COMMENTS & NOTES
MEMO 1:
CREW
LT GLENN W. DYE
ORIGINAL 100TH PILOT
CREW #25 351st SQUADRON A/C #42-30089 "SUNNY"
1ST LT GLENN W. DYE P CPT 16 SEP 43 BORDEAUX
2ND LT JOHN H. LUCKADOO CP CPT 13 FEB 44 LIVOSSART (NO-BALL)
2ND LT TIMOTHY J. CAVANAUGH NAV CPT 16 SEP 43 BORDEAUX
2ND LT FRANCIS C. CHANEY BOM CPT 16 SEP 43 BORDEAUX
T/SGT VICTOR R. COMBS TTE CPT 16 SEP 43 BORDEAUX
S/SGT ELDER D. DICKERSON WG KIA 8 OCT 43 BREMEN (WITH CREW #22)
T/SGT GEORGE E. FLANAGAN ROG CPT 16 SEP 43 BORDEAUX
S/SGT RICHARD B. COOKE BTG CPT 16 SEP 43 BORDEAUX
S/SGT DONALD O. ELLIS WG CPT 16 SEP 43 BORDEAUX
S/SGT LEROY E. BAKER TG CPT 16 SEP 43 BORDEAUX
THIS WAS THE FIRST CREW OF THE 100TH TO FINISH A TOUR OF 25 MISSIONS.
TIMOTHY CAVANAUGH AND FRANCIS CHANEY WERE BOTH KILLED IN A B-29 TRAINING ACCIDENT SHORTLY AFTER RETURNING TO THE STATES. ELDER DICKERSON, APPARENTLY A MISSION OR TWO BEHIND HIS CREW WAS KIA ON HIS 25TH MISSION WITH CREW #22, CAPT. MURPHY AND THE PICCADILLY LILY.
JOHN LUCKADOO flew 21 missions with this crew then WENT ON TO BECOME THE OPERATIONS OFFICER OF TWO OF THE 100TH'S SQUADRONS; 351STand 350th.
Plane was named Sunny which was the nickname Lt Dye gave his son Glenn Dye Jr.
On the way overseas with the original cadre, Glenn Dye got sick. The crew had to stay in Gandor for 2 weeks while Lt Dye was getting better. It turns out, that after two weeks he was still weak from the drugs and John Luckadoo flew the crew to England.
Missions for Glenn Dye Crew
Date A/C # A/C Name Target
Jun 25, 1943 230051 Nevada Wildcat Bremen (Olli Turner flew as Command Pilot, Lucky did not fly mission)
Jun 26, 1943 23307 Skipper LeMans
Jun 28, 1943 23307 Skipper St Nazaire (Flak City)
Jun 29, 1943 23307 Skipper LeMans (Lead Crew mission
July 04, 1943 La Pallice
Jul 10, 1943 230089 Sunny LeBourget
Jul 14, 1943 230089 Sunny LeBourget
Jul 17, 1943 230089 Sunny Hamburg
Jul 24, 1943 25865 Janie Trondheim (Lead Crew, w/Olli Turner)
Jul 25, 1943 230089 Sunny Warnemunde
Jul 26, 1943 230089 Sunny Hanover (Lucky flew as Formation Officer
Jul 28, 1943 25865 Janie Oschersleben
Jul 29, 1943 25865 Janie Warnemunde
Jul 30, 1943 25865 Janie Kassel
Aug 12, 1943 230089 Sunny Wesseling
Aug 15, 1943 230089 Sunny Merville AF & Lille AF (Lead Crew)
Aug 19, 1943 230089 Sunny Woensdrecht
Aug 24, 1943 230089 Sunny Conches
Aug 27, 1943 230089 Sunny Watten
Aug 31, 1943 230089 Sunny Meulan Les Merueaux
Sept 03,1943 (Sunny Shot Down with Lt Richard King Crew)
Sept.06,1943 230796 Sunny II* Stuttgart, Conches, Evreux Airfield (ST)
Sept 07,1943 230796 Sunny II* Watten-V-Weapons
Sept 09,1943 230796 Sunny II* Arth, AF
Sept 15,1943 230796 Sunny II Paris, AC Factory (Renault)
Sept.16,1943 230796 Sunny II Bordeaux & LaPallice
*Plane flew on these missions but cannot confirm 100% it is the plane Glenn Dye Crew Flew on those missions.
