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bers of Hughes’s crew themselves later down-
played the reasons by explaining that later the
‘jerk’ of the crew was always someone else and
everyone took turns wearing the title. Once, radio
operator T/Sgt. Boyle, when he forgot to retract
the trailing wire antenna and dragged it along the
ground on landing, and another time, ball turret
gunner T/Sgt. Horace Barnum forgot to unload the
guns in the ball turret of the borrowed Piccadilly
Lily after landing. The crew was playing this inno-
cent game of seeing who would be the jerk for the
current mission.
On October 14th, shortly after the disastrous
missions to Münster and Bremen, in which the
100th Bomb Group lost 19 aircrews, the second
mission to Schweinfurt, known as ‘Black Thursday’
or ‘the Second Schweinfurt Mission’, took place.
The weakened Hundredth could contribute only
eight aircraft and crews. These were incorporated
into the formations of the other two groups of the
13th Combat Wing. One of the planes flying with the
95th Bomb Group was Nine Little Yanks and a Jerk
with Robert Hughes and his crew. In the IP area,
the final waypoint before achieving target acquisi-
tion, the lead aircraft of the 95th Bomb Group was
hit by flak and disappeared from the formation.
Immediately afterwards, a B-17F named ‘Heaven
Can Wait’ was hit as well, flown by Lt. Keel, flying
right next to Hughes. After several moments, the
out-of-control aircraft turned sharply towards
Hughes’ B-17. A quick reaction from the pilots in
Nine Little Yanks and a Jerk resulted in a sharp
left turn suppression, creating space for Keel’s
Fortress. But at the same time, they fell out of
their formation and found themselves much lower
and alone. At that moment, the bombardier saw
the target directly in front of him. Flying over it
alone was a big risk. Contrary to regulations, the
crew unanimously agreed to go ahead and attack
the target. Bombardier Lt. Elliott adjusted his Nor-
den bombsight a thousand feet lower, the pilot set
a fixed course, altitude and speed, and the Elliot
began aiming. The bombs, released at 14:54, hit
the target, which the pilot and bombardier had
carefully studied during pre-flight preps, dead
centre.
After leaving the target, they took a steep left
turn to rejoin the 95th Bombardment Group, which
was still settling into formation after being pelted
by flak earlier.
The event had an impact on the headquarters of
the 3rd Bomb Division. Lt. Hughes and Lt. Elliott
were called in to General Curtis LeMay. Lt Hughes
recalled:
‘This was to be an experience for me,
I had never seen so many ‘Eagles’ in one room.
I had never been out of formation over a target be-
fore. When all of the representatives from all of the
groups were assembled, the critique was called to
order and we had just been seated when General
B-17F 42-3271 EP
-
N „Nine Little Yanks
and a Jerk“, Capt. Robert L. Hughes
crew, 351st Bomb Squadron, 100th
Bomb Group, Thorpe Abbotts, January
1944
Nine Little Yanks and a Jerk in flight formation. The left side of the fuselage bears
marks where the aircraft identification letters were overpainted in their original
position, necessitated by the change in national insignia from Type 2 to Type 3.
This change was specified on 29 June 1943 (Specification Number 24102-K,
Amend #3), but typically not applied until August 1943. The white identification
stripe on the rudder was later painted over.
INFO Eduard
Speciál B-17F / The Bloody Hundredth 1943
70
June 2024