For 20 years I had the pleasure of being neighbor to a B-26 pilot from the 17th Bomb Group.  Every now and then he would pull out his photo albums and we would talk about the war.  It's been three years now since he died and I finally got up the nerve to ask his wife If I could scan some of his photos.  So far I've scanned over 300 with a few more to go.  Among these photos are a number of nose art shots.  Many are tightly cropped so only a few contain a readable serial number.  At any rate here is the list of ones that are pretty good shots.  If there is any interest I would be happy to post them here.
 
Hal
 
NEW YORK CENTRAL II
JEANIE
THIS IS 'IT'
MY GAL SAL
CHIEF OF THE MEDIUMS
JERSEY BOUNCER III  plus engine cowls, INDIFFERENT and UNDECIDED
LADY EVE
GEORGEOUS BETTY
DREAM GIRL
MISS MYNOOKIE
PIN UP GAL - BETTY GRABLE
ABROAD FOR DUTY
THUMPER II
MARAUDER
THE WOLVES
NOBODY'S BABY
 
Plus several with no name or just a partial picture.  Here's one with no name. Can anyone identify it or the man standing with her?


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Hal, it will be very nice if you can share your scans in the Gallery Section! This will be very much appreciated by many. The scan you uploaded looks like serial 43-34463, then it's B/N 45 from 37th BS 17th BG. From the background it looks like the flightline in Dijon, France. This Marauder was not named, and in service from January 1945 until end of war. Photo is definitely late in the war, as the snow seems to be gone. Will check further. The confusing part here is the shark mouth, as this indicates a 320th BG 444th BS Marauder. CAN YOU CONFIRM THE SERIAL HERE?

Regarding the other aircraft you listed:

NEW YORK CENTRAL II: 42-43308 B/N 68 95th BS; MACR 11110 01.01.1945.
JEANIE: 41-34883 B/N 38 37th BS. In service until medio March 1945.
THIS IS 'IT': probably 42-107768 (This Is 'It' (II)) B/N 35 37th BS; MACR 11592 12.24.1944. First one in service until June 1944.
MY GAL SAL: 42-95771 B/N 37 37th BS. In service until April 26th 1945, when it crashlanded at Luneville in France after JV 44 Me-262 attack (General Adolf Galland's unit). More can be read in book "Battle Over Bavaria" by Robert Forsyth.
CHIEF OF THE MEDIUMS: 41-34918 B/N 65. Original name was "Vengeance", transferred from 37th BS and re-named August 1943. In service until November 1944. 100+ missions.
JERSEY BOUNCER III  plus engine cowls, INDIFFERENT and UNDECIDED: 42-43278 B/N 36; MACR 10713 12.17.1944.
LADY EVE: 43-34384 B/N 28 37th BS. Former 344th BG a/c, in service from October-44 until VE-day.
GORGEOUS BETTY: probably 43-34606 (#2) B/N 65. In service from January 1945 until VE-day. Do you have visible serial here?
DREAM GIRL: 44-67869 95th BS. Missions 25+; in service until ultimo May 1945.
MISS MYNOOKIE: 41-34988 B/N 64 95th BS. A true veteran, 140 missions. In service until VE-day.
PIN UP GAL - BETTY GRABLE: 41-32032 B/N 78 432nd BS. In service until ultimo September 1944.
ABROAD FOR DUTY: 42-107557 B/N 32 37th BS. Former 319th BG named "Nobody's Baby". Survived the war.
THUMPER II: 42-107783 B/N 23 441st BS 320th BG. Survived the war, based at Dijon in 1945.
MARAUDER: 41-34929 B/N 30 37th BS. In service from medio May 1943 until April 1945.
THE WOLVES: Two 432nd BS Marauders with that name; probably  "#2" 42-95765 B/N 81 432nd BS. In service until VE-day.
NOBODY'S BABY: see above "Abroad For Duty".

PS: check B-26 Marauder video clips here, also showing the 444th BS shark mouth: http://320thbg.org/film_clips.html
When checking available 320th BG photos, it looks to me that the scan you uploaded can be B/N 75 43-34462 of 444th BS (http://320thbg.org/b-26_serial_numbers.html) according to similarity of nose art (see attachment).

