The Unidentified Aircraft of the 381st Bombardment Group (Heavy)
Aircraft with hyperlinks in the table below have photos on-line.
Columns: Aircraft Nickname, Model Number, Squadron, Sqdn-Code, Location on the 381st BGMA Photo CD-ROM, Description/Comments, and National Air & Space Administration catalog number.
|
#
|
Nickname | M | Sq | Cd | CD-ROM | Description / Comments | NASA |
| 1
|
Any Base? | ||||||
| 2
|
Baraz Twins | G | 533 | VP | Olive Drab | ||
| 3
|
Bermondsey Special | Confused with Bermondsay Battler B-17G (MS-S) #42-39895? | |||||
| 4
|
Black Jack | 534 | GD | ||||
| 5
|
Chug-A-Lug III | There were three a/c to carry some variation of "Chug-a-lug" with known serials. | |||||
| 6
|
Cycle Relay | 532 | VE | This must be one
of the "relay" ships that were assigned only to 532nd.
They served as flying radio stations for the relaying of messages
from operational formations in Germany and eastern Europe. |
|||
| 7
|
Dresden Doll | 532 | VE | ||||
| 8
|
Duckie | G | B2-97-03 | Aircraft has a chin turret, possibly a late B-17F. | C65838AC | ||
| 9
|
Exodus | 533 | VP | ||||
| 10
|
Express | G | Natural metal finish. Betting this is probably "Via Panola Express" 42-102968, 534th BS. | 66078AC | |||
| 11
|
Germany's Regret | ||||||
| 12 | Jo Mo | F | 532 | VE | B2-103-02 B3-084-01 |
Solved - JoMo is B-17F #42-3411 (VE-I). Big thanks to David Hutchens for putting the pieces together! | A65840AC |
| 13
|
King-Tut | ||||||
| 14
|
Martha | F | Olive drab: BOWA 217, MCDA 55, WOOC 39. Could be "Martha the II" #42-29761. | 56222AC 66212AC |
|||
| 15
|
Midway | F | B2-108-04 | Eight mission bombs painted on nose. | 65836AC | ||
| 16
|
Mixmaster | F | Olive drab | ||||
| 17
|
Mr. Yank | ||||||
| 18
|
Mr. Yank II | ||||||
| 19
|
Myrt's Avenger | G | B2-109-04 | Olive drab, cheek guns and chin turret. Could be Myrt's Avenger #42-37760, 532nd BS. | A65838AC | ||
| 20
|
Old Faithful | ||||||
| 21
|
Old Ironsides | Possibly confused with one of two "Old Iron Gut" 43-37612 or 42-37969? | |||||
| 22
|
Old Sahib | ||||||
| 23
|
Our Gang | F | Olive drab | ||||
| 24
|
Paper Doll | ||||||
| 25
|
Pole Secola Joke | ||||||
| 26
|
Rat Poison | Painted on the tail of an aircraft. | A65821AC | ||||
| 27
|
Sad Sack II | 532 | VE | Note from one 533rd descendent indicating aircraft flowy by a 533rd BS crew. Photo to follow hopefully. | |||
| 28
|
Say Cheez | ||||||
| 29
|
Section Eight | ||||||
|
30
|
Seldom Fooks | B-17G, olive drab, six mission bombs on nose. | |||||
| 31 | Shoo Shoo Baby | F | B2-117-03 | Solved by Kevin Wilson: Olive drab, nose destroyed, consigned to bone yard. Identification 42-30613. | 65837AC | ||
|
32
|
Silver Gate | 532 | VE | Possibly Solved: Aircraft is noted as being flown on May 31, 1944, by Capt Doug Winters and listed as "2703". This only matches B-17G #42-102703 assigned to 532nd on May 22, 1944. Aircraft has been previously listed "Pella Tulip", although we have no photo of that nose art. | |||
| 33
|
Silver Lady | G | 532 | VE | Natural metal finish | ||
| 34
|
Sweet Little Annie | 534 | GD | Or Sweet Lil Annie. Possibly confused with Sweet-LeLani also from the 534th? | |||
| 35
|
Sweet Melody | ||||||
| 36
|
The Joker | G | 535 | Natural metal finish, flown on Jan 13, 14, 17, 21, and 29th of 1945 by the Robert Armstrong crew. Could possibly be 42-102873 (The Joker II) or 43-38497 (The Joker III). | |||
| 37
|
Toggler | 532 | VE | ||||
| 38
|
Uncle Sammy | F | B2-127-01 | Olive drab: VALA 54 | 65820AC | ||
| 39
|
Viking | 534 | GD | ||||
|
40
|
Whirlaway | G | B2-127-03 | This aircraft was one of the group's PFF ships, B-17G #44-8010 assigned to the 532nd squadron. | |||
| 41
|
Winsome Win II | ||||||
| 42
|
Withstanders | ||||||
| 43
|
Yankee Rebel | F | 534 | GD | Olive drab. Confused with "Yankee Rebel" B-17G #42-32049 GD-D? |
BOWA 217, MCDA 55, WOOC 39, and VALA 54 are bibliography references from the Bits & Pieces publications.
BOWA - Peter M. Bowers. Fortress in the Sky, Granada Hills, CA: Sentry Books, 1976.
MCDA - Ernest R. McDowell. Flying Fortress: The Boeing B-17, Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1987.
WOOC - John H. Woolnough. Stories of the Eighth: An Anthology of the 8th Air Force in World War Two, Hollywood, Florida, 8th Air Force news, 1983.
VALA - Gary M. Valant. Vintage Aircraft Nose Art, Oscelo, Wisconsin: Motorbooks International, 1987.