|
A limited edition print to honor all those men, both in aircrew and groundcrew, who have made the 'Bloody Hundredth' a living legend.
By 4:00 on the morning of October 8th 1943, the departments of Group Photo, Armament, Signals, Ordnance, Navigation, Transportation, Weather and Flying Control had been notified of the impending mission. The men were awakened at 7:00. After breakfast and briefing, engines were started at 11:30. The first B-17 of the Lead Squadron took off at 11:43. This was 'Our Babe', depicted crossing the field at about fifteen hundred feet in Robert Bailey's painting "Men of 7he Century". As men stand anxiously on the Thorpe Abbotts control tower, 'Holy Terror,' (right), Queen Bee and Marie Helena taxi past. 'Marie Helena' was to collide with an FW-190 on this mission.
Little remains as evidence of the size, scope and activity that occurred at Thorpe Abbotts less than sixty years ago. The calmness of the countryside and few remaining dilapidated structures belie the titanic struggle that occurred at this former Eighth Air Force Heavy Bomber base that housed the famous 'Bloody Hundredth.' Then, young men who grew older than their years, faced an enemy in the air whom at times decimated their ranks. Yet time and time again, the men and machines rose to do battle high in the stratosphere, deep into the heartland of Nazi Germany.
Inevitably, they would face the onslaught of other young men in enemy fighters, accurate flak, and the elements of nature that would conspire to reduce the average life expectancy of the bomber crews to as few as six missions. The goal of twenty five missions to qualify for rotation back to the zone of the interior appeared to be impossible to achieve. These were hard, dark days that greeted the Americans who joined in the fight for freedom and democracy with their British counterparts.
The names of the targets became legend, as did the men who participated in the missions. Regensburg, Schweinfurt and Bremen. To those who remember the air war, those names evoke a terror and reverence that only they can know.
Each print in Robert Bailey's Limited Edition, Men Of The Century, is signed by four 'Bloody Hundredth' aircrew:
Harry Crosby
Tom Jeffrey
Owen Roane
Robert Rosenthal.
|
