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HAPPY
VALLEY EXPRESS
43-38083 B-17G
91/323 OR-Q
 Assigned
to the group on llth August
1944 this Boeing-built Fort
soon acquired its name after
the much feared, deadly,
flak riddled Ruhr Valley
- known as "The Happy
Valley". Tony Starcer
set to work to create one
of his series of nose arts
that featured his Betty
Boop look-alike "Betty
Lou". This time, instead
of riding in her Block Buster
Buggy, Starcer painted the
cartoon girl riding in a
freight train complete with
"To Berlin" sketched
in on the solitary wagon
and the aircraft code OR-Q
added above the title on
the tender. As had become
almost customary with Starcer's
later nose arts, he also
added a circle background
for extra impact. "Happy
Valley Express" completed
48 combat sorties prior
to 22nd January 1945 to
targets in the Ruhr Valley
and right across Germany.
Almost all of them
were flown with 323rd Squadron
crews; Hubert Donohue took
the plane for eight missions
as did Jerome Sweet. In
all 21 different first pilots
took command of the plane
but on that day it was the
322nd who supplied the crew.
1/Lt.Nelson Van Blarcom
took the plane to Aschaffenburg
to bomb a vehicle factory
three miles southwest of
the city center. Poor visibility
forced an abandonment of
the attempt to hit the primary
and the force PFF bombed
onto the marshaling yards
instead. Lining up for the
bomb run, flak shredded
through "Happy Valley
Express" and knocked
out two engines, most of
the oxygen and all of the
electrical equipment was
cut to pieces and a fire
developed in the right wing.
Desperate to reach the fire
raging inside the wing,
S/Sgt.Stanbury chopped a
hole through the side of
the bomb bay and emptied
a fire extinguisher into
the cavity.
His
efforts were successful
and the fire was put out
but the crew's problems
were far from over as they
struggled back from deep
inside German territory
with only two engines operating.
Loose equipment was thrown
from the faltering plane
and the ball turret jettisoned
to lighten the ship. Hours
later, 1/Lt.Van Blarcom
limped in to crash land
at Metfield, an isolated
airfield in Suffolk used
at that time for candestine
operations to Sweden to
ferry out special materials
and personnel. The following
day, Happy Valley Express
was declared too badly damaged
for repair and salvaged.
"Story
taken from Plane Names &
Fancy Noses, by Ray Bowden"
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