This B 17 was shot down on the 23rd mission of her last crew http://www.luftkrieg-oberhavel.de/webs/usaforce/us018.htm of the crew of 9, one survived, and one wasn't brought home for burial until 2014 https://www.fieldsofhonor-database.com/index.php/fr/american-war-cemetery-margraten-a/45126-atkinson-gerald-v. It was the 69th mission of the plane. http://www.303rdbg.com/ground-nose.html
Looks like Disney's pistol-packing rooster named Panchito Pistoles, from the cartoon The Three Caballeros, a 1944 film, which was premiered in Mexico City in Dec 1944, and was being shown publicly in London at least by August 1945.
https://b17flyingfortress.de/en/b17/44-8427-henns-revenge/44-8427/
A thorough encyclopedic article at http://www.303rdbg.com/358murray.html
In 1998 Ray Calenberg wrote "Diary: 35 combat missions of B-17 crew on "Henn's Revenge" over Germany--WW II" https://www.amazon.com/Diary-combat-missions-Revenge-Germany-WW/dp/B0006FBS50
Panchito was also nose art on a B25, a B29, and was known as Pancho Pistoles in the Mexican Squadron 201
Three second lieutenants - Lopez, Vega and Moreno - found the wreck of a Japanese Nakajima Ki-84 fighter, removed its left wing and planted it in the ground, tip-up, at the main entrance to the encampment.
Moreno, a pilot who had aspired to a career as an architect before the war, painted the popular cartoon character "Pancho Pistolas" on it.
Here's "little friend" Panchito's bigger cousin:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.delawareaviationmuseum.org/aircraft/b-25.html