source of spare parts, Hard Luck received a new
glass nose, side window closures, and a new type
top turret used on later production blocks of the
B-17G. Above all, however, a general overhaul was
to take place, possibly replacing all four engines.
Hard Luck became a record holder in the 8th Air
Force, after flying a total of 630 hours over the
course of fifty missions (various sources for this
period mention 46-50 with the original engines
and turbo compressors with which she was flown
in the summer of 1943 across the ocean. One of
her four Studebaker-built Wright R-1820 Cyclones
was in good enough shape that technicians reas-
sembled it. These modifications took the aircraft
out of service for several weeks. In addition, the
unit already had a number of more modern B-17Gs,
and the old Fs were sent on missions much less
frequently.
The excellent condition of the engines was due
to the ground crew, led by twenty-four-year-old
The crew of Lt. John S. Giles flew “Hard Luck” in the second half of April and early May 1944. At this time, the aircraft bears the symbols of 47 missions.
The crew was later shot down during a mission to Ruhland in an air battle over the Ore Mountains on Monday, September 11, 1944.
During May and June 1944, “Hard Luck”
underwent thorough maintenance,
during which it also received some
upgrading features.
INFO Eduard
Speciál B-17F / The Bloody Hundredth 1943
62
June 2024