Memphis Belle: Famous World War II Eighth Air Force B-17 Bomber

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The members of Belle’s crew first set eyes on their brand new B-17F-10-BO at Bangor, Maine, in September 1942. Morgan had just begun a romance with Margaret Polk, from Memphis, Tenn., and when it came time for the bomber crews to name their planes, he thought Memphis Belle had a nice ring to it. Other crew members had their own ideas for a name, but Morgan persuaded one of them to vote with him, so now he had two votes for Belle and eight for other names. Memphis Belle it was, and a belle in a bathing suit was painted on her side. Her soon-to-be famous nose art had originally been created by George Petty for Esquire magazine. Captain Morgan contacted Petty and gained permission to re-create the curvaceous cutie, and Corporal Tony Starcer painted her on the bomber’s nose.

Morgan flew Belle to Memphis on her shakedown flight. There she was officially christened, with Margaret Polk as an admiring witness. Memphis Belle then crossed the Atlantic to what became the home base for the 91st Bomb Group, Bassingbourn, England.

One of Belle’s more notable missions was flown as part of the 91st Bomb Group’s assault on enemy installations at Romilly sur Seine. In his post-mission debriefing, Morgan recalled: We hit the hangars and the depots. We wrecked 100 German fighter planes on the ground, and we hit a German officers’ mess at lunchtime. We heard later that we also blew up a cellar full of cognac. A diary kept by navigator Charles Leighton provided additional details: On the way we flew over Romilly. We flew over Rouen, where we were attacked by about 25 German fighters. They were coming at the nose so I got off a lot of shots. Bob said I got one, but I was firing so fast I didn’t have time to notice. I shot over 700 rounds. I saw two B-17s go down in front of us. When they fire at you head-on, it looks as if the whole plane is exploding.

Morgan reported: First one squadron hit us and then another and another. We were shot at on the way to the target, over the target and then on the way out. By the time it was over, some of the Germans had attacked us…landed and refueled, picked up some ammunition and were up attacking us again. For one hour and fifty-eight minutes they followed us. I never saw so many attacks in my life. On that occasion, Belle was over enemy territory for 2 1/2 hours.

After her 25th, and final, raid over Europe, Belle set out on one more mission — returning to the States on a triumphant public relations tour. That three-month mission during the summer of 1943 took the crew to 31 cities, including Washington, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Wichita and Mobile. Every time they appeared — at bond rallies and aircraft plants — the crewmen were treated as heroes.

The famous plane had only one female passenger in her triumphal tour across the United States — the aircraft’s mascot, Stuka, a Scottish terrier that came aboard in England. Purchased in a London pet store by co-pilot James Verinis, the Scottie accompanied the crew to every one of Belle’s tour destinations. Stuka dined on filet mignon almost daily.Although General Henry H. Hap Arnold had given Morgan permission to fly the B-17 as low as he pleased during their tour, it’s almost certain that the general hadn’t meant for the bomber to buzz rooftops as she made her way across the nation. Nonetheless, when Morgan piloted Belle to an event in his hometown of Asheville, N.C., he brought the big bomber in low, barely skimming the roofs of downtown buildings and seemingly aiming for the city hall and courthouse. There was some space between the two buildings, but not enough to accommodate the 103-foot wingspan of the B-17. Just moments before Belle would have crashed, Morgan flipped her on her side and blasted through the gap — vertically. Some startled observers on the ground muttered that whoever was piloting the plane should be court-martialed.

Morgan again put on a good show in Memphis, the second stop on the tour. Once more someone mentioned a court-martial for the pilot, this time a high-ranking military officer. One Memphis newsman wrote: He had a special reason to pull out all the stops here. Waiting on the ground was the girl he loved (Margaret Polk), the girl he was engaged to marry. A cocky young man always wants to strut in front of his girl. Morgan and Polk never quite made it to the altar, but they remained lifelong friends after their romance ended. As for Belle, she would eventually end up in the city that she was named after.

Morgan’s military career did not end with his final flight in Memphis Belle . When the young pilot returned from Europe, USAAF Commander Hap Arnold had jokingly told him that he could have any position in the Army Air Forces but his own. Morgan subsequently volunteered to lead a squadron in the first Boeing B-29 Superfortress strike against Tokyo, in November 1944. He flew in a B-29 dubbed Dauntless Dotty (named after Dorothy Johnson, the woman Morgan did marry, just before shipping out for the Pacific War). Morgan’s B-29 strike against Tokyo was America’s first attack on the Japanese city since the Doolittle raid two years earlier in North American B-25s. One hundred eleven planes were launched against the Japanese city, 17 of which were forced to turn back by engine problems. The flight was commanded by General Emmett Rosy O’Donnell, flying with Morgan in Dotty .

When they encountered the jet stream for the first time during that mission, the bomber formations were disrupted, making accurate bombing all but impossible. Morgan later recalled of that sortie, We had a hell of a time with our bombsight, and I had the best bombardier with me, Vince Evans, my bombardier on the Memphis Belle.

A later mission to the Japanese Home Islands, on March 9, 1945, proved much more successful. This time 302 B-29s participated, with 270 arriving over the target.

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Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Aerial Combat, Airborne Operations, Aircraft, Aviation History, Historical Conflicts, World War II

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