pscearce
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B-17F "The Plastered Bastard"
I'm hoping to find a crew photo or nose art photo of this aircraft, which belonged to the 11th BG, 431st Squadron and was lost in December, 1942 in the Solomon Islands. Crew was Captain Willis Jacobs, pilot; Lt. Stanley Sommers, co-pilot; Lt. William Jackimozyk, navigator; Lt. Clarence Johnson, bombardier; engineer Sgt. Dalos Tuffey; gunners Cpl. Clair Grover, Cpl. Ray Lindamood, and Cpl. Joseph Hartman with radio operator Sgt. Kino Hamalainen and his assistant, Pfc Arthur Lamar. Any leads will be much appreciated! B-17F serial number 41-24534
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25Kingman49
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Phil, With the data you have I would assume you have seen MACR 16444 which seems a large number for this early in the war, but covers this crew. Cpl. Joseph E. Hartman was the lone survivor, fold3 http://www.fold3.com/image/#38638427 no photos of the ship or nose art sorry. I found the story of this mission very interesting along with the post war recreation of what happened in the declaration of death statement. Scott
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djschmitt
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Hello Phil, According to Roger Freeman's book "The B-17 Flying Fortress Story", B-17F 41-24534 was named "OMAR KHAYYAM". The entry does identify the pilot as Jacobs and they were listed as MIA on 1 Dec 42. It also indicates there was a collision with a Japanese fighter that cut the bomber in two and it crashed with tail gunner Hartmann only survivor. I checked Wallace Forman's book "B-17 Nose Art Name Directory" for a bomber with the name of "The Plastered Bastard" with no luck. Not what you were looking for, but hope this is of help.
David Schmitt d.schmitt@prodigy.net son of 1st LT Donald J. Schmitt, USAAF, co-pilot assigned to 493rd BG/863rd BS at Debach, England from Nov 1944 thru May 1945
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pscearce
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Thanks, guys, yes I have the MACR. I think the ship was originally Omar Khayyam, then renamed The Plastered Bastard. I appreciate the input and hope to find a photo.
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Steve Birdsall
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The name of the plane was "Omar Khayyam, The Plastered Bastard", but I've never seen whether that was painted on the nose of 41-24534. The name was a playful tip-of-the-hat to The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which contained very well-known lines like these: A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness — Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!
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pscearce
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jpeters140
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Scott...It has been explained in previou postings that the reason for the numbers of the MACRS that numbered in the 16000s,.... is due to complaints about the MIAs, early on in the war, and the higher numbers were generated from records obtained AFTER the war, from both the German and Japanese records. JIm :-)
James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions 99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45 M/Sgt USAF (Retired)
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pscearce
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Yes, working on the story, was hoping to find the photo I described to accompany it.
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