Warbird Information Exchange

I hope eventually to be able to post photos of all the PFF "Mickey" H2X equipped B-17s that were assigned to the 401st Bomb Group.
I'll add to this post as any new information is found.

Current known allocated aircraft: 17
Current photographed aircraft: 13
Last updated: 25th August 2013

B-17G-20-VE 42-97600
Ex-94CBW PFF aircraft.
Allocated 401BG 614BS IW-Y 20th August 1944.
Lost in Action 21st November 1944.





B-17G-25-VE 42-97636
Ex-94CBW PFF aircraft.
Suffered Category 3 damage as a result of a landing accident 8th August 1944, Lt. William C. Mannix (613th Squadron) flying.
Aircraft repaired and brought back into service.
Allocated 401BG 615BS IY-H 26th August 1944.
Suffered Category 3 damage as a result of a landing accident 18th February 1945, Capt. Paul E. Campbell (615th Squadron Operations Officer) flying.
Aircraft repaired and brought back into service.
Transferred to 305BG in May 1945 for Project Casey Jones.
(Seen at the far end of the dispersal)



Aftermath of the 18th Feb 45 accident


B-17G-40-VE 42-97947
Suffered Category 3 damage as a result of a taxying accident at Denver Municipal Airport 14th April 1944, just two days after delivery to the USAAF, Leon H Pringle of the 6th Ferrying Group in command.
Ex-94CBW PFF aircraft.
Allocated 401BG 612BS SC-U 7th August 1944.
Suffered unspecified damage in a ground accident whilst parked 5th February 1945, repaired and flew as High Sqn. Lead the next day.
Transferred to 615BS IY-U end of February 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in August (May?) 1945 for Project Casey Jones.
Most likely to be the true identity of "Snooper" seen downthread.







Note the ILS repeater and associated equipment installed top right.


B-17G-45-VE 44-8033
Allocated 401BG 614BS IW-C 17th August 1944.
Transferred to 615BS IY-C end of February 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in May 1945 for Project Casey Jones.







B-17G-50-VE 44-8153
Allocated 401BG 612BS SC-Q 18th August 1944.
Transferred to 615BS IY-O end of February 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in May 1945 for Project Casey Jones.





B-17G-55-VE 44-8258
Allocated 401BG 615BS IY-A 4th October 1944.
Force-landed Melsbroek, Belgium on December 11th 1944.
Destroyed on the ground at Melsbroek by German fighters, 1st January 1945.





B-17G-55-VE 44-8259
Allocated 401BG 614BS IW-G 17th November 1944.
Transferred to 615BS IY-K end of February 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in May 1945 for Project Casey Jones.



And in her post-war 305BG service, with the ghost of the 401st stripe still visible on her fin:



B-17G-60-VE 44-8371 "Badland Bat II / Freckles"
Allocated 401BG 615BS IY-M 30th November 1944.
Suffered unspecified damage in a ground accident whilst parked 8th February 1945.
Lost in Action, 16th February 1945.
(Second aircraft from front)



B-17G-65-VE 44-8449
Allocated 401BG 613BS IN-P 9th November 1944.
Suffered Category 3 damage as a result of a take-off accident 20th November 1944, Lt. K.A. Baker flying.
Aircraft repaired and brought back into service.
Transferred to 615BS IY-F end of February 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in April 1945 for Project Casey Jones

No photos yet.

B-17G-65-VE 44-8454
Allocated 401BG 613BS IN-C 19th November 1944.
Transferred to 615BS IY-T end of February 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in May 1945 for Project Casey Jones



B-17G-70-VE 44-8550
Allocated 401BG 613BS IN-Q 1st January 1945.
Transferred to 615BS IY-D end of February 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in May 1945 for Project Casey Jones

Seen here hiding behind 43-38758 IN-P "Fast Company":



B-17G-75-VE 44-8648
Allocated 401BG 613BS IN-M January 1945.
Transferred to 615BS IY-N end of February 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in May 1945 for Project Casey Jones

No photos yet.

B-17G-75-VE 44-8653
Allocated 401BG 615BS IY-S 20th January 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in May 1945 for Project Casey Jones

No photos yet.

