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Nose art painted bySgt Cecil Lippard
344th Bomb squadron, 98the Bomb Group
Kabrit, Libya, North Africa
JERSEY JACKASS B-24D 41-11776
343rd Bomb Squadron
This was another original B24 painted by Sgt Lippard and assigned to Lt Muehlberg who flew it on at least 24 combat sorties -- the first being against the Corinth Canal in Greece on 25th August 1942. Later missions were flown to strike shipping targets in Benghasi harbour. It was almost lost on 2nd December when another crew (Lt Groff) took the B24 to strike Naples. One hour into the flight, all four engines cut out simultaneously but were restarted as the airplane plummeted towards the sea.
Prior to the invasion of Sicily, "Jersey Jackass" pounded the ferry terminal at Messina to prevent German forces evacuating the island. Strikes against Palermo, Naples and other Italian targets continued well into 1943 and on 17th July it had another lucky escape when flak ripped 40 holes in the side, shot away hydraulic lines and shattered the bomb doors. However, the veteran B24 was repaired and was one of those famed ships which flew the daring low level strike against the Ploesti oil refineries on 1st August 1943. On that day it was assigned to a crew from 389BG (Lt McGraw) but was shot down over Romania with the loss of six of its crew and three listed as POWs.
Lippard cleverly incorporated Hitler's distinctive features into his simplistic artwork of an ass's rear end -- it was undoubtedly a popular image amongst air and ground crew men.
If you have any further knowledge or photographs of this aircraft or its crews please make
contact.
© Ray Bowden
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