Production-block:
B-17F-90-BO: 42-30132 to 42-30231
Manufacturer:
Boeing
- Bomb Group:
- 100th Bomb Group
- 381st Bomb Group
- 96th Bomb Group
- Bomb Squadron:
- 418th Bomb Squadron
- RCL: LD-X
Missions: 100+
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History of
B-17 42-30152 / Messie Bessie
Delivered Cheyenne 17/4/43; Smoky Hill 24/4/43; Walla Walla 30/4/43; Smoky Hill 20/5/43; Dow Fd 28/5/43; Assigned 96BG Andrews Fd 1/6/43; Snetterton 12/6/43; transferred 381BG Ridgewell 16/7/43; 418BS/100BG [LD-X] Thorpe Abbotts 7/43; battle damaged Paris with Walter Moreno, crash landed on return; 100+m, Salvaged 28/4/45. MESSIE BESSIE.
Last updated: 25. January 2018
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17. March 2023 access_time 18:29
My father, Frank S. Toll, Four Fifty Sixth Sub-Depot, 100th Bomb Group, related a story to me as a boy about how Messie Bessie damaged her engines and props when the landing gear was accidentally retracted while idling on it’s hardstand at Thorpe Abbotts air base. He also mentioned that the Memphis Belle had landed there (temporarily?) and was on the hardstand beside Messie Bessie. Not sure if true, but my dad seemed to be very certain and related many details such as damage to the engine crankshaft, not just the props. I point that I’d not considered. He drove a GMC flatbed truck that ferried aircraft engines back and forth to the rebuilding facilities.