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| Only known photo of bomber 666. B-17E bomber, "Lucy" 41-2666 parked at parked at 14-Mile Drome (Schwimmer) near Port Moresby, New Guinea. The image appears in the last few seconds of a military film from the 8th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron. |
Old 666 was a Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress heavy bomber,
serial number 41-2666, assigned to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF)
19th and 43rd Bombardment Groups in 1942–1943. It is notable for being the
aircraft piloted by Lt. Col. (then Captain) Jay Zeamer Jr. on the 16 June 1943
mission which earned him and 2nd Lt. Joseph Sarnoski each a Medal of Honor, and
all other members of the aircrew the Distinguished Service Cross.
Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress serial number 41-2666 was built
in Seattle, Washington, in March 1942. It arrived in Hawaii in May 1942 for
delivery to Australia. That same month, it was assigned to the 19th Bombardment
Group. Sometime after it arrived in Australia, 41-2666 was equipped with a
trimetrogon camera array used in high-altitude topographical mapping.
During the summer and fall of 1942, the Flying Fortress was
flown primarily by the 8th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron (PRS), usually while
attached to the 19th. Late in the year, it was transferred to the 43rd Bomb
Group, where during a mission in December 1942, it was damaged severely enough
to be grounded for a long period of time. Nothing more is known about the
aircraft until the following April, when it was once again being flown on
photo-recon missions by the 8th PRS. In May 1943, having by then gained a
reputation as a “Hard Luck Hattie” for its record of acquiring ongoing damage
and oddball accidents, 41-2666 was transferred to the 65th Bombardment
Squadron, 43rd Bombardment Group, at Seven-Mile Airstrip, located at Port
Moresby, New Guinea.
Captain Jay Zeamer Jr., the squadron executive officer at
the time, requisitioned the B-17 for use by his own selected aircrew, who
called themselves the Eager Beavers [This aircrew should not be confused with a
B-17F nicknamed The Eager Beaver, s/n 42-29816 assigned to the 401st
Bombardment Squadron in England, which was lost in a mid-air collision on 31
August 1943. The nickname was also used by some other B-17s and aircraft of the
era.], due to Zeamer's regular habit of volunteering for missions. Besides significantly
reducing its overall weight by 2,000 pounds (910 kg), including stripping out
unnecessary structure, cartridge belts, and ammunition feed equipment, the
aircrew also replaced the four aging engines with new ones, as Zeamer wanted a
fast aircraft.
An Associated Press (AP) report dated 30 April 1943
recounted Zeamer and his crew dropping from 8,000 feet (2,400 m) to 300 feet
(91 m) to complete a reconnaissance mission over Rabaul, New Britain, while
harassed by 15 to 20 Japanese Zero fighters; the action yielded Silver Star
decorations for the crew. Another AP article, dated 30 May 1943, reported
Zeamer and his crew strafing Japanese searchlights while flying over Wewak, New
Guinea, at an altitude of 900 feet (270 m). At least one version of that article
noted the crew's "Eager Beavers" nickname.
According to Zeamer's own flight log entry for the 16 June
1943 mission, and the 65th Bombardment Squadron morning report for that
mission, the crew had increased the plane's active armament from 12 to 16 M2 Browning
.50 caliber machine guns. [Usual armament of a B-17 in the Pacific at this time
was 12 machine guns: ball turret (2), waist guns (2), tail guns (2), radio
compartment (1), top turret (2), cheek guns (2), and nose (1).] The plane had
custom-engineered twin .50s mounted in both waist positions and overhead in the
radio compartment (rather than a single .50 in each position) and a single
fixed .50 mounted on the deck to the right of the bombardier's chair, specially
sighted and wired for Zeamer to fire remotely from his pilot's control yoke,
through the lower right nose Plexiglas ball socket. [Zeamer also reported a
single .50 machine gun mounted through the floor aft of the belly turret. This
detail conflicts with the central .50 already mounted in the plane's nose
combing—the B-17E series came equipped from Boeing with three forward nose
combing ball sockets; there were also two staggered gun ball sockets, one in
the port side nose window and one in the starboard-side nose window. The
forward-mounted .50 in the nose was for use by the bombardier, which was confirmed
by navigator Ruby Johnston; such a single .50 mount was common in 43rd BG
B-17s. It would have been unusual for Zeamer to have removed such a useful
machine gun when his goal was to increase the aircraft's frontal fire power.
Both .50s could not be present and also match the 16 machine guns confirmed by
Zeamer's original flight log and by the morning report of the 65th BS.
