JUST PLAIN LONESOME
42-39975 B-17G
91/324 DF-Z
91/323 OR
Only
four days had passes after assignment to the 91st before
this plane lifted off on its first mission to bomb a V-weapon
site in France on 14th January 1944. It was to be a poor
start as 1/Lt.McGee was forced to abort prior to the target
when the bomb release malfunctioned and accidentally salvoed
the load.
Perhaps
it was this first lone bomb release that prompted the choice
of name, in any case, Tony Starcer was soon busy painting
another of his lovely ladies onto the side of the nose.
It was not long before a string of mission bombs had been
added below the side windows as the plane clocked up trips
to Berlin, Koln, Kassel and the ultimate-tongue-twister
of Oberpfaffenhofen.
Ronald
Nichols was assigned to the plane for the mission to Berlin
on 8th March and he took it back to the same target on the
following day. In all he would make eleven successful sorties
in "Just Plain Lonesome" until he ended his tour
of combat duty on 13th April by flying to Schweinfurt. Richard
Burch's crew then took over the plane for another four missions
but at the end of April, along with the bulk of 324th Squadron's
regular aircraft, "Just Plain Lonesome" was transferred
to the 323rd. This was as a result of the 324th's concentration
on specialized lead missions in its new modified PFF aircraft.
The first sortie with its new owners was on 1st May to the
marshaling yards at Troyes and others quickly followed.
Jack Collier was assigned to the airplane for the 7th May
raid on Berlin and he would fly another four successful
missions in the ship before Fate overtook him.
In
all Just Plain Lonesome completed 40 sorties, including
five attacks on Berlin, but on 3Oth May the Grim Reaper
was waiting. The Junkers aero-engine plant at Dessau was
the primary that day and 1/Lt.Jack Collier took the ship
over the target and bombed accurately with the group.' But
deadly shards of flak had found them and just after bombing
Collier was heard on the VHF radio stating that two engines
were out, ailerons were damaged and requesting fighter support.
At that moment a series of vicious enemy fighter attacks
was launched which drew all of the available fighter escorts
into action to defend the formation. When the melee had
subsided Collier and his crew had disappeared from the sky
- only two men survived from the nine on board.
"Story
taken from Plane Names & Fancy Noses, by Ray Bowden"
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