AviaS199 wrote:
Last week, while chatting with a co-worker who is also a Warbird fan, he told me his mom was the inspiration for the nose art on a B-24 named "Miss I Hope." My friend says the B-24 in question took part in the Ploesti Raid. It may have been the raid in '43, or one of the many that followed in '44. My friend says he's never been able to locate a photo of "Miss I Hope."
I told him I'd ask the experts on WIX. Anyone know of any photos of this particular Lib?
Cool story, but your friend is mistaken.
The lady on the side of the B-24 Miss I Hope is my grandmother Elizabeth Dawson. She had seven daughters but no sons. She passed away from lung cancer in 1984. Unless my grandfather had an affair with your friends mother that story is just a story.
My grandfather, Lt. Donald Bone, trained in Miss I Hope while stateside but when they arrived in Italy the crew was assigned one squadron and the plane a different one. She also arrived too late to participate in the first Ploesti raid but she did bomb Ploesti in the later, higher altitude missions. This is all confirmed by my research of the actual squadron records of the 455th BG missions out of San Giovanni.
I have also been in contact with the son of the Pilot who actually flew Miss I Hope on some 30+ missions.