A flight of Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress bombers forms up over England, 1942. “Yankee Doodle,” 41-9023, is just to the left of center. (U.S. Air Force)
17 August 1942: Mission No. 1. The United States VIII Bomber Command made its first heavy bomber attack on Nazi-occupied Europe when eighteen Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress four-engine bombers of the 97th Bombardment Group (Heavy), based at RAF Polebrook, Northamptonshire, England, headed for the railroad marshaling yards at Rouen-Sotteville, France. This was the largest and most active railroad yard in northern France.
Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress 41-2578, 97th Bombardment Group, photographed 17 August 1942. (Imperial War Museum, Roger Freeman Collection, Object Number FRE 4053)
The mission was led by Major Paul Warfield Tibbetts, Jr., commanding the 340th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), in the Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress, 41-2578, Butcher Shop. (He would later command the 509th Composite Group and fly the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay.) Tibbetts’ co-pilot was the 97th Bomb Group commander, Colonel Frank Alton Armstrong, Jr. Brigadier General Ira Clarence Eaker, VIII Bomber Command, was aboard Yankee Doodle, B-17E 41-9023, leading the second flight of six B-17s on a diversionary raid along the French coast.
The group began takeoffs at 1530 hours. It was escorted by several squadrons of Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire fighters.
While six B-17s flew along the French coast as a diversion, twelve bombers flew to Rouen and were over the target from 1739 to 1746. From an altitude of 23,000 feet (7,010 meters), they dropped 36,900 pounds (16,738 kilograms) of 600-pound (272 kilogram) and 1,100 pound (499 kilogram) general purpose bombs.
Accuracy was good. One of the aim points, the locomotive shops, was destroyed by a direct hit. The overall results were moderate.
Rouen-Sotteville target assessment photograph. (U.S. Air Force)
All of the bombers returned to their base, with the last landing at 1900. Two B-17s had been damaged. American gunners claimed damage to one Luftwaffe airplane.
Brigadier General Ira C. Eaker commanded Mission No. 1 from this Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress, 41-9023, Yankee Doodle, shown here being serviced between missions. This bomber survived the War. (U.S. Air Force)Colonel Frank Alton Armstrong, Jr., Air Corps, United States Army, commanding the 97th Bombardment Group (Heavy), in the pilot’s position of a Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress. (Imperial War Museum)
The Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress was a major redesign of the B-17D. A new aft fuselage was used, incorporating larger vertical and horizontal stabilizers. A tail turret was added. A power-operated gun turret was added at dorsal and ventral positions.
The Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress was a four-engine heavy bomber operated by a flight crew of ten. It was 73 feet, 10 inches (22.504 meters) long with a wingspan of 103 feet, 9-3/8 inches (31.633 meters) and an overall height of 19 feet, 2 inch (5.842 meters). Its empty weight was 32,350 pounds (14,674 kilograms), 40,260 pounds (18,262 kilograms) gross weight, and the maximum takeoff weight was 53,000 pounds (24,040 kilograms).
Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress, circa 1941. (U.S. Air Force)
The B-17E was powered by four air-cooled, supercharged, 1,823.129-cubic-inch-displacement (29.875 liters) Wright Cyclone G666A (R-1820-65) nine-cylinder radial engines with turbochargers, producing 1,200 horsepower at 2,500 r.p.m. for takeoff and 1,000 horsepower at 2,300 r.p.m. at Sea Level. The Cyclones turned three-bladed constant-speed Hamilton-Standard Hydromatic propellers with a diameter of 11 feet, 7 inches (3.835 meters) though a 0.5625:1 gear reduction. The R-1820-65 was 47.59 inches (1.209 meters) long and 55.12 inches (1.400 meters) in diameter. It weighed 1,315 pounds (596 kilograms). 8,422 of these engines were produced by Wright Aeronautical Division and its licensees between February 1940 and August 1942.
The B-17E had a cruise speed of 195 miles per hour (314 kilometers per hour). Its maximum speed was 318 miles per hour (512 kilometers per hour) at 25,000 feet (7,620 meters). The service ceiling was 36,600 feet (11,156 meters).
With a normal fuel load of 2,490 gallons (9,426 liters) the B-17E had a maximum range of 3,300 miles (5,311 kilometers). Carrying a 4,000 pound (1,814 kilogram) bomb load, the range was 2,000 miles (3,219 kilometers).
Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress 41-2578, the lead ship on the 17 August 1942 air raid on Rouen-Sotteville, France, flown by Major Paul W. Tibbets, photographed at RAF Bovingdon, 1943. By the end of the war, this airplane was the oldest, longest-serving B-17E in the USAAF. (Imperial War Museum)
The B-17E Flying Fortress was armed with one .30-caliber Browning M2 Aircraft Machine Gun and eight Browning AN-M2 .50-caliber machine guns. The .30 was mounted in the nose. Power turrets mounting two .50-caliber guns, each, were located at the dorsal and ventral positions. (The first 112 B-17Es were built with a remotely-operated turret in the belly position, sighted by a periscope. A manned ball turret replaced this.) Two machine guns were in a tail turret, and one on each side at the waist.
The maximum bomb load of the B-17E was 20,800 pounds (9,435 kilograms) over very short distances. Normally, 4,000–6,000 pounds (1,815–2,722 kilograms) were carried. The internal bomb bay could be loaded with a maximum of eight 1,000 pound (454 kilogram) or four 2,000 pound (907 kilogram) bombs.
The B-17 Flying Fortress first flew in 1935, and was in production from 1937 to 1945. 12,731 B-17s were built by Boeing, Douglas Aircraft Company, and Lockheed-Vega. 512 of the total were B-17Es. The last one was completed 28 May 1942. Production shifted to the further-improved B-17F.
Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress 41-2509, circa 1942. (U.S. Air Force)
Pilot Officer William Meade Lindsley Fiske III, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. (United States Air Force 150918-F-XX999-008)
17 August 1940: Pilot Officer William Meade Lindsley Fiske III died at St. Richard’s Hospital, Chichester, Sussex, England, as a result of injuries sustained in combat the previous day. Billy Fiske was the second American pilot to lose his life in combat during the Second World War.¹
No. 601 Squadron
On 16 August, No. 601 Squadron, based at RAF Tangmere, was dispatched by Fighter Command to intercept incoming Luftwaffe aircraft at 12,000 feet (3,658 meters). This was Billy Fiske’s second sortie of the day. He was airborne at 12:25 p.m. In the resulting air battle, the squadron shot down eight enemy Junkers Ju 87 Sturzkampfflugzeug (“Stuka”) dive bombers.
One of the Stukas’ gunners hit Billy Fiske’s Hawker Hurricane with his Rheinmetall MG 15 machine gun. A 7.92 millimeter bullet punctured the Hurricane’s fuselage fuel tank. Fiske was able to fly the damaged fighter back to Tangmere. With the engine out, Fiske glided to a belly-landing at the airfield. He had suffered severe burns this lower body. He had to be lifted from the cockpit by rescuers, with his clothing still burning.
The squadron’s medical officer, Flying Officer Courtney B.I. Wiley, examined Fiske, and administered morphine. He was sent to the Royal West Sussex Hospital in Chichester. Dr. Wiley was “very pessimistic” about the pilot’s chances of survival. Billy Fiske died the following day. For his actions in rescuing Fiske, Dr. Wiley was awarded the Military Cross, and Corporal G.W. Jones and Aircraftsman 2nd Class C.G. Faulkner received the Military Medal.
Pilot Officer William Meade Lindsley Fiske III was buried near Tangmere, at the St. Mary and St. Blaise Church, Boxgrove, West Sussex, England, 20 August 1940.
The Funeral of Pilot Officer W.M.L. Fiske, St. Mary and St. Blaise Church, Boxgrove, West Sussex, England, 20 August 1940.
Billy Fiske’s Hurricane was repaired and was operational within a few days.
A ceremony unveiled a memorial to Fiske at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, 4 July 1941. At the presentation, Sir Archibald Sinclair, Secretary of State for Air, said, “Here was a young man for whom life held much. Under no compulsion he came to fight for Britain. He came and he fought and he died.” The plaque reads, “An American citizen who died that England might live.”
Fiske’s flight commander, Flight Lieutenant Sir Archibald Hope, wrote,
“Unquestionably Billy Fiske was the best pilot I’ve ever known. It was unbelievable how good he was. He picked up so fast it wasn’t true. He’d flown a bit before, but he was a natural as a fighter pilot. He was so terribly nice and extraordinarily modest, and fitted into the squadron very well.”
