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Paul Bellamy
2/9/2012 7:39:59 PM | I posted this photo-of-a-photo printed in the local Kettering newspaper last year.
Despite it being one of the most widely published 401BG photos, I just can't find a high-quality copy of it anywhere to identify many of the aircraft shown and work then out which mission it was taken on.
The closest aircraft is 43-39125 IN-M Der Grossarschvogel / You All Right?, so the photo must have been taken sometime during the first 4 months of 1945, most likely during March-April of that year.
There is an olive drab and grey B-17 in the upper flight so, assuming all the aircraft in the photo are from the 613th, it can only be one of four:
42-31983 IN-G Mary Alice (IY-G of the 615BS to the end of February 1945)
42-31591 IN-J Homesick Angel
42-31072 IN-K Betty J.
42-31730 IN-O Morning Star (IY-B of the 615BS to the end of February 1945)
Any suggestions where else to look guys and gals?
I know it's a USAF photo, but I can't in their archive visually and I don't have an index number for it to look for it numerically.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Paul Bellamy
2/10/2012 12:59:18 PM | Here's the first possible match between the photo and a formation diagram, Mission 228 (Lohne marshalling yards, 14th March 1945):
And the aircraft in the photo marked up according to the diagram, if the photo was taken from IN-D 44-6588:
In this view what would be Shepherd's flight of three is in the low-low element, below and behind Reigler's lead flight which would be out of shot on the left.
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Paul Bellamy
8/14/2012 6:30:10 PM | A couple of updates in this thread to report.
I managed to find an original print of the photo which, when scanned in, was of sufficient quality to eventually be used for the 2012 Reunion Veterans' Signing.
Here it is, albeit condensed for web viewing:
Jake Shepherd was able to immediately confirm it was taken on the Lohne mission, and added an interesting bit of further info.
He also recalled that one of the planes in the image didn't drop it's bombs at exactly the same time as the others, so rather than spoil what was otherwise a perfect picture the bombs were drawn in afterwards!
He didn't say which plane it was while we were chatting, but the quality of the photo I scanned meant it held the answer, courtesy of the bendy blobby inked-in "bombs" compared to the others in the picture:
That'll be IN-U 43-37706 "Satans Chillen", which for some inexplicable reason I'd mislabelled as IN-N in my photo markup earlier in the thread.
Many thanks to Jake for providing the last piece of the puzzle on this one. 🙂
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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win-win
9/16/2012 3:29:49 PM | Hi Paul,
Did the 'original' photo you found have a NARA ID, or was it from some other collection?
Win
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Paul Bellamy
9/16/2012 3:38:42 PM | No NARA ID, it appears to have been a print from the Deenethorpe photo lab.
Paul Bellamy
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win-win
10/11/2012 4:13:43 PM | Paul:
Roger on no photo.
NARA Still Pix just replied to my E-inquiry (w/image: Search results, no joy.
...boy, I hate it when he's right. He's always right...and again. LOL
Win
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