WillowRun
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B-24D-25-CO: Lady Be Good
In the current newsstand edition of Air Classics, Vol 44 No. 10, there appears an article by Steven Whitby entitled Difficult Delivery, pp. 23-29, which details the 16AU59 C-130 Hercules mission to locate the B-24D, set the huge C-130 down on the Lybian Desert floor with temperatures around 130 degrees and a full payload, recon the area for "survivor remains" and the condition of B-24D-25-CO, 41-24301, "Lady Be Good," which had disappeared some 16 years earlier and salvage what was possible before setting up further expeditions. The intent of the article was to show the versatility of the new C-130 in extreme conditions as opposed to other useable A/C's of the period. Although there has been a History Channel Special, Books, articles, Website Posts (including one here from 2003), the interest in this discovery and the "mystery" surrounding its disappearance is still prevelant, most especially for those of us who have an interest in the fate of the crew from so long ago and in the B-24. The pics in the article are outstanding! After reading the article, I once again wanted to revisit and spend time with "Lady Be Good." Best Regards! Steven
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Best Regards! Steven Puhl Ford Willow Run Bomber Plant ( FO) Historian MODERATOR: http://www.armyairforces.com/Member: Yankee Air Museum Member: 8TH AF Historical Society Member: 2ND Air Division Historical Society
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ssr481
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Last I heard .. and this was about 4 years ago, the remains of LADY had been hauled out of the desert to a barracks Tobruk.. at one time the Smithsonian was going to get the wreck, but decided it was too far gone.
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Seabee1526
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Send the Yankee Air Museum Aircraft Recovery Team (YAMART) to bring her home!
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WillowRun
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Seabee1526
Send the Yankee Air Museum Aircraft Recovery Team (YAMART) to bring her home!
Steven, Nice Thought! Thanks for the "Vote-of-Confidence," but it won't happen. Jim in the previous post has said what is th current condition. Currently YAM is working on a B-24E static display. Info and links in this sub-forum.
Best Regards! Steven Puhl Ford Willow Run Bomber Plant ( FO) Historian MODERATOR: http://www.armyairforces.com/Member: Yankee Air Museum Member: 8TH AF Historical Society Member: 2ND Air Division Historical Society
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Seabee1526
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Are there any recent pictures?
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WillowRun
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Seabee1526
Are there any recent pictures?
From what I have seen, the ones in the article that I posted in the initial Thread "may be" the most current. However, a google search" "may" bring up later pics. I have not done this recently!
Best Regards! Steven Puhl Ford Willow Run Bomber Plant ( FO) Historian MODERATOR: http://www.armyairforces.com/Member: Yankee Air Museum Member: 8TH AF Historical Society Member: 2ND Air Division Historical Society
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airdave
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Hello again Guys This time I am looking for some help regarding "Lady Be Good" In the process of another repaint (scale Card model) and I am looking for more reference with regard to markings, numbers, lettering, etc on the plane. There seems to be a limited number of photos, mostly just the crash images, which don't really show me much. I also need to confirm the fuselage colour...is it "Desert Sand" (pink) as I believe? or is it a beige/Tan as some others have claimed? and there appears to be only a "64" on the pilot side nose...but some larger emblem on the copilot side (visible in the attached photo)...any idea what this is? UPDATE I have confirmed, from transcripts, that the colour was indeed pink (desert sand). I have also been reluctant to admit this is LBG in this photo, and other "experts" have also concluded that this is NOT LBG. So...disregard my request for information relating to this photo. Thanks I do however need info on the wing markings...specifically the type/style of roundel on LBG. I don't guess anymore!!...there seems to be so many variations, I always get caught! lol But in this case, I can't find any photos to verify.
post edited by airdave -
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WillowRun
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Hello, Dave, You are correct that the attached pic is not LBG. Also I've gone thru what I've had as far as pix and went thru the "google" pix after searching LBG again. There is not much there and not many "before" pix. Even on the BBW there are the pix I've posted. Hopefully, someone on the AAF Site will have something to add.
Best Regards! Steven Puhl Ford Willow Run Bomber Plant ( FO) Historian MODERATOR: http://www.armyairforces.com/Member: Yankee Air Museum Member: 8TH AF Historical Society Member: 2ND Air Division Historical Society
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jpeters140
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The Lady Be Good was a 376th BG B-24...and there is a book, on the 376th BG History, that gives a description of the aircraft.
Unfortuantely, I have loaned my copy to a history buff to read, and he has not finished the book and returnd it to me...however, the book should be available in a Public Library, or it can be purchased...the cost is in the $60 range.