—”For Our Tomorrow,” Pilot Officer Billy Fiske, Royal Air Force Museum
Painting of Billy Fiske landing his Hurricane. (John Howard Worsley/Tangmere Military Aviation Museum)
William Meade Lindsley Fiske III was born 4 June 1911, at Chicago, Illinois,² the second child of William Meade Lindsley Fiske II, a banker, and Beulah Rexford Fiske. By 1920, the family was living in Montecito, California. Fiske was educated in America, France and England, where he studied economics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
On Saturday, 18 February 1928, Billy Fiske was in St. Moritz, Switzerland, for the II Olympic Winter Games. He was the driver for the United States five-man bobsleigh team, which set a record for a combined time for two runs on the famous Cresta Run, of 3 minutes, 20.5 seconds. The team was awarded the Olympic Gold Medal.
Billy Fiske was the driver for the Gold Medal-winning United States Olympic bobsled team at the 1928 Winter Olympics at St. Moritz. (Corbis via The Telegraph)
For the 1932 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, the bobsleigh teams had been cut to four men. Also, the number of runs increased from two to four. Fiske was again the driver for the American team. And again, Fiske and his team mates won the Olympic Gold Medal with a combined time of 7 minutes, 53.68 seconds.
Fiske was invited to compete in the 1936 Olympics, but declined. That same year, he and a close friend began development of what would become the ski resort at Aspen, in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. He was also involved in film production financing in Hollywood.
Fiske was also an automotive sportsman. He ordered a British Racing Green 1930 Bentley 4½-Liter Supercharged (a “Blower Bentley”) to the same specifications as Sir Henry Birkin’s LeMans racing team cars. He drove it to an average speed of 121.4 miles per hour (195.4 kilometers per hour) at Brooklands’ 2¾-mile high-banked track, for which he was awarded the Outer Circuit Banking Badge.
Billy Fiske’s 1930 4½-Liter “Blower” Bentley, GK 150, Chassis Number SM 3918, now painted black.Lady Greville, Countess of Warwick
William M.L. Fiske married Mrs. Rose Bingham Greville, formerly the Countess of Warwick, in a civil registered ceremony at Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, 8 September 1938. (Following Fiske’s death, Mrs. Fiske joined the Women’s Voluntary Service as a truck driver.)
During 1938, Fiske had learned to fly at an airfield near London, and was awarded an Aviator’s Certificate by the Royal Aero Club of Great Britain. With war approaching, he volunteered to serve in the Royal Air Force, claiming that he was a Canadian citizen. He was interviewed by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Sir Cyril Newall, and accepted for the Auxiliary Air Force. He was sent to No. 10 Elementary Flying Training School, Yatesbury, Wiltshire, for military flight training, and then No. 2 Flight Training School, Brize Norton, Oxfordshire. Training was in the Gloster Gladiator.
On 23 March 1940, Billy Fiske was granted a commission as an Acting Pilot Officer on probation, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (78092). He joined No. 601 Squadron at RAF Tangmere, 12 July 1940. On 13 July, he was graded Pilot Officer on probation. He flew his first flight with the squadron, and his first in the Hawker Hurricane. Between 20 July and 16 August, Pilot Officer Fiske flew 42 sorties.
On 11 August, Billy Fiske claimed a twin-engine Messerschmitt Bf 110 shot down. On 13 August, he claimed another Bf 110 probably shot down and two more damaged. On 15 August, Fiske and his Hurricane forced a German bomber into a balloon barrage.
Fiske wrote to his older sister, Beaulah (“Peggy”) Fiske Heaton, his reasons for joining the Royal Air Force. He said that the English had
“. . . been damn good to me in good times so naturally I feel I ought to try and help out if I can. There are absolutely no heroics in my motives, I’m probably twice as scared as the next man, but if anything happens to me I at least feel I have done the right thing in spite of the worry to my family—which I certainly couldn’t feel if I was to sit in New York making dough.”
—“American Billy Fiske—One of the Few,” United States Naval Institute Blog, 16 August 2016.
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I L1547
Billy Fiske’s fighter was a Hawker Hurricane Mk.I, P3358, with squadron markings UF H. It was from the third production block of 544 Hurricanes built by Hawker Aircraft Limited, Brooklands, between February and July 1940.
