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PEACE OR BUST
43-38939
B-17G- 91/323 OR-A

Joining the 323rd Squadron on 2nd December 1944, this silver Boeing-built B-17G flew its first mission just two days later, to Kassel.

Two more missions followed and then on the 15th December another trip to Kassel under the command of 2nd Lt. William Partridge. The Partidge crew flew another nine combat sorties in Peace or Bust before the end of January 1945. Then, when William Partridge received his captaincy and moved to a lead crew, the copilot, Lt. Jay Cochran, took over and flew a further 14 missions in the plane. Almost certainly, the Partridge crew was responsible for naming the plane and obtaining the services of Tony Starcer to paint the artwork of a swimsuited girl chatting on the telephone, which appeared to be connected directly to the pilot's compartment.

On the 22nd March, Peace or Bust took a short break from its combat duties to perform a far more pleasant task but one which the designers and builders could not have forseen in their wildest dreams. The 323rd Squadron navigator, Captain Donald Wellings, was one of many Air Force personnel to take the decision to marry whilst overseas. He and his new wife, Lt. Martha Viola of the 163rd General Hospital, took a 164 honeymoon flight in Peace or Bust to the south coast resort of Torquay. The plane was bedecked with flowers for the occasion surely presenting one of the most unusual decorations ever seen on the massive silver war bird. How long the flowers remained taped to the fuselage is not known. The irresistible slipstream as the plane took to the air would surely have tom them away but they remained in place long enough for press photos to be taken of the smiling couple as they stood by the fuselage door.

Don remembered the day well, of course, and recalled "The olive drab Dodge was decorated with red, white and blue crepe paper strips from radiator cap to tow hook.... the trip back to base has faded from memory but not the trip to Devon. Crew for the flight was a skeleton one, four including us freshly-married ones. The airplane was decorated for the event. A cot occupied the floor between the waist guns with an open parachute suspended above it. Each relief tube had a bunch of daffodils and cornflowers jammed into its black funnel!!" Don continued, "Climbing on course to 6000ft, destination RAF Newton Abbott just north of Torquay, the pilot abandoned the left seat and went aft to 'see what's behind us'. I was in the right seat with my bride on my lap with her knees against throttles, prop controls and assorted switches and indicator lights. There wasn't room to keep the control column back far enough to maintain level flight so we started down hill - slowly. It took almost 30 minutes to wind down to 1000ft and into the middle of the Newton Abbott traffic pattern. The air was filled with C-47s towing big Horsa gliders, practicing takeoffs, releases and landings. The Gooney Birds were easy to see, as were the gliders, but the tow cables were invisible. By the time our pilot had run the 60 feet from tail to cockpit the gliders and tugs were behind us and we still had 500 feet of altitude. We were Cleared to land, taxied to the tower and shut down."

Two days later Peace or Bust was back in the air again on a more conventional mission to bomb the marshalling yards at Coesfield. By 11th April, the plane
Had completed 37 combat missions and one honeymoon trip!) but, on that day, it failed to make it back to bassingbourn.

Instead, combat damage forced Peace or Bust to make an emergency landing on an Allied airfield on the continent. At this stage of the war there was no shortage of brand new aircraft to be taken as replacements against losses - they were arriving daily and being parked on ferry fields all around England. The battle damage to Peace or Bust was considered too great to waste man- hours in repair and so the plane was abandoned and declared salvaged.

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