Chris Dodkin
West Coast Correspondent
From the 'Wings of Freedom' flight - the insignia from the B17 Flying Fortress "Nine-O-Nine".
This B-17 was named "Nine-O-Nine" in honor of a 91st Bomb Group, 323rd Squadron plane of the same name which completed 140 missions without an abort or loss of a crewman.
The original "Nine-O-Nine" was assigned to combat on February 25, 1944. By April 1945, she had made eighteen trips to Berlin, dropped 562,000 pounds of bombs, and flown 1,129 hours. She had twenty-one engine changes, four wing panel changes, fifteen main gas tank changes, and 18 Tokyo tank changes (long-range fuel tanks). She also suffered from considerable flak damage.
After European hostilities ceased, "Nine-O-Nine", with its six-hundred patched holes, flew back to the United States. While the rigors of war never stopped the historic "Nine-O-Nine", she succumbed at last to the scrappers guillotine, along with thousands of other proud aircraft.
This B-17 was named "Nine-O-Nine" in honor of a 91st Bomb Group, 323rd Squadron plane of the same name which completed 140 missions without an abort or loss of a crewman.
The original "Nine-O-Nine" was assigned to combat on February 25, 1944. By April 1945, she had made eighteen trips to Berlin, dropped 562,000 pounds of bombs, and flown 1,129 hours. She had twenty-one engine changes, four wing panel changes, fifteen main gas tank changes, and 18 Tokyo tank changes (long-range fuel tanks). She also suffered from considerable flak damage.
After European hostilities ceased, "Nine-O-Nine", with its six-hundred patched holes, flew back to the United States. While the rigors of war never stopped the historic "Nine-O-Nine", she succumbed at last to the scrappers guillotine, along with thousands of other proud aircraft.
