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AH'S AVAILBLE
44-8145 B-17-G
91/323 OR-C

This radar equipped lead ship was initially assigned to the 323rd Squadron and it is thought to have had been named Tailor Maid in its early days with the group. This was possibly at the request of Major Willis Taylor who led the group on several occasions in this plane. So far no photo has been located to indicate whether or not the Starcer artwork of the swimsuit girl was used with that title but certainly it appeared, together with the title of Ah's Availble, by the time the plane had completed 13 missions in late October 1944. A number of 91st Fortresses carried different names and artworks on both sides of the nose, for example Merry Ann, and is possible that this was another of those planes with Tailor Maid displayed on the right side. Tony Starcer selected his pin-girl from the September page of the 1945 Esquire Calendar which had probably only recently become available. His execution of the painting was excellent but his spelling was appalling and he missed the second Aa' from the word Available. In fact, this may have been a deliberate act to shorten the word having started to paint it and then realized that it would overrun into his illustration. Immediately to the left of the title is a curious set of characters, 'P39/94', which are found on a few other 91st Forts but their purpose has not been established. Possible they were markings applied by Ferry Command during the airplane's movement across the USA and the Atlantic or, alternatively, by the manufacturer Vega during the production cycle. Similar markings are also visible on Sherries Cherries which was another Vega-built B17G but from their earlier 40-VE batch.

The plane's first mission was to Mainz on 21st September 1944, having been assigned to the 91st on the 15th of that month. Four days later, Lt. Col. Berry took the plane as his lead ship to Magdeburg at the head of the Lead Group. This was the first of 23 lead roles Ah's Availble would fly under a succession of pilots and lead crews. Captain Boggs was forced to land at any emergency field near Brussels with two engines out on 4th December after a mission to Kassel. When the plane returned to Bassingbourn two days later, it was transferred into the 324th Squadron and re-coded as DF-C.

The final lead role assigned to Ah' s Availble was on 21st March 1945 to the Rheine Salzbergen airfield, with Major Taylor as aircraft commander. It was a well-coordinated attack with fighter support, which achieved excellent results. The bombers hit the runways and flak posts followed by fighters strafing the field in an attempt to neutralize the Luftwaffe's jet fighter base.

Ah's Available few one final mission with the 91st on 20th April, to the marshalling yeards at Brandenburg. Having survived the war with the group, the plane was transferred into the 306th Bomb Group on 24th May 1945, still sporting her Starcer nose art.