Therefore, the rear, floor-mounted machine gun Zeamer said he remembered more
than likely came from a misplaced memory of his prior assignment with B-26s of
the 22nd Bombardment Group; some of those aircraft had single-mounted machine
guns installed in their lower hatch positions.] Additionally, three loose .50s
were carried in the aircraft's catwalk for quick substitution in case any
machine guns became inoperable for any reason. This accounts for the 19 machine
guns Zeamer referred to in a 1945 issue of The American Magazine.
As for the B-17's name, Zeamer's aircrew referred to 41-2666
only as "666" or "the plane". On 14 June 1943, two days
before their final mission together, Zeamer officially named their B-17 Lucy.
He had the name painted in script under the three windows on the port side
nose, mostly between and underneath the small forward window and larger gun
window on that side. This was in honor of Lucile Christmas, the daughter of
Major General John K. Christmas, whom he dated stateside while stationed at
Langley Air Force Base. Despite their extensive reworking of the B-17, Zeamer
and his aircrew flew 41-2666 only five times, two of which were test hops.
Standard bombing missions were flown by the other Flying Fortresses, reserving
"666"/ Lucy and its specialty camera array for photo and mapping
work.
Zeamer's aircrew flew three reconnaissance missions in
41-2666, the last occurring on 16 June 1943. It called for a solo B-17 to map
the west coast of Bougainville Island, almost 600 miles (970 km) over mostly
open ocean from Seven-Mile, in support of a planned invasion of the island
later that year. Such mapping demanded rigorously straight and level flight for
the duration to avoid blurring of the photos, and this mission would require a
22-minute level run over hostile territory.
Zeamer had volunteered for the mission when it was first
requested in April, but weather and other factors forced postponements until
the June date. Twice before taking off at 4:00 a.m., 16 June, Zeamer rejected
orders to add to the mission a reconnaissance of Buka airdrome, located off
Bougainville's northern tip. The assigned mapping would be hazardous enough, he
felt, without prematurely alerting the airbase of their presence.
Early arrival at the initial mapping point meant a half-hour
delay in starting the mapping run; the sun was not high enough for the light
necessary for topographic relief. The delay prompted Zeamer to ask his
aircrew's opinion of the Buka recon. All supported going ahead with it,
considering their proximity. As a result, Zeamer circled to come over Buka from
the northeast, so as to continue into the mapping run down Bougainville's west
coast.
Contemporary accounts indicate the aircrew counting around
50 enemy aircraft on either side of the airfield, with crew statements given in
support of Zeamer's Medal of Honor reporting 17 or 18 Japanese fighters either
taxiing or taking off, as Old 666 flew over the island. These were Japanese
Navy Model 22 Zeroes of 251 Kokutai (Air Squadron), most of which were usually
based at Rabaul, New Britain. They had moved to Buka airdrome the previous day
for a planned 16 June attack on Guadalcanal. Zeamer began the mapping run,
hoping to complete it before the Zeros could reach their mapping altitude at
25,000 feet (7,600 m). Shortly before its completion, ineffectual passes from
below were followed by a handful of Zeros enclosing the B-17 from below in a
coordinated attack, two approaching from the rear and three fanned across the
front. The combination left Zeamer unable to execute his usual defensive air
tactic of turning inside the line of fire of enemy aircraft attacking from the
front. Such a maneuver, in this case, would expose his B-17's belly to the
Zeros attacking from the front. Aware of their position over Empress Augusta
Bay, the primary mapping objective, Zeamer held the course, hoping to fight it
out.
This first attack proved fatal for bombardier 2nd Lt. Joseph
Sarnoski, who was mortally wounded by a 20mm shell hit, which also badly
injured the navigator, 1st Lt. Ruby Johnston. Another 20mm struck the side of
the cockpit behind the pilots, sending shrapnel into the legs of Sgt. Johnny
Able, the assistant flight engineer substituting that day as the top turret
gunner. The shell also struck the oxygen and hydraulic lines behind the
cockpit, starting a fire. A third 20mm shell entered through the Plexiglas nose
combing, destroying Zeamer's rudder pedals and instrument panel, delivering
grievous wounds to Zeamer's left leg, while also slicing his right wrist. Back
in the B-17's nose, despite being blown to the floor with a horrible gash in
his side and another in his neck, Sarnoski regained his machine gun in time to
counter a twin-engine fighter (later confirmed to be a Nakajima J1N
"Irving") pressing a new attack on their nose. Sarnoski drove the
attacker off before it could inflict more damage, then collapsed from his
wounds.
Having finished the mapping run and now needing oxygen,
Zeamer dove Old 666 down to about 10,000 feet (3,000 m), estimating his
altitude from a change in manifold pressure, as the altimeter had been
destroyed. During or shortly after the dive, radio operator Sgt. William
Vaughan was badly grazed in the neck by a round from a Zero following them
down. After the long dive, both Johnston and Able extinguished the oxygen fire
using only their hands and rags.
