Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker s/n 59-1470 of the 351st Air Refueling Squadron/100th Air Refueling Wing (ARW) was unveiled wearing the ‘High Life’ nose art on August 17, 2024.
Present at the ceremony was Colonel Ryan Garlow, 100th ARW commander, and Paula Harper-Sparks. She is the daughter of Flight Officer Joseph Sparks, a World War Two co-pilot with the 351st Bomb Squadron (BS), 100th Bomb Group (BG) – ‘the Bloody Hundredth’ – of which the 100th ARW is the current incarnation. Colonel Garlow is the step-grandson of Technical Sergeant James P Scott, a radio operator/gunner with the 351st BS. Both US Army Air Forces’ officers were members of the crew of the Flying Fortress, led by Lieutenant Donald Oakes, which was adorned with the first incarnation of the ‘High Life’ artwork. According to Harper-Sparks, her farther told her the inspiration for the artwork was a beer logo, the ‘Miller High Life Girl’.
The B-17F-85-BO given this name was 42-30032 which was delivered to Cheyenne, Wyoming, on April 7, 1943.It was the initial aircraft assigned to the 351st BS at Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk, on June 9 that year, gaining the code ‘EP-F’. On August 17, 1943, Donald Oakes lifted the bomber off from Thorpes Abbotts on its 13th mission as pa…