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Deefeater,
 
Working on an album now.  Need to resize my photos as all are presently in TIFF format and about 5mb each.  Will be ready to post in a week or so.  Agree with your identification of 43-34463, thank you for the photo of her in flight.  Do you have any additional information regarding the fate of Chief of the Mediums?  I have numerous photos of her including many crash photos.  Notation on back of one says 'crashed on takeoff with full fuel and full bomb load, amazed she didn't explode'.  One photo shows my neighbor standing in front of the wreckage looking rather glum, but I'm not sure if he was the pilot.  Attached is one photo of the wreck.  Thanks for your input.
 
Hal
 
 


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Hi All,
 
As usual, Deefeater is right on. The above aircraft was indeed a plane assigned to the 320th BG, 444th BS.
 
Here is what I have on this A/C with some of the information compliments of Peter Smith and Paul Clouting.
 
This was an unusual aircraft in that it had three names. The aircraft acquired the name Jungle Happy (painted on the left side of the nose) after landing at Zandery, Dutch Guiana for a plug change. After arriving in Sardinia, it had the name Donna Deloris painted on the right hand side of the nose. In October the aircraft had Margie painted on the left side of the nose as well.
 
Attached are some additional photos, but see these links as well.
 
http://320thbg.org/phaircraft_203.html
 
http://320thbg.org/phaircraft_149.html
 
All the best,
 
Franz
320th BG Reunion Association


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Here is the second photo that shows Donna Deloris which was painted on the other side of this A/C.
 
Franz
320th BG Reunion Association
 


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Good news, Hal! Your scans are of excellent quality. I discarded my first hypothesis when I found B/N 75 of 444th BS (their shark mouth was a trade mark), so your scan is 43-34462. The "Chief of the Mediums" which is seen crashed on your scan was with 95th BS, I forgot to mention that. It cracked up on take off as it blew a tire on November 20th 1944, not an uncommon fate for some Marauders. It is not listed with 37th BS, so I think it must have been transferred rather short time after delivery to 37th BS. Looks like 95 BS had only 14 a/c around August 1943, compared to ca. 22 a/c for 37th BS.

And thanks to Franz for bringing more information about B/N 75, the Marauder with three names, and of course, Peter and Paul.

Franz,
 
Thank you VERY much for this information.  I had always assumed that since these photos were in my friends album that they were ships from his squadron.  Obviously I was wrong.  Guess my picture of 'Donna Deloris / Margie' was taken before October but after 'Jungle Happy' had been removed.  I know very little about the B-26 units, was it common for aircraft to be moved around from group to group?  Is there something about Dijon, were there a number of groups based in the vicinity?  Or maybe my friend just liked to wander around and take pictures of interesting aircraft.  Thanks again.
 
Hal

Deefeater,
 
Thanks again for your continued information.  I will ask my neighbors wife if she has any memory regarding Chief of the Mediums, I think her husband was the pilot that day when she cracked up.  Will keep you posted and will send you a PM when I get the album posted.  Thanks VERY much for your interest and all your help.
 
Regards,
Hal

Hal, Dijon/Longvic in France was base for 17th BG and 320th BG from November 1944 http://320thbg.org/history_dijon.html , so that's the reason for some 320th BG aircraft in the photo albums.

Three 12th AF Marauder Bomb Groups were located in MTO; the two above mentioned plus 319th BG which came to North Africa via England and the Northern route Autumn 1942. 319th BG converted to B-25 Mitchell on November 1st 1944, and was based in MTO until December 31st 1944. They went back to USA to convert to Douglas A-26 Invader and flew missions in the Pacific (Okinawa) from July 16th 1945 until August 12th 1945. These three groups worked together in the MTO. It was not uncommon to get aircraft transferred from other groups, even if it was not daily routine. Some aircraft also shifted squadrons within a group. When 319th BG converted to B-25 at least a few aircraft were transferred to 17th BG, "Abroad for Duty" was one of those. 17th BG also received some Marauders from 9th AF.

9th AF had 8 Marauder Bomb Groups (Medium) and 3 Bomb Groups with Douglas A-20 and later A-26 (Light), first in England and from Autumn 1944 in France. Our friends in 17th and 320th joined the final offensive into Germany, having long experience from North Africa and Italy.
 
We must not forget that men from 17th BG bombed Tokyo in April 1942...