100 Plus Missions (1 Viewer)

[Boom]

Curious as to how many bombers, of any nation, completed 100 or more missions during WWII. A quick check online shows claims of numerous B-25, B-26, B-17 and B-24 doing so, but no actual listing of aircraft for such claims. In each case only a few aircraft are specifically detailed.

I have the book 'Ton Up Lancs', which details the 35 that completed 100 or more missions. Any other books with hard facts on other types?

 

[bf109xxl]

Curious as to how many bombers, of any nation, completed 100 or more missions during WWII.

Many Soviet pilots from light night bomber regiments (Po-2) flew several hundred missions. For example, Irina Sebrova flew more than 1,000 missions, and Natalya Meklin (Kravtsova) flew 980.
Pavel Plotnikov (SB, Ar-2, Pe-2, A-20) flew 344 missions, and Vasily Reshetnikov (Il-4, later commanded the Soviet Long-Range Aviation) flew 307.
It is necessary to specify which bombers are being referred to; otherwise, the list - taking Soviet pilots into account - will be very long.

 

[Boom]

Not interested in the people. I know that many German and Soviet airmen flew literally hundreds of missions.

I'm after documented details of the 'aircraft' types that flew 100 or more missions.

 

[bf109xxl]

Not interested in the people. I know that many German and Soviet airmen flew literally hundreds of missions.

I'm after documented details of the 'aircraft' types that flew 100 or more missions.

B-17's which have completed 100 missions or more

 

[Boom]

Fantastic bf109. Just what I was hoping for. Many thank,s greatly appreciated

 

[Crimea_River]

Mosquito LR503 did 213 ops. F For Freddie - Calgary's VE Day Tragedy

 

[Jadera]

Fantastic bf109. Just what I was hoping for. Many thank,s greatly appreciated

You can see that some of the b-24s listed in here have more than 100 missions B-24 Aircraft Listings of WWII

 

[cammerjeff]

Here is a link that lists a couple of well known B-26's with over 100 combat missions

MILD AND BITTER, FLAK BAIT and the other ETO 100-mission B-26 Marauders - The Aviation Geek Club

The all-time B-26 mission record went to FLAK BAIT with no less than 202 sorties

theaviationgeekclub.com

 

[Wildcat]

A couple of RAAF Beauforts in the PTO did -
Scotty's Homin Pidgin

And A9-557 which flew 102 missions and is restored at the Australian War Memorial

Beaufort Mk VIII Bomber A9-557: 100 Squadron RAAF

 

[Boom]

All great, many thanks. I'm aware that a number of B-26 (surprisingly, given its start) )also achieved more than 100 missions, Flak Bait in particular having flown 206 missions!

But other than the achievements of individual aircraft, what I'm hoping for is a definitive count by 'bomber types' that flew 100 or more missions. Am quite surprised that there doesn't seem to be hard facts covering actual totals for the US 5th, 8th, 9th, 12th and 15th Air Forces. I would have thought that the Americans would have loved keeping those stats. They were certainly keen wanting to do so for their fighter aces.

Only the 20th Air Force seems to have kept good mission count totals.

 

[GrauGeist]

The Luftwaffe's Ju88 was known to reach high mission counts.

 

[Just Schmidt]

It's only speculation, so take it as that. I'd hazard that some Ju 87Bs reached 100 missions if they were in Poland - France - Balkans and early Eastern front. During the hottest periods these could fly several missions a day.

 

[cammerjeff]

I found this site for B-17's with 100 or more missions

B-17’s which have completed 100 missions or more | B-17 Bomber Flying Fortress – The Queen Of The Skies

At the start of the operations, it was remarkable to see a B-17 Flying Fortress complete 25 and later 35 missions. The B-17 Flying Fortresses of the following list prove that they can be more than 100 missions. These B-17s have flown at least 100 missions and known as Century Bomber. This list...

b17flyingfortress.de

As for B-26's I have the following incomplete list sourced from various sites and Books in my possesion

Flack Bait B-26 202 Missions
Hells's Belle II, 12AF 1st B-26 to complete 100 missions (May 1st 1944) in the ETO, total missions unknown (to me)
Mild and Bitter 12AF 2nd to 100 missions total unknown.
Big Ass Bird reached 100 on 6th June 1944 S/N 41-34938 total 145.
Zero-4 reached 100 missions on 11th June 1944 S/N 41-34868 total 148.
O'Rileys Daughter SN 42-107550 reached a total of 165 missions
Idiot's Delight 320 BG 100+ Missions.
Jersey Bouncer III 17BG 100+ Missions, shot down on its 130th mission.
Mean Young Un 443 BG 163 total missions,
Old Iron Sides 17 BG 164 total missions.

Half & Half 320th bomb group had a very interesting carreer it flew 160 Missions with that name, its front 1/2 originally flew as Goatee Hell flew a unknown number of missions before its tail section was damaged in a landing accedent, it had a salvaged tail section from anouther B-26 added and renamed Half & Half, finished 134 Mission in this configuration, It again had it tail section damaged (no info on how it was damaged) had anouther tail section added and finished 26 more missions to bring its total to 160?

In addition the following B-26's almost made it to 100 Missions

Sweet Sue Crashed on TO on its 95th Mission all crew members KIA.
Duration Plus Crashed on T/O on its 99th Mission, all crew members survived.