Visitors can
currently see the Memphis Belle as it undergoes the
final stages of restoration by participating in the
museum’s Behind the Scenes Tours, which are offered
nearly every Friday. The National Museum of the U.S.
Air Force, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base near Dayton, Ohio, is the world’s largest
military aviation museum. With free admission and
parking, the museum features more than 360 aerospace
vehicles and missiles and thousands of artifacts
amid more than 19 acres of indoor exhibit space.
Each year about one million visitors from around the
world come to the museum.
Wikipedia - Memphis Belle is the nickname of a
Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress that was used during
the Second World War that inspired the making of two
motion pictures: a 1944 documentary film, Memphis
Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress, and a 1990
Hollywood feature film, Memphis Belle. The aircraft
was one of the first United States Army Air Forces
B-17 heavy bombers to complete 25 combat missions
with her crew intact. The aircraft and crew then
returned to the United States to sell war bonds.
The crew for the Memphis Belle are as follows:
Pilot: Captain Robert K. Morgan
Co-pilot: Captain James A. Verinis
Navigator: Captain Charles B. Leighton
Bombardier: Captain Vincent B. Evans
The First Engineer/Top Turret Gunner: Leviticus
"Levy" Dillon
The Second Engineer/Top Turret Gunner: Eugene Adkins
The Third Engineer/Top Turret Gunner: Harold P. Loch
Radio Operator: Robert Hanson
Ball Turret Gunner: Cecil Scott
Right Waist Gunner: E. Scott Miller
Right Waist Gunner: Casmer A "Tony" Nastal
Left Waist Gunner: Clarence E. "Bill" Winchell
Tail Gunner: John P. Quinlan
Crew Chief: Joe Giambrone
The Memphis Belle, a Boeing-built B-17F-10-BO,
manufacturer's serial number 3470, USAAC Serial No.
41-24485, was added to the USAAF inventory on 15
July 1942, and delivered in September 1942 to the
91st Bombardment Group at Dow Field, Bangor, Maine.
She deployed to Prestwick, Scotland, on 30 September
1942, moving to a temporary base at RAF Kimbolton on
1 October, and then finally to her permanent base at
Bassingbourn, England, on 14 October. Each side of
the fuselage bore the unit and aircraft
identification markings of a B-17 of the 324th Bomb
Squadron (Heavy); the squadron code "DF" and
individual aircraft letter "A." Captain Robert K.
Morgan's crew flew 29 combat missions with the 324th
Bomb Squadron, all but four in the Memphis Belle.
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