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SNOOKS
41-2423
B-17F
91/323
OR-N
Originally
assigned
to
the
323rd
Squadron
at
Dow
Field,
Bangor
Maine
and
named
by
Lt.
Yuravich’s
crew
as
Lil
Audrey.
On
30th
Demember,
Joe
Yuravich,
by
then
a
Captain,
and
his
copilot
Lt.
Robert
Shaw
were
both
seriously
wounded
in
this
plane
on
the
mission
to
Lorient.
Yuravich
was
hospitalized
for
a
long
while
with
head
wounds
from
20mm
fragments
but
returned
briefly
to
Bassingbourn
before
being
sent
back
to
the
States.
How
long
the
ship
continued
to
carry
the
title
Lil
Audrey
is
not
certain
but
when
lost
on
the
last
day
of
August
1943
it
was
carrying
a
different
title
of
Snooks.
On
that
day
it
was
Richard
Rodman’s
crew
who
were
flying
in
the
aircraft
to
bomb
the
German
airfield
at
Romilly
in
France.
Soon
after
assembly
had
been
completed
and
the
formation
left
the
English
coast
high
over
Sussex,
Snooks
was
involved
in
a
tragic
mid-air
collision.
Just
off
Beachy
Head
at
25,000
feet,
Snooks
lurched
into
Eager
Beaver
and
split
that
aircraft
in
two
sending
it
plummeting
into
the
sea
below.
Hopelessly
out
of
control,
what
had
only
moments
before
been
two
graceful
four-engine
airplanes,
suddenly
turned
into
a
tumbled
mass
of
metal
that
pinned
men
inside
with
overwhelming
centrifugal
force.
Only
two
chutes
were
seen
to
come
from
the
stricken
plane
although
four
others
were
also
seen
to
blossom
amongst
the
wreckage
of
the
two
tumbling
Fortresses.
Surface
craft
raced
to
the
scene
to
search
for
survivors
but
there
were
none
from
Rodman’s
crew
in
Snooks
and
only
one
from
Eager
Beaver
-
nineteen
men
died.
"Story
taken
from
Plane
Names
&
Fancy
Noses,
by
Ray
Bowden"
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