Hooked on History: B-17 stuck in the mud at Harry Clever Field
By Jon Baker-Times-Reporter
Posted Apr 16, 2012 @ 02:58 PM
Army Air Force Lt. Glen “Sunny” Dye’s short visit with his wife in New Philadelphia on April 23, 1943, lasted longer than he expected after his B-17 Flying Fortress got stuck in the mud at Harry Clever Field.
Dye and his 11-member crew, based at an airfield in Nebraska, were on a routine flight when he decided he would like to see his wife, who lived near Amsterdam, Ohio. He circled his home, and that alerted his wife and baby to travel to New Philadelphia, where Dye had received his pilot’s training with the second class of the Civilian Pilot Training course.
Dye had no difficulty in landing the 30-ton bomber at Harry Clever Field, but while taxiing his plane at the west end of the runway, the landing gun sank in the soggy turf off of the runway.
Crew members, assisted by airport employees, Naval Air Cadets, state troopers and scores of volunteers, worked three hours to extricate the plane out of the mud. The Dover Daily Reporter reported that a New Philadelphia city grader and truck failed to move the plane, but the Weaver Motor Co. wreck crew finally got it to move with a winch.
The plane took off at 12:30 a.m.
“Although the field was crowded most of the night with spectators, members of the crew, heavily armed, kept sightseers at a safe distance from the craft,” the paper said.
From: "jluckb17@sbcglobal.net"
Date: April 30, 2012 8:41:49 PM PDT
To: Mike Faley
Subject: Re: I think you were on this flight my friend.
Reply-To: "jluckb17@sbcglobal.net"
Mike
I am more than curious as to why this story should surface now.
Yes, I most certainly was on this flight and it turned out to be a nightmare for all of us.
There are several serious inaccuracies in this account, however.
1. There were only 10 of us on board.
2. There was no runway -- it was just a grass field and that is why we got mired in the mud.
3. It is ludicrous to say that the crew was armed -- and kept the spectators at bay.
4. They brought in all the farm equipment -- tractors, back-hoes, trucks & wreckers for miles around to pull the plane up onto some wooden planks.
5. Then they had to line the field with their headlights.
6. We had to runup the engines to full power & leap off the boards fast enough not to bog down again.
7. We barely cleared the trees at the end of the field by dropping about 1/2 flaps on take-off.
This was a near-disaster that should have gotten Dye court-martialed.
When are you going to Thorpe Abbotts? I will be going the first of June with the Greatest Generation Foundation.
Lucky
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Have you seen this?
My interest in the B-29 comes from my many years of flying in light aircraft with the late Captain Glenn William Dye. When he landed his B-17F, 42-30089, "Sunny", at New Philadelphia, Ohio in 1943, Glenn was on his way to Thorpe Abbotts, England to join the 351st Squadron of the 100th Bomb Group as the Group entered combat in the E.T.O.. After finishing his tour in the E.T.O., Glenn was stationed at Smokey Hill A.A.F.B., Salina Kansas, where he took part in the program that is sometimes referred to as the "Battle of Kansas". At Salina, a lot of B-29s were extensively flown and many modifications were made to them in order to get the airplane ready for operational service. Glenn flew the B-29 there as a test pilot and also as a flight instructor. He also was a crash investigator. He was involved in the training of the 509th Composite Group and he was at Battista Field in Cuba with them, but he did not go overseas with them. His remark on this was: "We knew we were training for something big, but we didn't know what it was!" Glenn was flying a training mission in a B-29 out of Salina when word came over the radio that Japan had surrendered.
I was lucky enough to get to fly to Salina a few times with Glenn in the 1960s and 1970s. He would always have something to say about the B-29 when we were in the area. And whatever it was, it was always interesting.
Also, when Glenn was at Smokey Hill, he held the position of "Acting Colonel". Hap Arnold froze promotion for non-combat personnel and Glenn finished his B-17 tour in the E.T.O. as Captain. The only way he could command the people he needed to was for the Army Air Force to give him "Acting" rank! The "Acting" rank dissolved for Glenn when the B-29 testing, modification and initial crew training was finished and I suppose when he left the 509th training area. He was discharged as Captain.
