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Although they did not land on their home field,
home is where they did make it.
During the subsequent repair, a large part of the
rudder and its stabilizer were replaced, as evi-
denced by the differently positioned ‘D’ and a dif-
ferent style of serial number than before. During
repairs, the ‘D’ in the white square was painted
black, as was the case with B-17Gs, common at
the time. In doing so, the ‘D’ on the wing was also
repainted. This sets Squawkin’ Hawk apart from
the unit’s regular B-17Fs, which had the ‘D’ in dark
blue.
By early spring 1944, her score was approaching
fifty missions. One of the biggest rivals in the race
for this title was Horny II from the same squadron.
Just short of the finish line, Horny was knocked
out of the race by an accident that caused her
destruction, and on 10 April 1944 Squawkin’ Hawk
became the first B-17 from the 100th Bomb Group
to fly fifty missions. Celebrations, lots of photog-
raphy, and above all autographs followed. Some
of the members of the unit started signing even
before the fiftieth bomb was painted on the nose.
And then the proverbial floodgates opened. Almost
every free space on the plane was written over,
mostly in white, by countless members of the Hun-
dredth and its support units. Well wishes appeared
on the fuselage, the wing, the rudder, the insig-
nia and even the tires... Perhaps everyone with-
in range of Squawkin’ Hawk wanted to add their
name to the others and send a salute home when
this B-17 took off on a tour of the US to support the
war bond drive. And last but not least, this B-17F
was supposed to show that the Bloody Hundred is
no longer just an unlucky unit from which almost
no one comes home, but that there are also sto-
ries with happy endings associated with it. How-
ever, Army PR was understandably silent about
some periods of the life of this aircraft and the
crews associated with her. Or at least smoothed
them out somewhat with kindness to the nation.
All those who signed wanted to express their
participation in the success of this aircraft. And
in truth - everyone had a part in it. On the verti-
cal tail, under the serial number on the right side,
someone also wrote a list of the original Squawkin’
Hawk crew - Capt. Sumner H. Reeder and his men,
although some of them were no longer alive, had
been sent to the United States for treatment of in-
juries, or had been stuck behind the barbed wire of
German prison camps for half a year. Their squad-
ron mates, celebrating the success achieved by
old 42-30088, did not forget them…
Sgt. Jim Anderson.
The names of the original Reeder crew and the name
of the ground crew chief on the Squawkin Hawk’s tail...
INFO Eduard
Speciál B-17F / The Bloody Hundredth 1943
82
June 2024