{"id":8897,"date":"2018-08-08T06:00:28","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T04:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/?post_type=b17database&#038;p=8897"},"modified":"2025-06-08T11:01:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T09:01:58","slug":"43-37524-queen-of-the-ball","status":"publish","type":"b17database","link":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/b17\/43-37524-queen-of-the-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"43-37524 \/ Queen of the Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"808\" src=\"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/43-37524-1024x808.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20604\" srcset=\"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/43-37524-1024x808.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/43-37524-300x237.jpg 300w, https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/43-37524-768x606.jpg 768w, https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/43-37524.jpg 1495w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Group photograph of members of a U.S. Army Air Forces Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber crew, next to the nose of their B-17 plane nicknamed \u201cQueen of the Ball\u201d during World War II. Jesse J. Austin Jr. of Guilford County, NC, is pictured in the front row, third from right [circa 1944] [believed to have been taken in England]. (<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2kVsxQV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">via Flickr<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Delivered Cheyenne 26\/4\/44; Kearney 9\/5\/44; Dow Fd 21\/5\/44; Assigned 511BS\/351BG [DS-D] Polebrook 23\/5\/44; {63m} battle damaged Stuttgart 9\/12\/44 with Danforth Merrill, Co-pilot: Lou Edwards, ng-Jack McGee, Flight engineer\/top turret gunner: Ed Poppe, Radio Operator: Jim Williams, Ball turret gunner: Tom Veltry, Waist gunner: Claude Chaffin,Tail gunner: Bill Teel (8 Returned to Duty); Bombardier: Vernon Smith (Prisoner of War); enemy aircraft KO\u2019d #2 and ship lost controls temporarily, however p returned controls and returned to base; Salvaged 10\/12\/45. Missing Air Crew Report 7903; QUEEN OF THE BALL.","protected":false},"featured_media":8898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"airplane-status":[435],"status-date":[930],"status-day":[1886],"status-month":[1865],"status-year":[1892],"production-block":[95],"manufacturer":[130],"delivered":[1813],"project-number":[],"bomb-group":[280],"bomb-squadron":[412],"raf-service":[],"b17tags":[],"class_list":["post-8897","b17database","type-b17database","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","airplane-status-battle-damaged","status-date-09-12-1944","status-day-1886","status-month-december","status-year-1892","production-block-b-17g-65-bo-43-37509-43-37673","manufacturer-boeing","delivered-cheyenne","bomb-group-351st-bomb-group","bomb-squadron-511th-bomb-squadron"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"en","enabled_languages":["de","en"],"languages":{"de":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":true},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":true}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17database\/8897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17database"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/b17database"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"airplane-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/airplane-status?post=8897"},{"taxonomy":"status-date","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-date?post=8897"},{"taxonomy":"status-day","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-day?post=8897"},{"taxonomy":"status-month","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-month?post=8897"},{"taxonomy":"status-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-year?post=8897"},{"taxonomy":"production-block","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/production-block?post=8897"},{"taxonomy":"manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manufacturer?post=8897"},{"taxonomy":"delivered","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/delivered?post=8897"},{"taxonomy":"project-number","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project-number?post=8897"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-group?post=8897"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-squadron","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-squadron?post=8897"},{"taxonomy":"raf-service","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/raf-service?post=8897"},{"taxonomy":"b17tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17tags?post=8897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}