RAGAN’S RAIDERS
44-83263
B-17G
91/323 OR-J

A late starter in the air war, this silver B-17G flew its first combat mission on the day that the group flew its 300th. 24th February 1945 saw the 91st heading back to Hamburg yet again to hit the U-boat slipways but bad weather caused a diversion to the secondary target of the oil refineries.

Who named this plane as Ragan’s Raiders is not clear but having joined the war the plane made up for lost time by flying most of the group’s missions until hostilities ceased. When it took off on the group’s last raid, to Pilsen, it was the plane’s 24th mission in just two months of combat. Second Lieutenant William Adams and his crew had flown eight of their mission in the ship and Lt. Skawienski another six. Seated beside Skawienski for some of those missions was George Kesselring. On 7th April he noted in his diary, “No flak. Many fighters attacked other groups but not us. Kelly (Skawienski) and I flew 3rd element lead. Weather set the mission back nearly five hours. We got up at 1:30 am and got back at 6:30pm - working 19 hours of the day!” Years later, George commented, “With hours like that it is no wonder that its kids that do the fighting.”

Four days later, George was back in the air in Ragan’s Raiders for a mission to Munich oil storage depot. “Weather was poor so we assembled over France. Bomb run took us toward the center of the city but our target was at outskirts. They must have thought that we were going right over the city because they waited until we had dropped our bombs and started our turn before they began to throw up flak - and boy can they throw it up! I’m glad we were the first group in… One more to go!”

George Kesselring’s final mission, also flown in Ragan’s Raiders, was on Friday 13th April 1945 to Neumunster. For this last entry in his notebook he wrote, “No flak, no fighters, easy mission. Kelly and I flew deputy lead”. Friday the 13th had proved lucky for some. A further three missions were flown until the plane, too, could cease hostilities. After the end of the war, Ragan’s Raiders made further flights to bring back POWs and displaced persons before being dispatched back to the USA on 27th May.

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