Photo By Senior Airman Alvaro Villagomez | The new nose art of “High Life” is unveiled on a KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to...... read more read more
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A new nose art – “High Life” – was unveiled at a ceremony prior to the start of Royal Air Force Mildenhall’s Air Force ball Aug. 17, 2024, by Paula Harper-Sparks, daughter of U.S. Army Air Forces Flight Officer Joseph Harper, (351st Bomb Squadron and 100th Bomb Group co-pilot) and U.S. Air Force Col. Ryan Garlow, 100th ARW commander and step-grandson of Tech. Sgt. James P. Scott, 351st BS and 100th BG radio operator gunner.
Both Scott and Harper were part of the original Lt. Donald Oakes crew, assigned to the B-17 Flying Fortress “High Life” during World War II.
The nose art first adorned a 100th BG B-17 Flying Fortress during World War II, and was based on a beer logo, the “Miller High Life Girl.” After a redesign many years later, it joined the nose art line-up featured on the 100th Air Refueling Wing’s fleet of KC-135 Stratotankers.
The 100th ARW design has now been updated –or rather, gone back to its roots – to once again echo its original historical markings. Rather than removing the nose art of the same name that has been worn for the last few years, the High Life jet now displays both designs as a reminder of those who served before us, while also honoring those who serve today.
Garlow shared that High Life was the first aircraft assigned to the 351st BS, and thus the first-named aircraft in the 351st Air Refueling Squadron.
“It was shot down on one of the most famous missions in World War II and was the first of the famous eight missions to Germany that earned the 100th Bomb Group the nickname of the ‘Bloody Hundredth’,” said Garlow. “My step-grandfather arrived with the original crews to Thorpe Abbotts in June 1943 and flew multiple missions leading up to his 13th one –the famous Regensburg mission – which was to be a double mission between two air divisions,” said Garlow. “They were going to strike two different locations at the same time, then continue flying on to Africa. It was going to be one of the first team strikes into Germany.
“They were also in tail-end Charlie of the bomber stream, which put them at the end of all the bombers, and placed where the enemy liked to attack, especially anyone who was falling behind,” he explained. “The crew had to make the decision as to where they could go to survive because they couldn’t keep up with the bombers, so they made a turn towards Switzerland and were attacked again by fighters and flak.”
The Regensburg mission was Aug. 17, 1943, exactly 81 years prior to the nose art unveiling.
Records on the 100th Bomb Group Foundation website share some of Scott’s more detailed memories given by him about that Regensburg mission, and his aircraft.
“After a long delay due to local weather conditions, ‘High Life’ lined up for an instrument take-off with her belly full of 250-pound incendiary bombs,” wrote Scott. “‘High Life’ responded like an eager beaver to every demand made by our expert pilots, as she raced down the runway and thundered into the thick, cloud-draped skies. The mission was on! After what seemed like a lifetime of flying through one cloud layer after another, we assembled in our assigned tail-end position behind a massive air armada that stretched for miles across England.”
The radio-operator gunner explained in his eye-witness account that the giant air armada was then formed up according to the mission plan, leaving the coast of England to head across the channel.
“We were well-trained, experienced, confident and determined to reach the target, bomb it and return back to our home base. We intended to make a graveyard in the air for any German fighter pilot who tried to stop us,” he said in his notes. “We manned our assigned battle stations, double-checked our equipment to include test-firing our machine guns, and kept a sharp eye out for enemy activity as we crossed the English Channel and headed over occupied Europe.”
Coming under constant brutal fighter attacks, High Life suffered severe damage to the number two engine, before then receiving a direct hit to her number three engine from an Me-109 Messerschmitt fighter aircraft.
“They just barely made it to Switzerland, where they crash-landed, before being captured and interned for the next couple of years,” said Garlow of his step-grandfather and the rest of the crew.
Flight Officer Harper was also part of the same crew as Scott during the Regensburg mission. At the nose art unveiling, his daughter shared some memories of her father.
“He didn’t talk a lot about war when he came home,” said Paula Harper-Sparks. “He felt like it was his duty, his honor, his service, but he never bragged about it. It wasn’t until one of the crew members got everybody back together for the 40th reunion that I remember how excited my dad was. They had the best time. He was so full of joy. Miller High Life put on a big anniversary for him, I believe it was the 50th, and they had a B-17 with the nose art on it. My dad was so proud of himself when he came home. He said, ‘You know what I did? I actually got up into that cockpit!’ I said, ‘Well, dad, they had stairs,’ and he goes, ‘No – we didn’t have stairs…’ So I guess you had to swing yourself up into it, and he was proud that at his age he could still get up there.
“Dad’s jacket always hung in the hall closet,” recalled Harper-Sparks. “I remember for years growing up I’d see this old brown leather jacket, and it had these 12 white planes on the back and one plane which had been painted but partially scratched off. I asked him, ‘Dad, why are there 12 ½ planes on that jacket?’ And he said, “Well Paula, it was our 13th mission, and it was on a Tuesday – it wasn’t on a Friday – and we had to belly up and land in Dübendorf, (Switzerland). So I don’t count it as 13 missions, I count it as 12 ½.’
Harper’s daughter shared how her father’s jacket is now on display at the 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum at Thorpe Abbotts, where he was based during World War II, and she had been there to visit and seen it on the day of the unveiling of the heritage nose art at RAF Mildenhall.
“I have to admit, quite a few tears came to my eyes when I was there,” said Harper-Sparks. “Growing up, I thought that jacket was in the way because all of my prom dresses and drill team outfits could fit in that closet, so why did my dad’s jacket and uniform have to be in there? But of course, that’s the mind of a child – we have to grow up to really realize what that meant. Believe me, now more than ever, I really do know that.”
She described how her father had shared the story of his B-17 getting its “High Life” moniker.
“My dad told me, ‘The guys and I were all sitting around one day drinking our beers, and the only thing we had was Miller High Life. So, we pondered it for a while and all of a sudden somebody held their bottle up and said “Well, I think we ought to have ‘The Lady on the Moon’! We all looked at each other and said, ‘Ya know, I think we need The Lady on the Moon – so cheers to the High Life!’”
The 100th ARW commander explained that the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission, on which High Life was shot down, is famous for many reasons. He added that the High Life nose art not only tells the story of that crew, but rather the larger story of that infamous mission and the bloody road ahead for the 100th BG.
“It was the one-year anniversary of 8th Air Force’s first lead-bombing mission,” he said. “It was the most ambitious mission for the 8th Air Force so far. It led to the book and movie ‘Twelve O’Clock High’; it has a whole episode dedicated to it on ‘Masters of the Air,’ and the losses on the raid more than doubled the previous highest losses of aircraft on a mission.”
“Often, we say that we ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’, but we can only say that if we actually understand and remember those who served and sacrificed before us,” remarked Garlow. “Small things add up to big things, so little reminders of past sacrifices build to a bigger understanding of the shoulders we stand on.
“As a wing, we are focused on a ‘Ready Culture’, and part of the inspiration of being ready is that we do not want to earn the name of the “Bloody Hundredth” a second time,” the 100th ARW commander said. “Showing that we are ready now, ensures that we deter those who would want to harm us or our Allies.”
Editor’s note: No endorsement from the U.S. Air Force is intended or implied
| Date Taken: | 08.17.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.22.2024 10:36 |
| Story ID: | 479221 |
| Location: | RAF MILDENHALL, SUFFOLK, GB |
| Web Views: | 24 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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