b-17; queen of the skies   

Updated Nov. 23, 2012

2012 WBC Report    

 2013 Status: pending 2013 GM commitment

Paul Risner, FL

2012 Champion

Event History
1992    Frank Alexander      32
1993    Kevin Combs      35
1994    Kevin Combs      32
1995    Paul Risner      31
1996    Robert Hamel      32
1997    Paul Risner      34
1998    Paul Weintraub      32
1999    William Burch     32
2000    John Conlon     29
2001    Jim LeVay     32
2002    Paul Risner     32
2003    William Rohrbeck     34
2004    Stephen Quirke     37
2005    Keith Hunsinger     36
2006    Paul Risner     39
2007    Dave Long     42
2008     Dan Dolan Sr     46
2009    Rich Moyer     47
2010    Paul Risner     66
2011     Steve Sabatino     77
2012    Paul Risner     60

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Paul Risner        FL    12    343
  2.  Richard Moyer      MN    09    156
  3.  William Rohrbeck   NH    06    106
  4.  Keith Hunsinger    OH    05    100
  5.  Eric Stranger      OH    11     76
  6.  Bill Beckman       SC    12     72
  7.  Steve Sabatino     PA    11     60
  8.  Dan Dolan Sr       NJ    08     60
  9.  Dave Long          NC    07     60
 10.  Stephen Quirke     WI    04     56
 11.  Judy Krauss        PA    02     42
 12.  Jim LeVay          MA    01     40
 13.  John Conlon        OK    00     40
 14.  Brian Wool         DE    11     36
 15.  Chris Daly         SC    10     36
 16.  William Burch      MD    00     34
 17.  Tim Evinger        PA    10     31
 18.  Kevin Coombs       GA    07     28
 19.  Anthony Musella    VA    10     27
 20.  Gus Collars        SC    12     24
 21.  Joshua Vierheller  MD    10     24
 22.  Ruth Evinger       PA    09     24
 23.  Mike Windle        DE    09     24
 24.  Ken Richards       SC    08     24
 25.  Don Del Grande     CA    01     24
 26.  John Ellmann Sr    MD    00     24
 27.  Paul Weintraub     MD    09     22
 28.  David Gantt        SC    03     20
 29.  Daniel Hoffman     NC    12     18
 30.  Steve Shedden      TN    12     18
 31.  Jonathan Izer      MD    11     18
 32.  Jim Miller         TN    08     18
 33.  Bill LeVay         MA    01     16
 34.  John Poniske       PA    00     16
 35.  Roger Knowles      OH    04     15
 36.  Nathan Hill        MD    12     12
 37.  Bruce Peckham      NY    07     12
 38.  Scott Pfeiffer     SC    06     12
 39.  Ralph Gleaton      SC    02     12
 40.  Rob Navolis        OH    01     12
 41.  Chris LeFevre      AZ    04     10
 42.  Michael Metcalf    NC    99      9
 43.  John Emery         SC    02      8
 44.  Joshua Dunn        VA    02      8
 45.  Michael Haley      NY    00      8
 46.  Roger Covington    MD    11      6
 47.  Steve Munchak      VA    08      6
 48.  Phil White         MD    09      6
 49.  Marty Musella      VA    06      6
 50.  Evan Hitchings     DE    04      5
 51.  John Poniske Jr    PA    05      5
 52.  Henry Richardson   VA    03      3

2012 Laurelists                                                Repeating Laurelists: 

Bill Beckman, SC
2nd

Gus Colllars, SC
3rd

Daniel Hoffman, NC
4th

Nathan Hill, MD
5th

Stephen Shedden, TN
6th


Past Winners

Kevin Coombs, GA
'93-'94

Paul Risner, TN
95, 97, 02, 06, 10, 12

Robert Hamel, CT
1996

Paul Weintraub, MD
1998

William Burch, MD
1999

John Conlon, OK
2000

Jimmy Levay, MA
2001

William Rohrbeck, NH
2003

Stephen Quirke, WI
2004

Keith Hunsinger, OH
2005

Dave Long, NC
2007

Dan Dolan Sr, NJ
2008

Richard Moyer, MN
2009

Steve Sabatino, PA
2011
 

Paul Risner and his wingman, Keith Hunsinger. The good Rev must be one of the best wingman ever judging by Paul's six wins. Rev - your Germans got to shoot better!

Speaking of great wingmen ... who else has one better than Justin Rice's better half, Ayree, who actually clips his counters for him? And she can shoot, too!

Fighter ID charts line the walls of the squadron's home field.

No event has more dice rollers thanks to Paul Weintraub.

8th Air Force Leaner But Just as Mean!

The time was three weeks after Black Thursday when the 8th Air Force took 20% casualties on the raid over Schweinfurt. Emerging from those dark days was veteran Paul Risner to become a six-time B17 champion. Paul outscored Bill Beckman by one point! How much is that? Bill failed to win it all by missing one ME-109 or having one more crew member return safely in any of his three missions. Although the squadron put less planes in the air this year for the first time since 2005, it was still the third largest raid over Germany in our 21 years.

MISSION #1 WILHELMSHAVEN (Target: U-Boat Pens)
Philip White was awarded the DFC for landing his plane with an engineer at the controls replacing the wounded cockpit crew. Steve Sheddon's pilot suffered frostbite but remained in formation to earn the Bonze Star.

MISSION #2 GELSENKIRCHEN (Target: Railroad yard)
Even with a milk run mission things happen. Roger Covington's bombs detonated when hit by a strafing fighter to earn a posthumous vicarious Purple Heart.

MISSION #3 WESSEL (Target: Aircraft Industry)
Four pilots suffered Roger's fate. Jacob Hebner, Jim Miller, Kaarin Engleman, and Justin Rice all had bombs explode in their bomb bay. The downing of Justin's plane was especially telling in that his other half, Ayree Rice, commanded the fighter that shot him down. It's not known if couple's counseling was needed afterwards, but Justin reports he won't forget to take out the garbage next year.

The After Action Meeting is packed again as the gift table beckons with the usual array of aerial warfare books, models and assorted goodies to supplement plaque prizes.

The dean of the WBC GMs with 21 straight years at the helm of B17, Dave Terry, always puts on a great show with lots of extra visuals and support from helpers like Mark Yoshikawa.
 GM      Dave Terry  [21st Year]  NA 
    david.terry@jhuapl.edu   NA

2012 Preview Page | View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page