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JUDY'S
LITTLE ASS
43-38841 B-17G
91/323 OR-L
 Assigned
to the group on 4th November
1944, "Judy's Little
Ass" sported a nose
art to beat the censors.
A friendly, Disney-style,
little donkey was prominently
displayed on the gleaming
silver ship against an,
almost standard, Starcer
background circle. One
this occasion it was the
title itself which proved
to be more risque' than
the image - providing
a classic double-entendre.
Two
days after assignment,
the plane made its first
combat sortie to Hamburg
with the crew of 1/Lt.Val
Maghee. They would make
three more trips in the
plane before passing it
on to a series of others
in mid-December. One of
the many that made successful
missions in the aircraft
was George Odenwaller,
ball gunner on the Harvey
crew, and he recorded
his thoughts in his diary.
On 22nd February 1945,
flying to strike the marshalling
yards at Stendal, he wrote
"Something new in
bombing. Flew very low
to bomb. Went around flak
areas. Only saw one Mc262
- way out of range. First
time I saw an enemy shop
blow up and go down. Our
fighters (P-51s Bless
Aem) nailed 26 that day.
Never saw so many B-17s
at once in the air. Also
saw an Mel63 Rocket -
could not keep guns on
it - too fast!" Records
indicate that 268 P-51
Mustangs accompanied the
bombers that day and they
kept the Luftwaffe well
away from the 91st' s
formation.
Two
days later on the 24th
February, George was back
in the air over Hamburg
in "Judy's Little
Ass". "First
short one!" he wrote,
"Flak was boxed and
inaccurate - much chaff
thrown out. No group losses.
300th group mission today".
It was the 24th mission
for "Judy's Little
Ass" and the plane
would continue on for
a further 21 before hostilities
closed. Through its 45
combat sorties a total
of 22 different crews
were assigned to fly in
the plane. Only in late
February did one of those
crews, that of Robert
Lawson, settle into a
run of missions that would
eventually total nine.
"Judy's
Little Ass" survived
the conflict in the freezing
skies high over Northern
Europe and on 26th May
1945 headed back from
whence it came with a
crew of ten plus ten passengers
bound for the USA.
"Story
taken from Plane Names
& Fancy Noses, by
Ray Bowden"
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