Leveling out, Zeamer continued to pilot the B-17 despite
excruciating pain and continued blood loss. Correctly assuming that the forward
machine guns were now inoperable, the Japanese pilots began lining up on both
sides of Old 666 to circle around, one by one in turn, to strafe from the
front. Zeamer was now able to execute the technique that he had been unable to
use against the coordinated first pass. By banking hard inside the firing angle
of each approaching Zero, Zeamer both avoided the enemy's machine gun fire and
allowed his rear gunners unfettered access to target the Zeros as they flew
past. This continued until finally, low on ammunition and fuel, about forty
minutes after the initial attack, the last of the remaining fighters returned
to base.
Once out of danger, Sgt. Able piloted Old 666 on a
dead-reckoning return heading, determined by the badly wounded Zeamer, while
the unscathed substitute copilot, Lt. John T. Britton, took stock of the damage
to the aircrew and their aircraft. Zeamer, drifting in and out of
consciousness, advised Able on keeping level and on course. Radio operator
Vaughan, while nursing his neck wound, calculated a heading for Dobodura, an
Allied airfield on the eastern coast of Papua, New Guinea, for an emergency
landing (it was not expected that Zeamer could survive a return flight over the
Owen Stanley Range to Port Moresby). Britton, having returned to his seat for
the balance of the flight, landed at Dobodura without working flaps or brakes,
requiring him to carefully ground loop Old 666 near the end of the 6,000-foot
(1,800 m) runway. There was no further damage to the B-17.
In all, four members of the aircrew were wounded and one
killed. Old 666 had suffered five 20mm cannon hits and 187 bullet holes. While
the aircrew reported downing five Zeros, Japanese records show none were shot
down, with one ditching early in the engagement, due to engine failure, and
only three being damaged by return fire. Zeamer's injuries were reported in the
New York Daily News on June 24 [The Daily News reported the date of the
incident as May 16 rather than June 16.], and the International News Service
(INS) reported Sarnoski's death on August 10. An overall recounting of the
mission was published in March 1944.
For the completion of their mission, despite the certainty
of attack and their respective sacrifices, Sarnoski and Zeamer were each
awarded the Medal of Honor, with the remainder of the aircrew receiving the
Distinguished Service Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor. The mission
remains the most highly decorated in American history, and the Eager Beavers,
with their individual decorations considered together, the most
highly-decorated aircrew in U.S. history.
Seven of the eight Zero pilots who intercepted Old 666 later
participated in a strike on Allied shipping at Lunga Point that same day. Two
of them, Warrant Officer Yoshio Oki and Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Suehiro
Yamamoto, failed to return.
By mid-1943, like most heavy bomb groups in the Pacific, the
43rd had mostly converted to the B-24. The aging and much-abused Pacific Flying
Fortresses were increasingly difficult to maintain, and the longer range of the
B-24 made it more practical in a theater of war defined by the vast distances
to targets.
Due to its specialized nature, 41-2666 evaded retirement
despite the damage it received on the 16 June 1943 mission. Repairs and
modifications reversed many of the alterations made by the Eager Beavers. It
was returned to the 8th PRS, and by fall it had even returned to combat, flying
two missions with the 63rd Bombardment Squadron. By March 1944, Lucy had been
returned to the US to be used as a base transport aircraft and later as a heavy
bomber trainer. It was finally flown to Albuquerque, New Mexico, in August 1945
to be sold for scrap.
The Eager Beavers' mission was featured in a 2007 episode of
the History Channel series Dogfights, titled "Long Odds".
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| The original “Eager Beaver” crew. Front Row from left: Sgt. William Vaughan, Sgt. George Kendrick, Sgt. Johnnie Able, Sgt. Herbert Pugh. Back row from left: Bud Thues, Capt. Jay Zeamer, Hank Dyminski, 2nd Lt. Joe Sarnoski. Just prior to the June 16, 1943, mission, Tech. Sgt. Forrest Dillman was added to the crew, and Lt. John Britton and Lt. Ruby Johnston replaced Dyminski and Thues, who had contracted malaria. |
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| An aerial view of B-17s from the 43rd Bombardment Group parked in their revetments at Seven Mile Airfield, Port Moresby, New Guinea. In August, 1942, the 43rd Bomb Group was the fifth B-17-equipped group to be deployed against Japan in the Pacific War. |
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| Jay Zeamer Jr., pilot. |
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| Joseph Sarnoski, bombardier. Master Sgt. Joseph Sarnoski was an expert bombardier. In May 1943, he was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant. |
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| "Tenacity over Bougainville": Zeamer and "The Eager Beavers” display in the World War II Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. |
