L to R (1) BENNY J. BIGLEY 1ST LT (2) JAMES W. FORD CPL. APMG (3) FLOYD N. HENDERSON CPL. AG (4) LEO LAWLER CPL. CG (5) THOMAS E. BRINES 2ND LT (6) CHARLES P. KIETH F/O (7) RUDOLFH G. WARNER III F/O (seated) (8) ROBERT E. HALL CPL. CG (9) DELBERT S. SCHAWB CPL. ROMG and B-17G "THE WILD HARE" 457th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, Glatton, England.

Over 50 years ago during World War Two, my uncle Floyd N. (Hink) Henderson Jr. was a waist gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress in the 457th Strategic Bombardment Group (Heavy) "The Fireball Outfit", 94th Wing, 1st Division, 8th Air Force, 748th Squadron stationed at Glatton, England. He flew on 22 missions over Europe in a plane called "THE WILD HARE". Whoever painted the nose art has been lost to time and no name was ever painted on the plane, but Del Schwab gave it the name. My Uncle Hink had a stroke six years ago and was left partially paralyzed and unable to speak. I became interested in his service to this country not long after that. Uncle Hink passed away January 5th 1998 just a few weeks short of his 74th birthday. The following is some of what learned about Uncle Hink, "THE WILD HARE" and her crew. Much of the following as well as some of the photos come courtesy of the radio operator on "THE WILD HARE" Tech Sargent Delbert Schwab, my Uncle Tom Henderson and cousin Ken Henderson.

Del told me the nose art was already on the plane, a B-17G, when they were
assinged to it and that they were not the first crew to fly the plane. The 457th was the first to fly the all metal finish B-17's. Previous B-17's had been painted Olive Drab, but it was discovered that leaving the planes unpainted made them lighter and more areodynamic as well as faster, all of which out weighted any benifits the painted planes might have had.

"THE WILD HARE" had a crew of 9, unlike earlier in the war when B-17's had crews of ten. This meant that Del had to double as both radio operator and Waist gunner backing my Uncle Hink up when the situation demanded two gunners.

Their first mission was to Bremen Germany. Before the first mission the crew pitched in to buy a bottle of Canadian Club that they planned to drink after completing their tour of duty. Well needless to say the first mission was so rough that the bottle of CC never survived the tour. The boys finished it off as soon as they got back. Good job CC. I'm sure there were other bottles to ease the nerves after other missions. At my uncles wake, we all had a shot of his favorite Scotch whiskey with the toast from my cousin Ken, "Here's to Hink!"

The base was near a small town and the boys would bicycle to the pub as often as possible between missions. Sometimes the journey back to the base could be as dangerous as some of the missions. One night my was uncle was on a real bender and on the way home ran off the narrow bike trail ending up in a sewage pit. Del found him drunk, still in his uniform standing in the showers trying to wash off all the sluge. They didn't have hot water either, so it must have been a real sobering experience all around. The bike was never recovered...
It seems the bottle was a way to take the edge off the terror of flying bombing mission deep into Germany. The stress must have been incredible for the young aircrews. They all claim that war is hell, I believe them.

The Wild Hare and the 457th B/G just after dropping another load of high explosives on Hitler's Germany. Note the open bomb bay doors. The wild Hare is the closest plane in photo.

DELBERT S. SCHAWB CPL. ROMG with "THE WILD HARE"

My uncle "Hink" Henderson relaxing in England and in his offical U.S.A.A.F photo.

Top L to R: B-17 t-shirt design and the 457Th Fireball Outfit patch.
Below: 748 Squadron patch and the 8th Air Force logo. Patches courtesy of Del Schwab.
B-17 T-shirt ©1995 Donald P. Henderson.

"THE WILD HARE" by Shane Henderson (great nephew of Floyd Henderson) and the original nose art that was painted on the plane. Ah what's up Doc?

This Photo (left) of Uncle Hink was labeled "No Comments" it looks like it was taken in the states. The photo on the right was labeled "This is Eddie Leach and myself."

The future crew of the "WILD HARE" before shipping overseas.

This photo was labled on the back: Left to right: Asst. engineer, Asst. Armorer, Armorer (Uncle Hink), Radio Operator, Engineer. No names where on the photo.
I assume that this photo was taken during training in the states.

Some of the young men in these photos may have passed on,
but their memory is still alive and the world they saved is still around.
Thanks Guys!

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If you're looking for heroes, you found them!

Thank A Veteran for Your Freedom!

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If you know any one who served in the 457th or any information or photos, please drop me a line.

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Don Henderson

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