America’s legendary 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy) earned its nickname “Bloody Hundredth” for the losses it sustained during strategic bombing missions over Europe in 1943. On its first mission on June 25, the 100 BG lost three B-17 Flying Fortress bombers and 30 crew over Bremen, Germany. No combat unit sustained such heavy losses as the 100th Bombardment Group’s original flight crews: only four of the original 38 co-pilots completed their combat tour of 25 missions.

In 1943, the average survival of a B-17 crew member was 11 missions.

Eighteen Pennsylvania aviators in the 100th Bombardment Group lost their lives over Europe that year. Volunteers with the non-profit Stories Behind the Stars, storiesbehindthestars.org, have written memorials to honor the sacrifice of each of the fallen. McKean County was home to one of those lost: Staff Sgt. Richard E. Bowler.

Richard Edward Bowler was born Jan. 27, 1920, in Fort Worth, Texas, to James and Helen Ryan Bowler. His father and mother were natives of Pennsylvania and Nebraska, respectively. Bowler had one older sister and one younger sister. The family lived in Bradford, where Bowler’s father worked as a machinist. Bowler attended local schools, completed four years of high school and worked as a welder.

Bowler was inducted into the Army Air Corps on Oct. 25, 1941, at New Cumberland. He was single, had completed two years of college, and was working as a welder. After basic training, he attended aerial gunnery training and was assigned as a staff sergeant to the 350th Bombardment Squadron of the 100th BG, Eighth Air Force, which flew B-17 heavy bombers.

The 100th BG was activated on June 1, 1942, assembled at Gowen Field, Idaho, and moved to Walla Walla Army Air Base, Washington, to receive its first four aircrews and four B-17s. Additional personnel, aircraft and crews were added at Wendover Field, Utah and began bombing, gunnery and navigation training. By December, the unit’s total strength reached 37 crews, with 10 men on each crew.

Flight crews flew to England on May 25, 1943, and arrived at Station 139, Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk, England on June 8. On May 27, the ground personnel set sail aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth from New York and rendezvoused with the air echelon at Thorpe Abbotts, where they remained throughout World War II.

The 100th BG, from June 1943 to January 1944, concentrated its efforts against German airfields, submarine facilities and aircraft industries in France and Germany. The unit was involved in the epic air battles over Regensburg, Germany, on Aug. 17 (for which it received its first Presidential Unit Citation), and in Black Week from Oct. 8 to 14, over Bremen, Munster, Marienburg and Schweinfurt, Germany. These missions cost the group 28 Flying Fortresses, which were shot down.

The 100th BG drew the dreaded “Tail End Charlie” position on the terrible Regensburg shuttle mission and were the high group on the Oct. 8 Bremen mission and again at Munster. The 100th occupied positions in the formation that were certain to be the focal point of enemy fighters’ attacks.

During the Oct. 10 Munster raid, 18 100th BG aircraft were sent, of which five aborted and turned back before reaching the target. Twelve of the 13 aircraft that reached Münster were shot down. The only surviving 100th BG B-17 to reach Münster and return was seriously damaged and with several crewmen wounded.

The Schweinfurt mission of Oct. 14 became known as “Black Thursday” because the 8th Air Force lost 60 bombers. The 100th BG led the bombing of Rjukan, Norway, on Nov. 16, which delayed the manufacture of heavy water for the German atomic bomb.

On Aug. 17, Bowler was flying as flight engineer and top turret gunner aboard B-17F #42-30311, known as “Maybe,” having replaced the regular flight engineer who was injured in a bicycle accident on base. The aircraft was one of 21 bombers from the 100th BG, along with 125 B-17s from six other groups, tasked to bomb a Messerschmitt aircraft factory in Regensburg, Germany.

The mission was part of a two-pronged attack against the factory at Regensburg and the ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt, Germany, with the Regensburg force landing at airfields in North Africa. To split the German fighter defense, these raids were supposed to occur simultaneously. Fog, however, delayed the Schweinfurt force’s takeoff while the Regensburg force departed on time. As a result, enemy fighters hit the first force, landed, rearmed, refueled, and then engaged the delayed second force.

At that point in the war, the Army Air Force did not have fighter bases on mainland Europe, which limited the ability of fighter wings, whose planes carried less fuel and had shorter ranges, to escort and protect the bomber formations over Germany. Luftwaffe pilots waited for Allied fighters to turn back for England before attacking the heavy bombers, when they were the most vulnerable.

Heavy bombers like the U.S.’s B-17 and the B-24 Liberator were designed under the theory that, with their turret, waist and tail .50-caliber machine guns, crews would be able to defend themselves against enemy fighters. The staggering losses over Germany in 1943 and early 1944 proved how misguided that theory was.

Without fighter escort for much of the mission, the bombers in both forces faced wave after wave of Luftwaffe fighters. Near Nuremberg, Germany, on the way to the target, the aircraft was raked by machine gun and cannon fire from Me-109s and FW-190s, wounding Bowler, and setting one engine on fire. The aircraft dropped out of formation and was seen to explode. Although nine of the crew were able to bail out, eight were captured and became prisoners of war.

Bowler was believed to have died of his wounds while in his parachute or shortly after reaching the ground. The 10th crew member was killed in the aircraft, which crashed near Schornsheim, Germany.

In all, nine 100th BG aircraft failed to make it to North Africa. Although the raid caused heavy damage at both factories, 60 of the 376 bombers dispatched were shot down. More than 600 airmen were killed, missing or captured.

Bowler was killed in action on Aug. 17, 1943, during a bombing mission over Regensburg, Germany, when his B-17 was struck by enemy machine gun and cannon fire. He initially was buried in a local cemetery in Germany. After the war, Bowler was repatriated to the United States and was reinterred in St. Brigid Cemetery, Meadville.

(Stories Behind the Stars memorials are accessible for free on the internet and via smart phone app at gravesites and cenotaphs. The non-profit organization is dedicated to honoring all 421,000 fallen Americans from World War II, including 31,000 from Pennsylvania. To volunteer or to get more information, contact Kathy Harmon at kharmon@storiesbehindthestars.org or visit  storiesbehindthestars.org.)