SKIPPER

The figures behind the great stories of America's involvement in the air war over Europe in 1943 are not just about the pilots who guided their bombers over occupied territory and fought their way through barrages of flak and 20mm rounds from enemy fighters, nor the Lightning and Thunderbolt pilots who conquered piece by piece the German sky, nor the commanders, developing strategic plans and routes of individual missions... Among those great personalities, among many others that I have not listed here, are the mechanics. They tireless ground crew men who prepared their airplanes day and night so that the next morning the flight crews could sit in them and head safely and confidently to their tasks with equipment they knew they could count on.

One of the standout personalities of this craft with the 100th Bomb Group was the charismatic, burly M/Sgt. Dewey Ray ‘Chris’ Christopher, one of the ground crew chiefs with the 351st Bomb Squadron.

Dewey entered the Army at age eighteen on December 16th, 1941, just days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He underwent training as a mechanic and in less than a year he was part of the 100th Bomb Group. He went through training with the unit in Nebraska and Wendover, and continued on to Thorpe Abbotts, England.

From an ordinary mechanic, Dewey worked his way up to the head of the ground crew and under his care were such machines as Skipper (a B-17F), Skipper II (a B-17G), and Humpty Dumpty (B-17G), among others. With his extraordinary knowledge, skill and dedication to his task, he won the respect not only of his colleagues, but also of his commanders.

That is also why he was occasionally included in the flight crew as a flight engineer during the unit's training in the USA. During demanding navigation and training missions around the USA, he tuned engines and ensured optimal fuel consumption. He would even take to the air later, during operational activity of the 100th Bomb Group in Europe. This was the case, for example, during the Frantic VII mission on September 18th, 1944, during which his unit dropped supplies and weapons to participants in the Warsaw Uprising. As part of this mission, sometimes referred to as ‘Shuttle Missions’, the bombers landed in Ukraine and then continued to bomb Szolnok, Hungary, and into Italy. From there they returned to England. In Italy, at the bases of the 15th Air Force, some B-17s damaged by flak over Hungary needed to be repaired after the second phase of the mission. So Dewey and one other colleague remained in Italy and spent several days putting together the damaged planes so that they could be flown back to England.

As one of very few ground personnel, Dewey Christopher was awarded the Bronze Star. Among his unusual honors was also the Krzyż Walecznych, the Polish War Cross, for his participation in the aforementioned mission in support of the Warsaw Uprising.

B-17F 42-3307, named ‘Skipper’, was the first of several B-17s for which Dewey served as chief mechanic. Skipper was not among the aircraft with which the unit moved overseas from the US, although it arrived in England around the same time. She was flown to Thorpe Abbotts before the Hundredth began combat flying. ‘Skipper’ therefore took part in the second combat mission of the unit, on June 26th, 1943, and at the same time became the personal machine of the commander of the 351st BS, Maj. Ollen O. Turner. He was nicknamed ‘Skipper’ by some friends from the unit, and so the name also appeared on the nose of the plane. Originally, however, it was a nickname that Maj. Turner gave his wife.

During August and September, Skipper, under the care of Dewey Christopher and his ground team, flew several combat missions. As the commander's aircraft, she understandably had fewer of them than other machines over a given period. On October 10th, 1943, she was included in the group of bombers designated for a raid on Münster. Yes, the flight from which only Robert Rosenthal in the B-17F ‘Royal Flush’ returned out of the entire unit. Skipper was saved from certain destruction by a series of breakdowns and a poorly running No. 2 engine that forced her crew to abort and turn back early. Almost a month later, on November 5th, Skipper was heavily damaged in an attack on Gelsenkirchen.

