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CHERI II
44-8431?
B-17G
91/323 OR-W

The identity of Cheri II has yet to be established beyond doubt. Soon after she was painted, with a slightly smaller but nearly identical image to the original Cheri, Arvin Basnight's crew became subject to special assignments in lead crew rolls. "Cheri II was a new airplane. By the time we had her nose art applied I was a designated Lead Pilot and Assistant Operations Office with the surviving members the crew or in Cheri II," recalled Arvin years later. "Its feet was different and even though our ground crew chief M/Sgt. Darnell and his team did their best, it never flew as well as Cheri." Referring to the nose art, he continued, "Starcer as an artist was solely responsible for any changes in the painting on Cheri II. This was done about November '44. The background circle was a bold and rich sky blue color." Arvin Basnight's final recollection of Cheri II was that the plane was returned to the States at the end of the war. Arvin Basnight flew seven more combat missions after returning from his flak leave in November and recalled Cheri II as being a brand new plane. He flew on his first lead mission on 12th December. His previous mission had been on the 26th November but on that day he flew in a 384th Bomb Group plane, on loan to the group. It was his 30th mission credit and he was there- after designated a Lead Pilot. The strongest contender for the title Cheri II was the aircraft Basnight flew immediately after the loss of his first ship. On 6th November, he took the deputy lead position in 44-8431, a 323rd Squadron ship that had been assigned to the group just two days previously. No other title has ever been associated with this ship and it survived the war to return to the USA on 26th May 1945 with more than 46 mission credits. Close study of the photograph of Cheri II reveals the manufacturer's block number to be 65-VE, reinforcing #431 as being the aircraft in question. Furthermore, when Basnight moved on to his lead pilot duties some of his original crew were taken over by his copilot William Smith who then flew seven missions in this ship as a first pilot. If this was indeed Cheri II then Arvin Basnight only flew one mission, to Hamburg in the plane but elements of his crew continued to fly several more. The crew that flew the ship more than any other, however, was that of Robert Holliday. Their first sortie was on 29th January to Niederlahnstein and their 18th was on 16th April to Regensburg. Records of the last few 323rd Squadron missions are patchy and they may have flown more times in Cheri II.

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