William Hatcher Jr was born in Grand Rapids, was brought up in Detroit’s north end and attended Northern High School. After his enlistment in the Air Corps, he followed pilot training courses and rose rapidly through the ranks.

Promoted to Lt Colonel, he became the 351st Bomb Group’s Commanding Officer on 24 November 1942. Sent overseas, he and the Group’s air echelon arrived in England on 15 April 1943.

On 4 May 1943, he was together with Hollywood actor Clark Gable on Gable's first combat mission on a late afternoon familiarization mission before the 351st Group became operational. Gable was stationed at Polebrook to produce a recruiting film for aircraft gunners.
Their B-17 that day was # 41-24635 of the 303rd Bomb Group’s 359th Bomb Squadron, flying squadron lead with Captain William R. Calhoun as Pilot.

They took off from RAF Molesworth on a mission to the Ford and General Motors plants at Antwerp, Belgium. William Hatcher was on his second mission and served as Co-Pilot. Gable fired a few rounds from a .50-caliber machine gun mounted in the radio room and suffered a minor case of frostbite from wearing leather gloves in the extreme cold. The B-17 was lightly damaged by 20mm shells from German fighters but returned safely to England.

William Hatcher is featured together with Clark Gable and members and planes from the 351st Bomb Group in the 1944 documentary “Combat America” filmed by the Gable camera team.

From May to December 1943, William Hatcher flew, mostly as Pilot, on 11 missions : 14, 19 and 29 May; 15 and 26 June; 17 and 24 August; 6 September; 2 October; 11 December 1943. This was on many different B-17s : 42-29858; 42-29872; 42-29851; 42-29863; 42-29948; 42-29825 and 42-37827.

On the 31 December 1943 mission to Bordeaux/Cognac, France, Colonel Hatcher was on his 14th mission (his 11th one in the 351st), flying as Division leader and Co-Pilot on B-17 #42-37731 of 351st Bomb Group / 508th Bomb Squadron. Hit by Flak and shot down by enemy fighters, the B-17 crashed near Médis Airfield, 3km NW of Royan, France. 3 KIA, 7 POW.

Missing Air Crew Report - MACR 1984. Colonel Hatcher was made prisoner and interned in Stalag Luft I from 19 January 1944 to the end of February when he was transferred to Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Poland.

After a forced march from there at the end of January 1945, he was liberated on 29 April 1945 at Stalag VIIA in Moosburg by American troops of the 47th Battalion, 14th Armored Division.

After his return to the United States, Colonel Hatcher stayed in the Air Force. On 27 January 1947, he was on board B-29 Superfortress #42-65385 of 428th AAF BU piloted by Captain Robert F. Bledsoe when it crashed shortly after take-off from Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Colonel Hatcher and 10 others perished in the accident, which left only one survivor.

Service

Events

Event	Location	Date
Born	Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States	30 May 1910
the son of William Albert and Amelia (Von Sick) Hatcher
Prisoner of War (POW)	Żagań, Poland	31 December 1943 – 29 April 1945
Captured after landing in parachute, he was interned in Stalag Luft 1, Barth, Germany; then at Stalag Luft 3 in Sagan, occupied Poland. After a forced march from Sagan, he and the other SL 3 POWs arrived at Stalag 7A/VIIA in Moosburg where they were liberated by US troops on 29 April 1945. NARA WWII POW records : “Returned to military control on 15 May 1945.”
Buried	San Francisco National Cemetery, San Francisco, California, United States	1947
Died	near Kirtland, New Mexico, United States	27 January 1947
in the crash of B-19 # 42-65385, shortly after take-off
Lived in	Detroit, Michigan, United States