SQUWAKIN’ HAWK

Of all the pilots who flew B-17F s/n 42-30088 Squawkin' Hawk over the continent, the one most associated with this aircraft is Maj. Sumner H. Reeder, despite flying ‘only’ twelve missions with it out of a total of fifty that Squawkin' Hawk flew. If Sumner Reeder's name sounds familiar, it may be because the fate of his crew is part of the story of the B-17F named Horny II and Mugwump. The mission on September 6th, 1943, completed with Horny II, began a run of bad luck for Reeder's team. On the mission to Stuttgart, a German 20 mm shell killed the co-pilot and seriously wounded three other officers. A few weeks later, on Friday, November 5th, 1943, while Sumner Reeder was still recovering, most of the NCOs in his crew did not return from the attack on Gelsenkirchen. However, their Squawkin’ Hawk, with a backup pilot and co-pilot, did, so she could continue to add to her number of missions flown. When Sumner Reeder returned from treatment, he became the operations officer of the 349th Squadron and later its commander. There is no recorded Squawkin' Hawk combat mission from this period with Reeder in the pilot’s seat. His command duties put him in the cockpits of the newer B-17Gs, including radar pathfinders. Squawkin' Hawk continued to fly missions with rotating crews - Robert N. Lohof, John G. Gossage, Charles A. Brooks…

In early 1944, Squawkin' Hawk suffered some serious damage - on January 21st over St. Omer and on February 25th during the mission to Regensburg – just another mission that could have again proven fateful for this aircraft. A nearby burst of flak severely lacerated the vertical tail surfaces and damaged the steering. Lt. Gossage considered turning the damaged plane towards Switzerland. He had already had one unpleasant incident on board this plane - he was the co-pilot who returned in November of the previous year with pilot Lt. Flesh, and an otherwise empty Squawkin' Hawk, from Gelsenkirchen. Gossage thought carefully. But since most of the men in his crew were nearing the completion of their operational tour, they decided to try to return. 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 evidenced by the differently positioned ‘D’ and a different 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 photography, 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 Hundredth and its support units. Well wishes appeared on the fuselage, the wing, the rudder, the insignia and even the tires... Perhaps everyone within 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 stories with happy endings associated with it. However, 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 vertical 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 injuries, or had been stuck behind the barbed wire of German prison camps for half a year. Their squadron mates, celebrating the success achieved by old 42-30088, did not forget them…