91st Bomb Group(H)
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Village Flirt
Story by Phil Mack

Under Crew Photos is a photo of the ship on which I served as Co-Pilot for most of my combat tour. Dave Bramble was Pilot and we became a lead crew. When Dave was leading the Group or higher echelon, I was bumped by a senior Group or Wing Officer who would act as Force Commander; thus, when Dave and the rest of the crew finished their tours of 25 missions, I still had six more to go. I got checked out as Pilot and generally took new crews on their first combat missions. X guess that made me a combat Instructor Pilot of sorts.

As we were nearing the end of the tour, the required number of missions was increased from 25 to 30 in March 1944. I had to do one more in proportion to the number I had already completed.

I always had to chuckle (grimly) about the increased length of the tour. The loss rate for the Group dropped from ten percent per mission in the last half of 1943 to seven percent in the first half of 1944 as the effect of the increased numbers of P-51s began to be felt. The 323rd Sq. lost 18 aircraft between late September '43 and March '44 when I finished my tour. Not counting the crews that were still operational, only four crews finished 25 missions in that time period. By my calculation that was an 82 percent loss!

When I was in flying school, the Ground School Instructors would try to maintain your attention by shocking you with the comment: "Look at the man on your left and then look at the man on your right. When the War is over, one of you won't be there." In the 323rd Squadron, he would have been more accurate if he had said, "Look at the two men on your left and look at the two men on your right. When the War is over, four of you won't be there!" It was a grim experience.

The B-17F pictured was a B-17F-70-BO. Boeing built it in the 70th block of aircraft. The full serial number was 42-29739. It survived the war and was returned to the United States. Also, it was the sister ship of the only flyable Boeing-built B-17F in the world which bears the serial number 42-29782 and is owned by and on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle In June 1946, I was flying as Pilot for a major oil company and landed at Indianapolis Weir Cook International Airport to refuel. As I continued my landing roll, I saw a stripped-down B-17F parked on the ramp alongside the runway. It was still painted in OD colors but the figure on the nose was unmistakable: It was "The Village Flirt."

I learned that the airplane was being used by the Civil Aeronautics Administration (forerunner of the FAA) for test and development of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) which remains today the primary guidance system for approach and landing at all major airports in the world. I walked around the airplane and looked for patches but they were so professionally repaired that they looked like inspection panels. So the "Old Girl" continued to serve her country in peacetime as well as in War. It is presumed that ultimately she fell victim to the chopping block.