Owen Roane: “Cowboy” Roane to Charlie Beck
Memorial Letter – “Cowboy” Roane to Charlie Beck Eulogy for Charles Miller Beck, Jr. Valley View, Texas February 27, 1996 Dear Charlie, This is a letter I should have written to you long ago. When I was tapped to serve as President of the 100th Bomb Group Association, you were there as Vice President for Membership […]
Missions — Girls — R&R
by Leroy J. Edwards (350th BS TTE) Leroy J. Edwards graduated from the Harlingen Gunnery School at Harlingen, Texas. The following press release was sent to The Atchinson Daily Mail, his hometown paper: Leroy J. Edwards Expert Aerial Triggerman The Mail has received from the public relations office of the Army Gunnery School at Harlingen, Texas, […]
Crash of FLETCHER’S CASTORIA
Seal Beach, Calif. 21. February 1994 50 Years to the day……. ”We’ll never forget” !!! Pete and Brother Toni van Loon The last few fleeting minutes of Fletchers’ Flying Fortress, “Fletcher’s’ Castoria’ Eyewitnesses by my brother and me, living just a little way (appx. 2 ½ miles) south of the crash-landing spot in Holland on […]
USAAF B-17 Dispositions
USAAF B-17 Dispositions–November 1941 to August 1945 The table below shows the disposition of USAAF B-17s at the end of each month from November 1941 to August 1945. The first column gives the number of new B-17s accepted from factories and includes those that were subsequently delivered to the RAF and US Navy. The second […]
2nd Lt. Tony Pecyk’s Diary
2nd Lt. Tony Pecyk was a copilot on the David W. Wood crew. The following diary was submitted by his daughter, Doris MacLean on March 28, 2002. 24 Nov 1944 Today we had our first taste of flying in England. It was rather cloudy but they seemed to think it ok for flying. We got […]
The Bremen Mission
Bremen Mission October 8, 1943 & Copilots of the 100th by John Luckadoo John Luckadoo went on to become the 351st Operations Officer and later the 350th OPS Officer ; finishing as the command pilot with DeSanders on 13 Feb 44 NoBall. He was an eyewitness to the loss of the 100th Thomas Murphy and […]
The Best Plane in the War
Newspaper article – Bill Fletcher Banner Herald / The Daily News Extra B-17 Sunday August 25, 1985 p 18c Despite one bad flight, William Fletcher still believes it was the best (plane) in the war. By Clint Engel Staff Writer The B-17 Flying Fortress, used by the U.S. Air Force in World War II as […]
Fletcher’s Castoria
by Joseph M. Lee, III (Bill Fletcher’s nephew) 100th BG Photo Archives Lt. William H. Fletcher of Augusta, Georgia was a B-17G pilot in the 100th Bombardment Group, 350th Bombardment Squadron, 3rd Bombardment Division in WW II. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadets 17 March 1942 at Daniel Field, Augusta, Georgia. On […]
Frank “Big Frank” Valesh History
by Les and Delores Valesh Lautman (“Big Frank’s” sister and brother-in-law) Frank Valesh Crew 100th BG Photo Archives HEADQUARTERS 3RD BOMBARDMENT DIVISION APO 559 26 MAY l944 GENERAL ORDERS NO. 147 CITATION The following listed members of an aircraft maintenance crew of the 351st Bombardment Squadron (H), 100th Bombardment Group (H), are cited for meritorious […]
A History of the Valesh Crew – Page 2
HANG THE EXPENSE A History of the “Big Frank” Valesh Crew – Page 2 by John R. “Dick” Johnson Previous 100th BG Photo Archives Mission No 10 came on Christmas Eve, 1943, and it looked like a Christmas present when they pulled back the curtain and the target was on the French coast. We were […]