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LI'L
AUDREY
41-24523 B-17F
91/323 OR-N
 This
was one of the group's
original complement
of assigned September
1942 at Dow Field, Bangor,Maine'
to replace their training
aircraft. It was assigned
to 1/Lt Joe Yuravich
and named by his crew
after the popular cartoon
character of a little
girl who laughed and
laughed, created byLarz
Bourne. In fact the
plane may have carried
a previous title which
fell from favor and
was painted out. The
word "GOLLY"!
can just be deciphered
from the newer application
of OD paint used to
obliterate it before
the new name Li'1 Audrey
was applied.
 323rd
Squadron mission records
for the early months
of combat do not detail
individual air- craft
numbers and it is difficult
to establish for certain
which planes flew on
which raids. However,
it is thought that Li'1
Audrey made at least
four sorties before
being severely shot
up over Lorient on 30th
December. Joe Yuravich
was badly hurt and,
although also wounded,
his co-pilot Bob Shaw
took control of the
ship with the help of
the engineer T/Sgt Clarence
King. Mario Mattie recalled
the incident and took
up the story. "Yuravich
was hospitalized for
quite a while but returned
to the base before leaving
for the States. He came
down to our dispersal
area for a last visit
and asked me if he could
take a look at the cockpit
of our Eagle's Wrath."
What followed showed
the intensity of the
feelings that most of
the aircrew had for
their planes. Mario
continued, "He
sat in the pilot's seat
and looked at all the
instruments on the panel
in front of him. Then
slowly and methodically
he started each engine
for a preflight inspection.
His in- spection completed
he switched off the
engines. He sat quietly
and smiled momentarily,
then his pent-up emotions
let go." There
would be no more missions
for Joe Yuravich, in
Eagle's Wrath, Li'1
Audrey or any other
Fortress.
Li'1
Audrey would fly on
with the group for almost
a year but at some time
the name was changed
to Snooks. On 31st August
1943 it collided over
the Sussex coast, crashed
into the sea and only
three bodies from 2Lt
Richard Rodman's crew
were recovered from
the water.
This
was one of the Original
Nine B-17 Flying Fortresses
that formed the 323rd
Bomb Squadron of the
91st Bomb Group.
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