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PRIORITY
GAL
42-97304
B-17G
91/323
OR-C
 A
common
source
for
nose
art
titling
was
often
that
of
the
pilot’s
name
and
when
Lieutenant
Pryor
was
assigned
a
new
silver
B-17G
it
was
hardly
surprising
that
he
chose
to
name
it
Priority
Gal.
The
plane
had
arrived
at
Bassingbourn
on
1st
April
1944
and
flew
its
first
mission
to
Oldenburg
on
the
8th.
Lt.
Riser
and
his
crew
took
the
ship
on
that
occasion
but
three
days
later
Pryor’s
crew
headed
out
for
Cottbus
in
their
newly
acquired
Fortress.
It
was
the
first
of
twenty-two
missions
the
crew
would
fly
in
Priority
Gal
including
three
to
Berlin.
 After
Pryor’s
crew
completed
their
combat
tour,
Priority
Gal
was
flown
by
a
succession
of
other
pilots
and
their
crews.
By
mid-July
Henry
Supchak
had
taken
over
the
ship
on
a
regular
basis
and
his
crew
flew
eight
missions
in
her.
On
the
last
day
of
July
it
was
the
Supchak
crew
that
took
the
plane
to
Munich
marshaling
yards,
on
its
50th
mission.
Over
the
target,
Priority
Gal
received
several
flak
hits
that
tore
into
No.
1
and
No.
2
engines
and
left
smoke
trailing
back
through
the
rarified
air.
Supchak
feathered
the
No.
1
propeller
but
it
continued
to
windmill
causing
excessive
drag
and
forcing
the
plane
to
lag
behind
the
formation.
Two
other
B-17s
dropped
back
to
cover
the
stricken
ship
but
eventually
they
had
to
pull
away
and
regain
the
safety
of
the
formation
to
leave
the
faltering
plane
to
its
solitary
struggle.
 At
1310
hours
the
Lt.
Supchak
was
heard
on
the
VHF
radio
frequency
reporting
that
two
engines
had
been
lost
and
that
he
was
turning
for
Switzerland.
The
last
their
colleagues
saw
of
Priority
Gal
was
a
lone
and
distant
speck
In
the
sky
heading
south.
Somewhere
along
the
way
the
fickle
finger
of
Fate
decreed
that
they
would
not
make
the
safety
of
neutral
territory.
Instead,
all
nine
men
on
board
spent
the
remainder
of
the
war
in
German
prison
camps.
Priority
Gal
sported
yet
another
Starcer
painting,
this
time
of
a
seated
stretching
girl,
barely
clothed
in
an
open
robe.
Not
one
to
allow
anything
to
cramp
his
style,
Starcer
painted
his
girl
in
such
a
position
that
her
right
toe
touched
the
chin
turret
fairing
while
her
left
hand
stretched
high
up
to,
and
actually
on,
the
side
window
plexiglass.
"Story
taken
from
Plane
Names
&
Fancy
Noses,
by
Ray
Bowden"
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