Bernie Lay and Piccadilly Lily
We ended the first part of Bernie Lay's story with his return from the ill-fated Regensburg mission on August 17th, 1943. Despite the title of this article and its reference to Piccadilly Lily, Lily does not appear again in this continuation. Indeed, Bernie Lay finished his internship with the 100th BG and returned to VIII. Bomber Command HQ. Piccadilly Lily was then shot down less than two months later, killing Bernie's partner on the mission to Regensburg, Frank Murphy, and part of his crew. For journalist, pilot and writer Bernie Lay, his involvement in the battles over Europe was far from over. In fact, more dramatic moments were yet to come.
Before leaving the 100th BG, Bernie Lay wrote
a detailed report to the Group’s Commander,
Col. Neil B. ‘Chick’ Harding and at the same time
forwarded them to the VIII Bomber Command.
He also used part of it for his article ‘I Saw Re-
gensburg Destroyed’ which appeared in The
Saturday Evening Post on November 6th, 1943.
However, the main part of his appendix
is devoted to recommendations for honors.
In it, he expressed admiration for the aircrews of
the 100th BG and their commanders. He recom-
mended that all men participating in the mission
We ended the first part of Bernie Lay’s story with his return from the ill-fated Regensburg mission on August 17th, 1943. Despite the
title of this article and its reference to Piccadilly Lily, Lily does not appear again in this continuation. Indeed, Bernie Lay finished his
internship with the 100th BG and returned to VIII. Bomber Command HQ. Piccadilly Lily was then shot down less than two months later,
killing Bernie’s partner on the mission to Regensburg, Frank Murphy, and part of his crew. For journalist, pilot and writer Bernie Lay,
his involvement in the battles over Europe was far from over. In fact, more dramatic moments were yet to come.
It takes a rugged constitution to stand up to
missions like Regensburg and even the tough-
est crew members were badly shaken by nearly two
hours under persistent attack. The less phlegmatic
were already potential candidates for the rest home
when we landed in Africa. My four previous mis-
sions, in one of with our bombardier was killed,
were pieces of cake in comparison to the 11 hour Re-
gensburg show, and I doubt if 20 such normal mis-
sions would take the same amount out of a man as
one stint to Regensburg.
We quoted from the original report and article in
the previous volume. However, the report itself
contains an appendix of recommendations and
observations of a completely military and, one
might say, authoritarian nature. The addendum
to the report includes recommendations for for-
mation patterns and spacing within the bomber
be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC),
and the commanding pilot of the Group, Maj. John
Kidd and the leading pilot of the top squadron,
Major William Veal, the Distinguished Service
Cross (DSO). He even suggested that Major Gale
stream, the role of escort fighters, equipment
for possible future landings in North Africa, and
a recommendation that airmen flying such de-
manding missions as the one to Regensburg
be given a reduced quota of mandatory combat
flights. In his report, he wrote:
W. ‘Buck’ Cleven, the leader of the bottom squad-
ron, be awarded the Congressional Medal Of Hon-
or for his extraordinary attitude during the mis-
sion. Among other things, he stated about Cleven:
Title picture - detail of Piotr Forkasiewicz’s artwork for Eduard kit No.11183 B-17F “The Bloody Hundredth 1943”.
On the co-pilot’s seat of Piccadilly Lily sits Lt.Col. Bernie Lay.
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September 2024