B-24 42-40656 THE SQUAW

[JOHN MILLER]

Did this airframe survive? I have a SEPT 1944 mechanix illustrated, and there are pics of her and short story.71 missions and the crew recieved 70 medals. she survived the Pioesti raids.

[Steve Nelson]

I know she and some other veterans of the 8/1/43 Ploesti Raid came home for promotional tours. I quick Google search didn't turn up any information about her ultimate fate, but I assume once the tour was done she was either scrapped, or reassigned to a Stateside training unit (and eventually scrapped.) In any case, it doesn't appear she survived the war. I've often wondered why a relatively anonymous B-24 was chosen for preservation by the USAF Museum. I would have thought that a veteran of Ploesti or one with a higher mission tally would have been considered more desirable from a historic perspective (many internet references incorrectly claim that the "Strawberry B****" is a veteran of the Ploesti raid, but she didn't enter service until the following month.)

Interestingly, "The Squaw's" nose art was "sanitized" for the home front. These days, most people would probably find the somewhat racially insensitive name more offensive than the nudity.

From B24bestweb.com:

The name The SQUAW, on the starboard (right) side, was retained throughout it's combat tour. The original Squaw art work was changed to reflect a more wholesome looking Squaw, for viewing by the people back home.

In the spring of 1943, in compliance with a "Snow White Squadron" directive, the figure of the dwarf Sleepy was painted on the port ( left) side. When The Squaw finished combat and was sent home on a war effort tour, the Sleepy nose art was removed and replaced with a large Mediterranean (MTO) map of the combat area depicting it's sorties.

"This was the artwork she carried in combat



And this was the artwork applied for her War Bond tour

[mustangdriver]

The Squaw is cool, but Strawberry Bitch earned it's place in the NMUSAF

From the pilot of SB:

"As we had approached the base, we could not establish contact with the tower, and once on the ground it was easy to understand why. All of our antennas had been shot away. That in itself was no big deal, but I think it serves to indicate the amount of bullets and shell fragments which had been, flying about the airplane."

[Steve Nelson]

Oh, don't get me wrong, the SB is one of my favorite aircraft. I certainly have no problem with her being in the NMUSAF..I've just always been a bit curious as to why she was set aside instead of a more well-known aircraft. In fact, it's rather amazing that the a combat vet B-17 wasn't originally saved for the museum. The museum's first B-17 was a drone controller..it was just pure chance that Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby not only survived, but was discovered and acquired before being scrapped.

SN

[mustangdriver]

I think that part of it is a change in what is viewed as historic. The museum made many efforts to go after combat vets when able and when they required little work. But many years ago(like in the 60's) it seems that they went after the last remaining examples in service. Such as the C-47, P-51, B-17. I am happy to see that they have shifted that view in the last 15-30 years to go after the combat vets.

[Robbie Roberts]

Interesting- when she was repainted with the cheesy kiddie friendly squaw, she seemed to lose a kill...

Scott

[Jerry O'Neill]

Unfortunately, if "The Squaw" did make it to the NMUSAF it would probably be repainted to a more PC name!

[gemmer]

The B-24D The Squaw's serial no. was 41-11761.

Duane

[kilgorelaw]

Members, pardon any errors in terminology. I happened on this topic and joined only to add a few thoughts to this discussion. My father, Joe M. Kilgore (Maj Gen, USAFR - Dec'd. 1999), picked up (and named) the Squaw in Fort Worth, flew her to Florida, to South America, to Africa, to Libya, and piloted her first 25 missions across the Mediterranean. The 26th mission, by her new crew, was the low level raid on Ploesti, I believe. After her return to the US, she was repainted and he flew her on a war bond tour later in the war. Until the early 1960s, he did not know if the airframe had survived beyond the war.

Then, he was asked one day to Andrews AFB (Dad was a member of Congress and in addition to his service on the House Armed Services Committee, remained in the AFRES as liaison between Congress and the Joint Chiefs) for a "surprise". The Squaw was on the ramp, in unaltered conditioned - a very emotional moment for him. He told us later that the control yoke was still wrapped in kite string - he had liked a "fatter" feel for the yoke and had wrapped it that way in the Libyan desert - and that a copper-wrapped match-stick was still in the fusebox - a relic of an old untraced electrical fault in the flaps circuitry.

I believe he was advised the Squaw had been selected for display in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, but later design changes to the museum forced elimination of the choice (no B-24 is displayed). I also understand that he heard, a few years later, that the Squaw had finally been scrapped.

Dad was a bit sheepish about the originally nose art. Probably for aesthetic reasons only, he preferred the re-paint, but expressed nostalgia for the somewhat crude original.

Thanks, y'all, for keeping the memories of these aircraft alive.

[Duggy009]

From here. -- http://www.axis-and-allies-paintworks.c ... ic.php?377
In August 1943, a combined Liberator force from the Ninth and Eighth Air Force left North Africa destined for the giant German refineries at Ploesti, dedicated to destroying as much of these as possible and handicapping the German ability to fuel its combat forces. Despite suffering heavy losses the mission was a massive success and inflicted vast amounts of damage on major portions of the oil fields. Of the one hundred and seventy nine Liberators that left forty three were lost and a further fourteen aborted. Five hundred and thirty two aviators lost their lives.

"The Squaw" survived Ploesti and other combats, eventually returning to the United States for a promotional tour. Rather than giving the aircraft a fresh paint job, the aircraft was used to pay tribute to the bravery of those still flying and fighting with the US armed forces. Both sides of the nose were adorned with details of the battles in which the aircraft had flown while red arrows drew attention to the un-painted, patched areas of battle damage sustained by the aircraft.

The first three (below) taken in North Africa before the flight home.




And the next at "Fort Worth"











Regards Duggy.

[Steve Nelson]

Fantastic pics..thank you very much for posting! A couple of interesting details..the cockpit photo shows the armor plate added behind the pilot's seats, the retractable (folding) sunshades, and you can just make out the fabric padding on the inside of the cabin. Also, the pictures f the aft fuselage show to good effect the brush-painted red border and white bars added to the insignia after she entered service.

As for her being set aside for the Smithsonian but later scrapped, that happened to dozens of aircract. The museum had many rare and one-of-a-kind aircraft stored in a warehouse near present-day O'hare Airport, but (as I recall) said warehouse was owned by the Navy, and they wanted it back when the Korean War broke out. Some of the aircraft ended up in tarpaper-covered crates (Flak Bait) at Silver Hill, but most were junked (I've heard tales that they ended up as landfill under a runway at ORD.)

Disclaimer: I may be off base or have convoluted different stories..anyone with better or more accurate or detailed info please feel free to correct me!

SN

[gemmer]

Also note the field or depot added wind deflector. Early B-24Ds didn't have them out of the factory. In the second pic, the small rectangular patch by the lower right corner of the navigator's window shows the original location of the pitot tube before depot mod for the 3 gun nose.

Duane

[maxum96]

I love the artwork in this picture. Someone had a sense of humor.

[Django]

I will disagree with the comment that the repainted nose art is cheesy. It's top notch!

Great photos of the tour. I hadn't seen those before.