After repairs, she continued to fly missions with various pilots until the 24th of January, 1944, when the 100th Bomb Group went over Frankfurt. That day, Skipper was flown by the crew of Lt. Archie J. Drummond. Archie "Four Mile" Drummond had flown many missions with Skipper before, as co-pilot of Jack Swartout's crew. Swartout later became commander of the 350th Squadron, and Drummond took over the crew as its pilot. Shortly after takeoff, at a height of barely 700 feet above the ground (about 210m), the pilots were dazzled by the sharp landing lights of a B-24 aircraft, taking off from another, nearby base and, like Skipper, cutting through the morning air, trying to gain valuable altitude in a climb to the level designated for forming up. Since the B-24 pilots evidently did not see the B-17 in front of them, Lt. Drummond pushed the bomb-laden aircraft towards the ground in an attempt to avoid a collision. Skipper thus avoided the Liberator in a descending right turn, but at the same time got dangerously close to the ground. While leveling out, the B-17F’s left wing sliced into the roof of a barn about 15 miles from base. Gasoline from the punctured tanks turned the plane into a burning torch. The machine flew through a small wooded area and landed in a field behind it. The impact with the ground threw the navigator through the plexiglas nose, Lt. Maurice G. Zetlen, who succumbed to his injuries at the scene. Miraculously, the rest of the crew managed to stagger out of the burning plane. However, Skipper burned up where she had landed.

Dewey Christopher and his team took care of a new aircraft, which they named ‘Skipper II’. It was an olive drab early B-17G and was destined to survive the war with over a hundred missions flown. Humpty Dumpty, Humpty Dumpty II (Nasty Nan) and others also came later.

‘It was having the satisfaction of knowing I was giving my crew the best airplane I possibly could. You don’t compromise when working on airplanes – you can’t just pull over to the side of the road and raise the hood when you’re up in the air!’… Dewey commented on his work. Although aircrews, if they managed to complete an operational tour, usually returned home, the men of the ground staff usually remained until the end of the war. It was the same with Dewey Christopher. As part of the unit's original ‘stateside’ cadre, he served with the 100th Bomb Group throughout its combat deployment.

Dewey stayed true to his profession after leaving the military and worked as an aircraft mechanic for United Airlines for 41 years.

Many years after the war, at the 100th Bomb Group Reunion in 2011, I listened in awe as he gave an insightful and enthusiastic explanation of the supercharger and engine setup as he stood with friends under the wing of a flying B-17 warbird.

The 100th Air Refueling Wing, based at RAF Mildenhall, England, is the successor to the 100th Bomb Group. It is also the only USAF unit that still uses the markings of its predecessor; its four-engine KC-135 tankers proudly wear a ‘Square D’ on their rudders, much like the 100th Bomb Group. In June 2019, the unit named one of its components focused on training aircraft maintenance specialists the ‘Dewey R. Christopher Professional Development Center’. Dewey himself also attended the center's renaming ceremony. He considered it a tremendous honor. It was also his last visit to Mildenhall, Thorpe Abbotts, and England, ever…

We met this crewchief many times at reunions. During one of them, in October, 2019, in Colorado, we spent a day at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Veterans were already scarce at the Reunion that year. It was October 11th and in the early evening word had reached us that one of our veterans at the reunion hotel had died that afternoon. When we got back, we learned it was Dewey Christopher. He left unexpectedly, among the people he loved. In his last days, he was surrounded by his beloved 100th Bomb Group, veterans, their children, grandchildren... He was succeeded by his no less hardworking and charismatic son, Gary, who also accompanied his father to Reunions for years. Today, Gary is one of the 100th Bomb Group Foundation's Board of Directors.

After Dewey died, the 100th ARW at Mildenhall decided to name one of their KC-135s, aircraft s/n 59-1470, ‘Skipper III’ in honor of Dewey Christopher and other ground and combat crews who flew their B-17F Skipper and B-17G Skipper II over occupied Europe in 1943-45.

‘Dewey’s main concern was doing everything possible to ensure his crew and airplane returned home safely. He would diligently inspect all the B-17s he was responsible for, doing everything possible to keep them in top running order. That is the very definition of professionalism. We honor him today because it’s the proud heritage of his generation that will help inspire RAF Mildenhall Airmen for years to come.’ ….said in 2019, at the aircraft naming ceremony, Col. Troy Pananon, Commander of the 100th ARW.