One B-17 Comes Home

It is the 10th of October, 1943 and the 100th bomb group is over Münster. Among the mighty Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortresses" is Robert Rosenthel piloting the "Royal Flush!".

The sky above the city is chaos as the bombers close in on their target. Their escort never arrived to defend them. Messerschmitt Bf 109s, Focke-Wulf Fw 190s and Messerschmitt Bf 110s relentlessly open fire on the formation of bombers. The lead plane, flown by John Egan is already down, as well as many others.

As they fly, a flurry of rockets fly at the Royal Flush, one hitting the wing and taking out two engines. Soon, the fighters peel off as the 3 remaining bombers approach the target, but they are not out of the woods yet. The sky is shaken by explosions and black with flak. Rosenthel hands over control to the bombardier as they creep towards the target.

"Bombs away" the bombs fall and Rosenthel retakes control and gets them out of the city's aerospace. But something is wrong.

As the crew look around they realise that they are the only plane in the sky; the 100th is gone. Just then, fighters appear and open fire on the lone bomber. Rosenthel throws all bomber pilot wisdom out the window and starts pulling evasive maneuvers whilst the gunners open fire. He pulls the bomber into a tight turn, forcing the waist gunners to hold on. The tail gunner, Bill DeBlasio manages to take out the attacking aircraft but then six more appear. Rosenthel doesn't let up and continues throwing the massive plane into evasive maneuvers. Bullets strike the fuselage, wounding both waist gunners. DeBlasio is not even trying to aim anymore as he fires from left to right in an attempt to hit the attacking fighters. Two are hit and lose control, slamming into each other. Finally the fighters peel off, the Royal Flush is safe.

On two engines the plane limps back to base. They are the only ones to return. Later, the ground crew would find an unexploded shell in the planes wing. Rosenthel would be rewarded his first Silver Star for the mission, it was only his third. The crew would be taken to the Flak House to recover from any trauma and would return to action soon.

After the Münster mission, the 100th bomb group became known as The Bloody Hundredth.

Rosenthel would go on to fly the rest of his required 25 missions before being sent back home. However, this was not enough for him, as he would sign up for a second combat tour. Towards the end of his second tour, his plane would be shot down and Rosenthel would break his arm after bailing out. He was assigned a desk job but "raised enough hell to let me fly again." On his 52 mission, Rosenthel would go down once more. He'd limp his B-17 over the Eastern Front and bail out over friendly territory, breaking his arm yet again. He was picked up by the Soviets and flown back to England. This time, however he would not fly again. Rosenthel would take part during the Nuremburg Trials after the war and would pass away at age 89 on 20 April 2007.

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