A little small town history which grabbed my attention:
During the course of my research on a B-24J 42-50535 "Joplin Jalopy" I found that the residents of the City of Joplin, Missouri and Jasper County, Missouri had purchased sufficient war bonds/stamps to have a number of aircraft, vehicles and a Victory Ship named after Joplin and the County.
1. August 1943 - a P-51 is named "The Joplin School District" after 7,000 pupils bought enough war bonds - someone from NAA sent a photo to the School superintendent. The Joplin School disctrict wanted to save $75,000 for the P-51 - in fact they saved about $162,000 so they purchased 75 Jeeps with the change.
2. August 1943 - a B-17F is named "Jasper County, Missouri" (where Joplin is located) and one other B-17F was 'purchased' and similarly named after Joplin or Jasper County at this time.
There are apparently photos of the first two planes in the local newspaper archives but I haven't seen them yet. I don't know any serial numbers.
The victory ship "Joplin Victory" was named for the city in April 1944 after another war bind drive
Two other four-engine bombers were proposed to be named "Joplimo" and "Ozark Nell" in June 1944. I suspect one of these may have ended up being "Joplin Jalopy" which was accepted by the 44BG in July 1944 - These were two of four purchased by a war bond drive in summer '44.
Questions:
Anybody recognise the P-51 or the B-17F? They're not listed anywhere obvious and the B-17 doesn't feature in Wally Foreman's B-17 Name/Nose Art Directory.
What model P-51 are we talking about if it was completed in August 1943?
Ozark Nell?? Don't even know what kind of ship it might have been.
I realise a lot of names applied stateside were erased or changed when the ships got in-theater (if they even got that far) but just wondered if any WIX-ers are hearing any bells ringing.
"Joplin Victory" survived WWII and served in the Merchant Marine in the Korean War. I know very little else about it. Any wixers with maritime interests who can tell me more?
Rob / Kansan
If you're interested you can see the Joplin Jalopy blog at
http://joplinjalopy.blogspot.com
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