B-17G-80-VE 44-8707
Allocated 401BG 615BS IY-M 17th February 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in May 1945 for Project Casey Jones

No photos yet.

B-17G-80-VE 44-8708
Allocated 401BG 615BS IY-G 17th February 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in May 1945 for Project Casey Jones
(As she's flying alongside IW-N 43-38738 "Be Comin' Back" this is either the 10th March 1945 mission #225 to Hagen marshalling yards, or the 10th April 1945 mission #246 to Oranienburg ordnance depot)



In her 305BG colours at St. Trond, Belgium, during Project Casey Jones



B-17G-85-VE 44-8812 "Beat Me Daddy"
Allocated 401BG 615BS IY-A 19th February 1945.
Transferred to 305BG as XK-A in May 1945 for Project Casey Jones

17th March 1945


This is believed to be '812 in April 1945, but not yet confirmed



This is also believed to be the same aircraft:



B-17G-85-VE 44-8825
Allocated 401BG 614BS IW-J 19th February 1945.
Transferred to 615BS IY-J end of February 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in May 1945 for Project Casey Jones.



Seen here on the bomb run with radome extended.
44-8033 IY-C is on her starboard wing as reserve PFF ship, with 44-8767 IN-W on the port wing.



'825 after transfer to the 305BG, during removal of the armament and 401st markings.



"Snooper"
I've not yet confirmed this as one of the "Mickey Ships", but from the photos so far examined it seems only the 401st's PFF aircraft had the cheek guns removed and plated over. The name and nose art are rather apt for a BTO ship too.
Furthermore, there appears to be additional equipment installed above the front cheek window (note the non-standard bolts/rivets) in a similar position to the ILS repeater seen in 42-97947 upthread.



Unknown aircraft, showing the plates over the cheek gun ports.



Unknown aircraft, showing the paired antennae for the SCR 718 Radar Altimeter under each wing (the little T-shaped things below each engine):



The same antennae arrowed in the possible 44-8812 photo:



Nice detail of the scanner radome:



"Little Larry"
Not a "Mickey Ship", but I'll post this photo here for now as it shows another of the electronic warfare devices used by the 401st.
In this case, the distinctive "fish hook" AS-69 Antenna of the "Carpet" Radio Countermeasures jamming set can be seen in front of the open nose hatch.
This device was designed to jam the German Wurtzburg and Flak gunlaying radar equipment.





Any submissions to fill in the gaps gratefully received.

All the best,
Paul

I agree with you on Snooper. I'd bet anything those four fasteners are holding a repeater, only with the bracket oriented horizontally rather than vertically.

Scott

In-flight photo of 42-97947 SC-U added.

List updated: Post-accident photo of 42-97636 added.

In-flight photo of 44-8708 added, that I'd forgotten Mustangdriver sent me last year.

That's photos of 12 of the 17 known assigned PFF aircraft, just 5 remain to be discovered.

So, if anyone has a photo of any of the following Forts, please let me know:

44-8449
44-8550
44-8648
44-8653
44-8707

All the best,
PB

Another ground photo of Snooper has turned up.

"Lt. White and Crew of the 614th Bomb Squadron, 401st Bomb Group, in front of the Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" at an 8th Air Force base in England, 7 April 1945."



However, this once again brings into doubt the accuracy of the captions on the back of the original photos...
Compare with the other nose photo of Snooper from upthread:

"The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress "Snooper" of the 401st Bomb Group at an 8th Air Force base in England, 1 March 1945."



The same 35 mission markers in both images, allegedly taken over a month apart. Something not right there surely?
On a related note, something unusual seems to be going on with the engine nacelle. It seems to have been replaced with a camouflage-painted cowling and cooling flaps, or has some strange discolouration.

Thoughts anyone?

All the best,
PB

I'd guess they replaced the ring cowl because of damage. Or, did the MX folks start building up engines compete with cowlings like the Luftwaffe "power egg" scheme? The cowl flaps could end up with a mix of camo and NMF depending on who built up the flap ring. It also appears that the accessory cowling section is camouflaged, doesn't it? The NMF picks up at the aft end of the accessory section.

