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Nose art painted by Sgt Eugene Townsend
301st Bomb Group, 32nd Bomb Squadron
England, North Africa, Italy
LEADFOOT B-17F-35-BO 42-5137
301st Bomb Group 32nd Bomb Squadron
Pilot Ken Hamm picked this aircraft up at Smokey Hill, Kansas, in December 1942
and flew it down the coast of South America to Natal, across to the Ascension
Island and eventually to Marrakesh and Biskra to join the 301BG there. Townsend
painted the artwork at St Donat in April '43 using orange yellow for the titling, bright
yellow for the bird and red for its beak. "For some time
my B17 had no name," Ken Hamm recalled. "There was a theory that it was bad luck if we
didn't name the plane and it was the insistence of my flight crew that brought
it about. It was named after the nickname of our much respected crew chief Sgt Gardner. We looked
upon him as the best in the squadron and honoring him satisfied all the crew."
In addition to at least 55 mission markers applied to the left side in four rows,
"Leadfoot" also sported three swastikas for fighter kills (beside the navigator's
rear window) and a bright flak patch between the titling and duck's head.
"Leadfoot" was lost on 30th October 1943 flying a mission to Turin's ball bearing plant.
When the #4 prop was feathered but continued to windmill, Capt Charles Clowe
was forced to leave the safety of the formation. When the engine caught fire and threatened
to explode the fuel tanks, the crew bailed out over the sea. Air sea rescue was unable to
locate any survivors.
© Ray Bowden
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