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BETTY LOU'S BUGGY
42-31579
B-17G-20-BO
91/324 DF-N 91/323 OR-D

An olive drab G model assigned to the group on 1st February 1944, it initially served with the 324th Squadron but later passed to the 323rd. After completing 66 combat missions the aircraft was transferred on 30th. September 1944 to the 2nd Strategic Air Depot at Watton as a result of non-battle damage.

Arvid Malvik had special reason to recall this ship. "After flying three missions as copilot with more experienced crews I received Betty Lou's Buggy as a brand new airplane. We had a crew meeting to decide the naming of the ship. It was an open democratic meeting and I suggested Betty Lou's Buggy seeing as all members of the crew knew my wife Betty Lou. Betty and I were married on 9th May 1943, just before I got my wings, and our extended honeymoon consisted of her following me to each base I was assigned to. As a result the whole crew knew Betty Lou."

To illustrate Betty Lou, Tony Starcer used a cartoon girl reminiscent of the famous ‘BettyBoop’, a copyright creation from Max Fleischer's popular 1930s 'Talkartoons', who survives to this day as a favorite TV cartoon. On the side panel of Betty Lou's bomb-hauling automobile are the words 'Block Busters' and some sources give this ship the title of Betty Lou's Block Buster. Having created a piece of artwork, Tony Starcer was not averse to using it more than once, probably as a result of popular demand, and he certainly used the 'Betty Lou' cartoon girl on at least one other nose art design - Happy Valley Express. That particular nose art utilized an almost identical pose but placed the girl into a cartoon locomotive. Increasing demand for more and more nose art painting meant that Tony Starcer had to make the most productive use possible of his time and resources.

Arvid Malvik was not, in fact, the first pilot to fly the plane on a combat sortie. That honor went to Charles Holman on 6th February but his mission to Nancy-Essey was unproductive and he returned still carrying a full bomb load. Malvik's crew climbed aboard for the ship's second mission, on 11th February to Frankfurt, and it was the beginning of a long association which lasted for 21 missions up to 27th April 1944. During that spell Betty Lou's Buggy received considerable attention from the enemy and returned from 14 missions with minor damage, mainly due to flak. On four further sorties the plane received major hits; the main wingbrace was severely damaged on 28th March and the following day 20mm shells smashed into her in several places, wounding a gunner. It was exploding 20mm shells that caused yet more major damage on 19th April over Eschwege and then, on 27th, flak put the ship out of action for a complete month. That was the last occasion that Arvid Malvik and his crew flew the ship.
When repairs were completed, BettyLou's Buggy was reassigned to the 323rd Squadron as 'OR-D-Dog' and its first mission with this squadron was back to Nancy-Essey, a rerun of its first mission with its original owners. Oil leaking from No. 2 engine forced Lt.Thomas to abort and return early but two days later it successfully completed a trip to Ludwigshaven. On D-Day 6th June, a new crew, that of George Helfrich, took over the ship and began the first of 21 missions they would fly in it. Many of their earlier sorties were to tactical targets in support of the Allied invasion but soon they were flying strategic missions again, to Munich, Leipzig, Merseburg and Peenemunde. On 16th August, with Walter Mullens in the pilot's seat, flak once again caught Betty Lou's Buggy and sliced through the ship wounding the engineer and tail gunner.

On 11th September, on its 67th mission, Betty Lou's Buggy took off for Lutzkendorf but was, forced to abort with a serious oil leak. It was the plane's final combat sortie and at the end of September it was transferred to 2nd Strategic Air Depot as a result of accidental damage.

"Story taken from Plane Names & Fancy Noses,by Ray Bowden"