Great photos as usual. Makes me miss my old project..........

I miss the PFF project too.
No more trawling through archive photos picking out long-forgotten details, or ringing around Europe tracking down obscure crackle-finish gizmos from dusty shelves.

Still, in a very small way the fruits of the research are going into something constructive...







All the best,
PB

great images!

Cheers MB.

Here's the first images from the followup gallery, showing the 401BG's RCM-equipped B-17s.
This only includes those confirmed so far from mission formation diagrams, Little Larry from upthread has yet to be matched to a serial number:

42-107151
IW-B Cover Girl


43-37551
IY-L IW-Y
No photo yet

43-37706
IN-U Satan's Chillen


43-38541
SC-F Diabolical Angel


43-38565
IW-X Miss Gee Eyewanna Go Home
No photo yet

43-38637
SC-L
No photo yet

43-38646
IW-T
No photo yet

43-38733
SC-K I'll Be Seeing You


43-38738
IW-N Becomin' Back


43-38758
IN-P Fast Company
No photo yet

43-38779
IY-O Rough but Right


43-38788
SC-T Heavy Date


43-38810
IY-N SC-V Mrs Knobby


43-39125
IN-M Der Grossarschvogel
No photo yet

44-6588
IN-D Carrie B IV


All the best,
PB

I finally have some concrete information on the RCM installations in the 401st's B-17s.

From the Group Operational Report for November 1944:

On Saturday, 25 November 1944, the 401st Bomb Group flew it's first Carpet-equipped mission.
Two Carpet transmitters were installed in all aircraft on the formation sheet with the exception of the Group Lead and Deputy Lead, the High Squadron lead, PFF aircraft, as well as any flying or ground spares.

From the GOR for January 1945:

Spot jamming installations have been made in three (3) A/C of each squadron.
This means that in addition to barrage type jamming our formations will now be afforded additional protection through spot jamming of German radar frequencies.

And from the GOR for February 1945:

On the 9th of February 1945 the first "spot" mission was flown by this group.
Each spot jamming aircraft is equipped with an operator, three Carpet transmitters and a spot receiver.
Two of these spot jamming aircraft fly in each twelve aircraft squadron.

This entry from the Group Operational Report for April 1945 caught my eye too...

RADAR.
REMARKS:
1. With the introduction of new equipment in the Radar shop a new building has been erected to house the entire H2X and Eagle maintenance section.

Interesting to see the reference to AN/APQ-7 Eagle radar.
I'm guessing the 401st was working up to being equipped with it had the war in Europe continued any longer, as 8AF operational trials had only just begun by VE-Day.

All the best,
PB

I've been told that there were a couple of APQ-7 Fortresses that flew operations (or were in-theatre at war's end) but was never quite sure about it until you found this information. I'd known that Eagle was used by a sprinkling of MTO Liberators with limited success and have even seen a photo of one, but no joy on B-17s outside the CONUS with the airfoil attached. This all seems to lend an air of reality to my quest for more info. Good sleuthing, my friend!

Ta Scott,

I was flicking through an ancient set of scans from copies of RADAR last night which mentioned that about 30 Eagle-equipped B-17Gs were rushed to England shortly before VE-Day (almost certainly to the 482BG at Alconbury for trials alongside their Eagle-equipped B-24s). However, none of these appear to have flown in combat before operations in the ETO ceased.

Incidentally, the same source indicated that all the B-17 Eagle kits were sent to the Douglas plant for installation.

All the best,
PB

Interesting info on the Douglas connection.

The info about thirty airplanes being rushed to England is consistent with the timing of the B-29 Eagle program. In one of my obscure 315th Wing references mention is made of a shortage of Eagle sets for the training role, part of the problem being that "many" APQ-7s were allocated to ETO testing programs. A shortage of Eagle equipment also affected B-29B production in that some new-production ships were delivered to the AAF without the radar and the sets were installed at the training fields.

44-8812 now has a name!

From information from the 305BG the wartime photo of the 401st's "Beat Me Daddy" can now be paired with the serial number.
Nose art photo duly added, and one of the radar altimeter antennae is visible in the bottom left of the image.

All the best,
PB