42-5729 / The Piccadilly Commando aka Buccaneer | B-17 Bomber Flying Fortress

B-17 #42-5729 / The Piccadilly Commando aka Buccaneer — **Source:**
www.91stbombgroup.com

Production-block:
B-17F-10-VE: 42-5725 to 42-5744

RCL: LL-E

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History of
B-17 42-5729 / The Piccadilly Commando aka Buccaneer

Delivered Tulsa 16/10/42; Wayne 14/11/42; Rome 9/12/42; Wilmington 1/2/43; Assigned 369BS/306BG [WW-G] Thurleigh PICCADILLY COMMANDO 27/2/43; transferred 401BS/91BG [LL-E] Bassingbourn 8/9/43 {15+m}; Returned to the USA Eglin 15/3/44; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA) Walnut Ridge 19/12/45. BUCCANEER.

Source: The B-17 Flying Fortress Story (Affiliate-Link/CommissionsEarned)

Last updated: 12. April 2018

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B-17 42-5729 / The Piccadilly Commando aka Buccaneer Details

www.306bg.us // B-17 #42-5729 ‘The Piccadilly Commando’ aka ‘Buccaneer’

www.fold3.com // B-17 #42-5729 The Piccadilly Commando aka Buccaneer

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Tristin
01. June 2023 15:41

The photo where the two men have 25 painted on them is actually a photo of the Piccadilly Commando II s/n 42-30707

b17flyingfortress.de
03. June 2023 18:50

Hello Tristin,

I am not sure. I checked the mission report of 306th BG for July 10th, 1943. B-17 42-5729 was listed in the mission report; http://www.306bg.us/MISSION_REPORTS/10jul43.pdf

#42-30707 is not the list.

Paul Mark Painter
13. December 2025 19:19

My Dad’s ship, a B17F, was the “Buccaneer”. The Brits found “Piccadilly Commando” derogatory since it’s a reference to a London prostitute. The “Piccadilly Commando” was transferred from the 306th to the 91st and renamed. Thus, “Buccaneer” are the same ship.

Interestingly, they were shot down on 22 MAR 44 in a brand new B17G, “Buccaneer II”. All 10 crew survived, but were taken POW and were on the “Black March”. The “Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby” entered service two days later with the same call letters, thus it was their replacement. I remember seeing “Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby” at Dover AFB in the early 1980s during a 91st Bomb Group reunion. My dad noticed the call letters and looked at the date of service and determined that it replaced the “Buccaneer”