The book, "CENTURY BOMBERS, The Story of the Bloody Hundredth", by Richard Le Strange, assisted by James R. Brown, Published by the 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum, Thorpe Abbotts, Diss, Norfolk, England...Printed by M.F. Barnwell, Penfold Works, Aylsham, Norfolk, England..ISBN 0 9515159 OX contains a crew photograph of the boys that landed at New Philly, their ground crew chief and Olen Turner. The airplane in the picture is not the one they had in New Philly. The B-17F, 42-30089, "Sunny", that Glenn landed at New Philly, blew up in a field near Beaumont Le Roger, France on 3 September 1943 after being landed wheels up by Pilot Richard King and Co-Pilot, George Brykalski. Glenn was "stood down" that day and his buddy, Lt. King, borrowed the airplane to fly his mission. The airplane received a direct hit in the bomb bay from a German Flak 88 and King tried to get her down, but she blew up right after he landed.
I want to pass this along. Glenn used to say: "A pilot could like a B-17 and fly it without much trouble, but you had to RESPECT a B-29."
Many thanks to Geoff Buchanan for sharing this story with us. We hope to hear more from Geoff in the future.
MEMO 2:
PHOTOS:
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Lt Glenn Dye Crew in front of Sunny II |
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Capt Glenn Dye Crew with Sunny II. Photo courtesy of Guy Davis. |
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This is B-17F 'Sunny II' of the 100th BG - 351st BS, 43-30796 - 'EP-K' with it full crew led by Capt. Glenn Dye, presenting it's fleshly painted nose-art. Picture was taken at Thorpe Abbots, England, in October 1943.
This plane was lost crash landing safely with another crew on 30th December 1943.
Credit: 100th BG Assocation Archives.
Image repair and colorization - Nathan Howland - HowdiColour. |
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"SUNNY II" Crew; This is the Glen Dye Crew, the first 100th crew to complete a combat tour of 25 missions. This photo includes more than the regular crew. Some standing are ground crew. Kneeling are the 351st Squadron Commander, Ollen Turner, center, with Glen Dye to his left and John Luckadoo on the extreme right. Luckadoo was later to become the Operations Officer of the 351st and then the 350th. This is the only case of the same 100th airman serving as Ops Officer for two Squadron. Standing from left: George E. Flanagan - ROG, Elder D. Dickerson - WG (KIA 8 Oct 43 at Bremen), Richard B. Cooke - BTG, John Parmentier - Crew Chief, Victor R. Combs - TTE, Leroy E. Baker - TG & Donald O. Ellis - WG. Kneeling from left: Francis C. Chaney - BOM, timothy J. Cavanaugh - NAV, Ollen Turner - 351st Squadron Commander, Glen Dye - P & John H. Luckadoo - CP Detailed Information (100th Photo Archives) |
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The first group of 100th Bomb Group personnel to receive the Air Medal (from the collection of John Luckadoo). |
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"SUNNY II" 43-30796 EP-J Plane went down 30 December 1943 at Ludwigshaven, piloted by the George Brannan crew for that single mission,the plane crash landed in England. It was normally flown by the Glenn W. Dye crew. Detailed Information (100th Photo Archives) |
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"SUNNY II" 42-30796 EP-J Plane crash landed in Harleston England on 30 December 1943 mission Ludwigshaven piloted by the George Brannan crew for that single mission. It was normally flown by the Glenn W. Dye crew. Detailed Information (100th Photo Archives) |
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"SUNNY II" 43-30796 EP-J Plane crash landed in England on 30 December 1943 mission to Ludwigshaven piloted by the George Brannan crew for that single mission. It was normally flown by the Glenn W. Dye crew. Detailed Information (100th Photo Archives) |
SERVED IN:
- DYE, Glenn W. - P
- LUCKADOO, John H. - CP/P
- CAVANAUGH, Timothy J. - NAV
- CHANEY, Francis C. - BOM
- COMBS, Victor R. - TTE
- FLANAGAN, George E. - ROG
- COOKE, Richard B. - BTG
- DICKERSON, Elder D. - WG
- ELLIS, Donald O. - WG
- BAKER, Leroy E. - TG