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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Hey Rube
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airdave: I've personally seen parts of the LBG, she was factory olive drab w/pink applied over the factory finish. More pics are available at the USAF Museum in Dayton, OH along with the various remains of the LBG (some of which are said to be scorched with bad luck, having been installed in other a/c that have also ran into bad luck!) Quadafee(SP?)is in possession of the airframe at the former Wheelus Air Base in Libya. Most interesting, I've seen the actual navigators 'doodles' on the navigational maps were he was not following the flight from the get-go!
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SHAEF1944
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SHAEF1944 American Veterans Museum
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SHAEF1944
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SHAEF1944 American Veterans Museum
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SHAEF1944
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A sad fate for sure 
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SHAEF1944 American Veterans Museum
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Mysticpuma
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SHAEF1944
I snagged these pics long ago of Lady be Good and forgot where I put them .... just went thru a CD and found them again. First two are while she was still in the desert. Second three show the sad condition she was / is in now after they apparently took axes or chainsaws to her to move the aircraft to Tobruk.
I have to say I am really impressed with the second image. I have contacted many people regarding the LBG and this is the very first image I have seen that actually shows the name painted on the nose. I have never seen an image before (even in "Lady's Men" or "Lady Be Good") that actually shows the name on the aircraft. Are there any other images that were taken after she was found that do show the complete name on the side of the aircraft nose? So-far the only images I have seen are the ones showing #64 Thanks for sharing that image. Cheers, MP
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WillowRun
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Looking at SHAEF's pix again this morning and am amazed at the resolution and clarity! It was eerie going through its final journey in my mind and staring at what remains sooooo many years later. May the "Lady" and her crew continue to RIP!
Best Regards! Steven Puhl Ford Willow Run Bomber Plant ( FO) Historian MODERATOR: http://www.armyairforces.com/Member: Yankee Air Museum Member: 8TH AF Historical Society Member: 2ND Air Division Historical Society
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Daubach43
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.............. "I do however need info on the wing markings...specifically the type/style of roundel on LBG."
Hello Dave, Don't know if you've seen this before or not, but it clearly shows the roundel on the fuselage. 
Charles Daubach son of: S/Sgt Charles W. Daubach 13th AAF / 5th BG(H) Aerial Gunner 611 -- 1944-45 U S Navy Electronics Tech 2nd class USS Massey DD778 1946-1950
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Kansan
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In addition to the books already mentioned, there are a couple of *very* good articles about the Lady in the British magazine After the Battle but you may have to look around a little. The story of the Lady Be Good is told in After The Battle issue #25 (1979) and the story of the recovery of the wreck (which happened in 1994) is in issue #89 (1995).
The wreck was recovered under the supervision of the Director of Antiquities for Cyrene, Dr. Fadel Ali Mohammed for a proposed museum. Gulf Oil loaned the trucks for the recovery. The wreck had been pretty well stripped over the years - for example by 1968 someone had stolen the entire port vertical stabilizer - I'd love to know whose basement *that* artifact is in! The prop that was at Wheelus AFB was apparently sent to Lake Linden, MI.
When I was at NMUSAF several years ago the engine that was recovered by the RAF in 1968 was sitting under Strawberry Bitch un-tagged - I think they were moving stuff around at the time.
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Rcastardo
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WillowRun
In the current newsstand edition of Air Classics, Vol 44 No. 10, there appears an article by Steven Whitby entitled Difficult Delivery, pp. 23-29, which details the 16AU59 C-130 Hercules mission to locate the B-24D, set the huge C-130 down on the Lybian Desert floor with temperatures around 130 degrees and a full payload, recon the area for "survivor remains" and the condition of B-24D-25-CO, 41-24301, "Lady Be Good," which had disappeared some 16 years earlier and salvage what was possible before setting up further expeditions. The intent of the article was to show the versatility of the new C-130 in extreme conditions as opposed to other useable A/C's of the period. Although there has been a History Channel Special, Books, articles, Website Posts (including one here from 2003), the interest in this discovery and the "mystery" surrounding its disappearance is still prevelant, most especially for those of us who have an interest in the fate of the crew from so long ago and in the B-24. The pics in the article are outstanding! After reading the article, I once again wanted to revisit and spend time with "Lady Be Good." Best Regards! Steven
You forgot the twilight zone episode based on this incident........ King Nine Will Not Return
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Mike.Simpson
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I remember as a kid when they found the Lady Be Good. There was a photo of the plane in the local newspaper and that was the first time that I knew what kind of plane my father flew in during the war. Dad looked over my shoulder and said "That's the type plane I flew in." - absolutely the first and just about only thing he mentioned about the war. That was in 1959 and I was 11 years old.
Mike Simpson Webmaster & Unit Historian 445th Bomb Group (Heavy) www.445bg.org
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Anthony J. Mireles
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It was 70 years ago today, 4 April 1943, that the Lady Be Good took off for Naples about 1510 local time.
. . . Anthony J. Mireles FATAL ARMY AIR FORCES AVIATION ACCIDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1941-1945 www.warbirdcrash.com
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