Suffering greatly from wounds Reeder and Pope reached the English Coast and landed the greatly damaged SQUAWKIN HAWK on a grass runway at a RAF fighter base. For both Russ Engel and Pete Delao the war was over. After extended hospital stays in England they were returned to the US. DFCs were awarded to Reeder, Engel, Delao, Pope and Edeburn posthumously. Reeder recovered from his wounds and later became the Commanding Officer of the 349th. He completed his combat tour and returned to the states. Sadly Reeder was to die in a training crash of a C-54 off the Florida Coast.  The badly damaged SQUAWKIN HAWK was repaired and returned to operations. She became the first 100th aircraft to complete fifty missions and with her skin autographed by the members of the 100th she flew back to the states for War Bond Tours.

NOVEMBER 1943. MISSION GILSENKIRCHEN."SQUAWKIN HAWK" PILOTED BY WILLIAM FLESH AND CO-PILOTED BY JOHN GOSSAGE, LOST ITS CREW, INCLUDING OMAR GONZALES, 'ONCE GROUP NAVIGATOR' WHEN, AFTER SUSTAINING HEAVY BATTLE DAMAGE, THEY WERE ORDERED TO BAIL OUT, AND EVERYBODY EXCEPT THE PILOTS JUMPED. ON RECOVERING CONTROL, LIEUTENANTS FLESH AND GOSSAGE BROUGHT THE SHATTERED PLANE BACK, TO LAND AT TANGMERE IN KENT.UNFORTUNATELY, THE RADIO OPERATOR, CONNOR BREWSTER, WAS KILLED WHEN HIS PARACHUTE FAILED TO OPEN. THE ENGINEER, HAROLD POPE, AVOIDED CAPTURE AND, AIDED BY THE UNDERGROUND, MANAGED TO GET BACK TO ENGLAND. WAIST GUNNER, GEORGE GINEIKIS, ALSO BECAME AN EVADEE. THE REST WERE TAKEN PRISONER OF WAR.THIS FORTRESS WAS REPAIRED AND RETURNED TO COMBAT STATUS. THE BADLY DAMAGED "SQUAWKIN HAWK" WAS REPAIRED AND RESTORED TO OPERATIONS. SHE BECAME THE FIRST 100TH AIRCRAFT TO COMPLETE 50 MISSIONS. WITH HER SKIN AUTOGRAPHED BY THE MEN OF THE 100TH, SHE WAS FLOWN BACK TO THE STATES FOR A WAR BOND TOUR.

Operations Report says: "Plane was hit in #1 Engine after bombs away. All crew members except Pilot and Co-pilot bailed out, on orders, over the target area." Flesh and Gossage managed to fly the ship back to England.