SUNKIST SUE
B-17G-50-DL 44-6293
401st Bomb Squadron
Jack Gaffney was also Crew Chief to this Douglas-built B17G which he named
and embellished with a beautiful piece of nose art. One of the pilots which
flew the ship intended to rename the plane as "Peggy" after his
wife but he never got round to it before moving on to another Fort.
Another pilot who flew the plane was less than enthusiastic about it, complaining
that it was "sluggish and had trouble maintaining position in the formation".
He suspected it had an fundamental airframe fault and as a consequence the
plane had its ball turret removed at the end of October 1944. His test flight
of the modified "Sunkist Sue" was no milk run -- it was to Merseburg on 2nd
November and the formation came under severe fighter attack. His crew claimed five
enemy fighters during the ensuing melee.
On 29th January 1945, flown by James Ashlock's crew, "Sunkist Sue" lost an engine
over the Niederlahnstein rail yards and lagged behind the formation. Finding safety
at an emergency field on the continent, Ashlock's crew left their plane there and
returned by ferry flight to England. It did eventually return to Bassingbourn
but does not seem to have flown any further missions before returning to the
USA in June 1945.
© Ray Bowden
