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CHERI
43-37625
B-17G
91/323 OR-W/Q
 Arvin
Basnight's crew arrived at Bassingbourn just
before D-Day, this plane followed them into
the group and was assigned on the 11th June.
Basnight recalled, "We understood that
before we arrived at the base Cheri had suffered
considerable damage and was repaired by 8th
Air Force ground personnel. As newcomers we
were assigned to fly her. I recall that several
panels of her aluminum skin had been replaced.
Not all of them were silver. Some had been shipped
to England packed in a preservative that looked
brown. However, ground personnel who restored
this lady took such pride in their work that
in flight the plane gave me, the pilot, a fine
feel. The controls were perfectly balanced and
she was tuned, providing top performance."
Basnight found that it performed so well that
he requested the Operations Officer to permanently
assign it to him. At his suggestion the aircraft
was named Cheri because his bride's family came
from the Louisiana French and it was a word
of endearment they often used. The crew also
reasoned that a French word might be a positive
benefit if they came down in France. Since the
name referred to Basnight's bride, Tony Starcer
was asked to paint the June gatefold picture
from the 1944 Esquire and to try to portray
some likeness of the girl, whom the crew all
knew. Delighted with the result the crew then
asked Starcer to set about painting their flight
jackets with similar paintings. Basnight's crew
flew 18 missions in Cheri. "On or about
October 20th our crew was granted flak leave
in Blackpool. On returning to flight status
we learned that Cheri had been lost. We felt
we had truly lost a best friend. We decided
then to try to have a Cheri II.”
Cheri had successfully completed 42 missions
under the watchful eye of Crew Chief Sgt. Darnell
but, on 2nd November, luck ran out when she
was hit in the first pass of enemy fighters
as they tore through the group as it headed
for the synthetic oil refinery at Merseburg.
Flames erupted immediately from the plane and
a single chute was observed as it started down
pursued by an Fwl9O. Two men were killed, probably
caught in the initial bursts of cannon fire,
but the pilot 1Lt. Robert Harris and six others
of his crew survived.
“Story taken from Plane Names & Fancy
Noses, by Ray Bowden"
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