#Ww2 bomber crew losses movie#
#Ww2 bomber crew losses plus#
#Ww2 bomber crew losses series#

Rosie, Ev, Murph, Cowboy, Bubbles, Big Frank, Col. The Group was filled with personnel from all over the Unites States, many were very colorful and fulfilled the popular concept of airmen. Statistics alone did not make them the most famous combat unit in the history of the Unites States Air Force. They did have eight dreadful missions the last coming on New Year's Eve 1944 when they went to Hamburg and lost twelve, some say thirteen airplanes. They won two Presidential Citations, but other groups won more.

#Ww2 bomber crew losses plus#

Why is the 100th so well known - fifty plus years later? They were not the first group to arrive in the United Kingdom nor did they fly the most missions, drop the most bombs or, as is almost universally believed, incur the most casualties.

#Ww2 bomber crew losses movie#

Many of the characters in the movie are recognizable to members of the Group. The co-author of the book and screenwriter for the movie, Colonel Bernie Lay from Wing Headquarters, High Wycombe, England often visited the 100th and flew the Regensburg shuttle mission with them in The Piccadilly Lily. The airplane most often seen in the movie was The Piccadilly Lily, a 100th B-17 that was lost at Bremen on the 8th of October, 1943. The Group was the subject of the 1949 movie Twelve O' Clock High starring Gregory Peck. On the Munster mission only one 100th aircraft returned to their base at Thorpe Abbotts, England. These three missions cost the group 28 Flying Fortress shot down. If enemy fighters were encountered, as they were on these missions, the positions the 100th occupied were certain to be the focal point of their attacks. They drew the dreaded 'Tail in Charlie' position on the terrible Regensburg shuttle mission of Augand were the high group on the OctoBremen mission and again two days later at Munster. The 100th was made up of swashbuckling men, from their Commanding Officers down through the ranks of both the flight and ground personnel, proud to be recognized as a member of the 'Bloody Hundredth' yet a little fearful. No combat unit sustained such heavy losses as the Group's original flight crews, only four of the original thirty-eight co-pilots completed their combat tour of twenty-five missions, in fact three Flying Fortresses were lost on their first mission on June 25, 1943. Heavy losses early in June through October 1943 earned them the sobriquet 'The Bloody Hundredth'. The Group arrived in England in late May of 1943. we hope when we leave you will be glad we came.' in a speech to the British Royal family in 1942 '. Hopefully Fort Worth found them as welcome as the English did after hearing the words of General Ira Eckar, the first commander of the 8th Air Force. They were not dropping bombs as they were some fifty years ago when assigned to the 8th Air Force. The 100th Bombardment Group had Fort Worth as it's 1995 Reunion target. Six Lancasters were destroyed.The Most Famous Heavy Bomb Group of World War II The bombers faced little resistance and around 20,000 civilians were killed. On the night of 13/14 February 1945, 796 Lancasters took part in a joint British and American mission to bomb the eastern German city of Dresden. In 1942 in an attempt to break German morale the RAF began attacking German towns and cities in earnest. This was the home of the Nazis’ secret missile program, which was developing deadly V1 and V2 rockets.ĥ96 planes, including 324 Lancasters dropped 1,800 tons of bombs on Peenemunde, destroying the factories and research facilities and setting back the missile program by between three and six months. On 17 and 18 August 1943, they took part in ‘Operation Hydra’ bombing the military test site at Peenemunde in Northern Germany. However the mission became legendary and was a great boost to British morale. Eight of the 19 Lancasters that took part were lost with the loss of 56 men: 53 died and 3 were captured. Two of the four dams targeted were destroyed and the raids flooded mines, factories and houses for 50 miles. The missiles were designed to skim across the water, hit the dam and sink to the bottom unleashing enough explosive power to breach the structure.

#Ww2 bomber crew losses series#

In a series of moonlit raids the Lancasters flew very low and dropped ‘bouncing bombs’.

617, of 19 modified Lancasters attacked dams across Germany to disrupt industrial production. Here are some of the operations you could have faced… The ‘Dambusters’ Lancaster crews took part in 156,000 missions and dropped 618,378 tons of bombs on targets in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe. The Lancaster was the work-horse of RAF Bomber Command and the most successful bomber of World War Two.