The Hurricane Mk.I was ordered into production in the summer of 1936. The first production airplane flew on 12 October 1937. The early production Hurricane Mk. I retained the wooden fixed-pitch propeller and fabric-covered wings of the prototype, though this would change with subsequent models. It was 31 feet, 4 inches (9.550 meters) long with a wingspan of 40 feet (12.192 meters) and overall height of 13 feet, 3 inches (4.039 meters). Its empty weight was 4,982 pounds (2,260 kilograms) and gross weight was 6,750 pounds (3,062 kilograms).
No. 601 Squadron Hawker Hurricane Mk.I UF N at RAF Tangmere, circa August 1940.
The Mk.I’s engine was a liquid-cooled, supercharged, 27.01 liter (1,648.96 cubic inches) Rolls-Royce R.M.1.S. Merlin Mk.III single-overhead-cam 60° V-12, rated at 990 horsepower at 2,600 r.p.m. at 12,250 feet (3,734 meters), and 1,030 horsepower at 3,000 r.p.m., at 10,250 feet (3,124 meters), using 87 octane aviation gasoline. The Merlin III drove the propeller through a 0.477:1 gear reduction ratio. It weighed 1,375 pounds (624 kilograms).
The fixed-pitch propeller was soon replaced with a three-bladed, two-pitch propeller, and then a three-bladed constant-speed propeller. Speed trials of a Mk.I equipped with a 10 foot, 9 inch (3.277 meters) diameter Rotol constant-speed propeller achieved a maximum True Air Speed in level flight of 316 miles per hour (509 kilometers per hour) at 17,750 feet (5,410 meters) at 3,000 r.p.m. The service ceiling was 33,750 feet (10,287 meters). The Mk.I’s range was 600 miles (966 kilometers) at 175 miles per hour (282 kilometers per hour).
The fighter was armed with eight Browning .303-caliber Mark II machine guns mounted in the wings.
At the beginning of World War II, 497 Hurricanes had been delivered to the Royal Air Force, enough to equip 18 squadrons. During the Battle of Britain, the Hurricane accounted for 55% of the enemy aircraft destroyed. Continuously upgraded throughout the war, it remained in production until 1944. A total of 14,503 were built by Hawker, Gloster and the Canadian Car and Foundry Company.
No. 601 Squadron Hawker Hurricane Mk.I UF U, at RAF Tangmere, circa August 1940
¹ Acting Flight Lieutenant James William Elias Davies, D.F.C., Royal Air Force, a Hawker Hurricane pilot assigned to No. 79 Squadron, was killed in action over the English Channel, 27 June 1940. Davies was born at Bernardsville, New Jersey, United States of America, in October 1914. He was the son of David Ashley Davies, a farm manager, and Katherine Isabel Davies. He had a twin sister, Isabella E. Davies. Flying a Bristol Beaufighter, he is credited with 8 aerial victories.
² Most sources cite Billy Fiske’s birthplace as New York City, or Brooklyn, New York. His United States of America Emergency Passport Application, dated 28 May 1924, when Fiske was 12 years old, gives his birthplace as Chicago, Illinois.
This stained-glass window at Boxgrove Priory memorializes Pilot Officer William Meade Lindsley (“Billy”) Fiske III, an American citizen who flew a Hawker Hurricane for the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain. He died 17 August 1940 of injuries sustained during air combat the previous day. A plaque at St. Paul’s Cathedral says, simply, “An American citizen who died that England might live.” Billy Fiske was the second American pilot to die as a result of combat action during World War II. (Marker23 via Wikipedia)
Jacqueline Cochran at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York, 1932. The airplane is a Fleet Model 2. (Cradle of Aviation Museum)
17 August 1932: For just over three weeks in the summer of 1932—23 July to 17 August—Jackie Cochran, a beautician who worked for Antoine’s salons at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City and Miami, Florida, took flying lessons from Lester Travis (“Husky”) Flewellin, chief instructor at the Roosevelt Flying School at Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York.
She made her first solo flight on 1 August, and that flight came to an abrupt end when the airplane’s engine stopped. Jackie successfully completed her first forced landing. After passing written and flight tests for the Department of Commerce, Jaqueline Cochran was issued a private pilot’s license, No. 1498.
A Roosevelt Aviation School Fleet Model 2 in the Cradle of Aviation Museum. (Ad Meskens/Wikipedia)
