HI-HO SILVER
42-32116 B-17G
91/323 OR-B

After its arrival in the UK this plane was initially assigned to the 457th Bomb Group stationed at Deopham Green but not for long. Transferred to the 91st five days later, on 16th March 1944, it flew its first mission exactly one week after that to Hamm.

Tony Starcer decorated the nose of this silver G model with a cartoon creation of a cowboy horse riding a horse, based on the highly popular radio show “The Lone Ranger”. Each episode would have the masked hero urging his horse into the sunset with one of the most famous catch phrases of all time - “Hi-Ho Silver, away!” Years later the TV version of the famous masked man and his horse called Silver would continue to entertain the next generation, and its re-runs the generation after that.

Starcer also added his favorite device of a circle as background and it was this that formed the template for the continually added bomb symbols representing each mission. Starting at the top, to the right of the rider's hat, the bombs were added one by one to curve round the outside of the circle to form a circle of their own. As the missions built up so did a second circle of bombs followed by a third circle so that the mission emblems became part of the nose art graphic itself. This was a departure from the more usual approach which simply added row upon row of bombs, usually quite detached from the actual nose art itself and detracting from its visual impact. It was an approach that was to be used on at least one other 91st nose art by Starcer, Wicked Witch, although less successfully. The nose art on Hi-Ho Silver became stronger and stronger as each circle of bombs was added to it. The plane completed no less than 130 combat missions before surviving the war and returning to the States in May 1945. By that time her crews had also accumulated at least four enemy fighter 'kills' which were incorporated into the nose art as swastikas, this time placed inside the circle background starting below the horse's nose.

Tony Starcer also painted several A-2 jackets for members of the crew of Hi-Ho Silver which employed a similar approach complete with the circle of mission bombs, adding up to 30 for one crew man. Radio operator Bill McGavern donated his painted A-2 jacket to the Tower Museum at Bassingbourn in 1982 where it is now displayed.

“Hi-Ho Silver's” first combat mission was on 23rd March 1944 with the Wilkinson crew who took it to bomb the airfield at Wert. They would fly 15 of the plane's missions through the remainder of March, April and into May before passing it on to other crews. In mid July Edward Corman began a run of missions in Hi-Ho Silver that totaled 28 sorties and ended 15th December. By that time the plane had been to Berlin six times, Merseburg four times, Schweinfurt, Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg and many other tough targets. On the first day of the new year, the crew of Robert Hoffman took the ship to Kassel and by the end of February had added a further 13 to the impressive mission tally stenciled onto the side. As the war drew to a close, “Hi-Ho Silver” kept up a relentless pace although the targets became more concentrated in the ever-contracting Third Reich. The final combat mission came on 17th April, to Dresden, with Forrest Hunt's crew flying their third sortie in the plane.

During its long career, “Hi-Ho Silver” flew a few missions with crews from other 91st squadrons, in particular the 322nd,and 401st. This was a common practice when crews but not planes were available in other squadrons and, although flown in these squadrons' formations, the plane continued to display its OR-B markings. It re- turned to its 323rd hardstand at the completion of the mission.

“Hi-Ho Silver”, with her 130 mission record, was to become one of the 'great' planes of the 91st and she went the same way as so many others. Once in the USA she was stripped of her combat equipment and flown south to the desert wastes around Kingman, Arizona, to bake in the sun and await the scrapman's torch.

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