The Memphis Belle is a Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress 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 the 1990 Hollywood feature film Memphis Belle. It was one of the first United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) B-17 heavy bombers to complete 25 combat missions, after which the aircrew returned with the bomber to the United States to sell war bonds.

In 2005 restoration began on the Memphis Belle at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio where, since May 2018, it has been on display.

One of the several B-17s used in the 1990 feature film Memphis Belle, is housed at the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo, New York but is currently undergoing extensive maintenance at the Palm Springs Air Museum in California.Aero Vintage Books, B-17G 44-83546 at the Palm Springs Air Museum Update: August 19, 2022, Retrieved Aug. 18, 2023.

Early history

The Memphis Belle, a Boeing-built B-17F-10-BO, manufacturer's serial number 3170, USAAC Serial No. 41-24485, was added to the USAAF inventory on 15 July 1942,Havelaar 1995, p. 211. and delivered in September 1942 to the 91st Bombardment Group at Dow Field, Bangor, Maine.Bishop 1986, p. 133. It deployed to Prestwick, Scotland, on 30 September 1942, moving to a temporary base at RAF Kimbolton on 1 October, and then finally to its permanent base at RAF 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), with the squadron code "DF" and individual aircraft letter "A".Bishop 1986, p. 233.

Source of the name The B-17 was named after pilot Robert K. Morgan's sweetheart, Margaret Polk, a resident of Memphis, Tennessee. Morgan originally intended to call the bomber Little One, which was his pet name for Polk. After Morgan and copilot Jim Verinis viewed the feature film Lady for a Night, in which the leading character owns a riverboat named the Memphis Belle, he proposed that name to his aircrew, who agreed to the name by vote.Morgan and Powers 2001, p. 98. Morgan then contacted George Petty at the offices of Esquire magazine and asked him for a pinup drawing to go with the name, which Petty supplied from the magazine's April 1941 issue.Morgan and Powers 2001, p. 99.

The 91st's group artist, Corporal Tony Starcer, copied, then transferred the Petty girl artwork to both sides of the forward fuselage, depicting her swimsuit in blue on the aircraft's port side and in red on the starboard side. The nose art later included 25 bomb shapes, one for each mission credit, and eight Nazi swastikas, one for each German aircraft claimed shot down by the crew. Station and crew names were stenciled below station windows on the bomber after its tour of duty was completed.

Crew and combat missions

The crew for the Memphis Belle was 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 Mascot: Stuka the Scottish Terrier

Captain Robert K. Morgan's crew flew 25 combat missions with the 324th Bomb Squadron; all but four were in the Memphis Belle. The bomber's 25 combat missions were:

7 November 1942 – Brest, France"25 Missions: The Story of the Memphis Belle." Air Fronts. Retrieved: 12 August 2008 9 November 1942 – St. Nazaire, France 17 November 1942 – St. Nazaire, France 6 December 1942 – Lille, France 20 December 1942 – Romilly-sur-Seine, FranceMorgan and Powers 2001, pp.127, 384 (Mission list). 30 December 1942 – Lorient, France (flown by Lt. James A. Verinis) 3 January 1943 – St. Nazaire, France 13 January 1943 – Lille, France 23 January 1943 – Lorient, France 14 February 1943 – Hamm, Germany 16 February 1943 – St. Nazaire, France 27 February 1943 – Brest, France 6 March 1943 – Lorient, France 12 March 1943 – Rouen, France 13 March 1943 – Abbeville, France 22 March 1943 – Wilhelmshaven, Germany 28 March 1943 – Rouen, France 31 March 1943 – Rotterdam, Netherlands"Hells Angels vs. Memphis Belle, Historical Information." 303rd Bomb Group Association. Retrieved: 11 August 2008.Morgan and Powers 2001, p. 187."1943 dailies of 324th Bomb squadron." 91st Bomb group Association. Retrieved: 11 August 2008. 16 April 1943 – Lorient, France 17 April 1943 – Bremen, Germany 1 May 1943 – St. Nazaire, France 13 May 1943 – Meaulte, France (flown by Lt. C.L. Anderson) 14 May 1943 – Kiel, Germany (flown by Lt. John H. Miller) 15 May 1943 – Wilhelmshaven, Germany 17 May 1943 – Lorient, France 19 May 1943 – Kiel, Germany (flown by Lt. Anderson)

Morgan's crew completed the following missions in B-17s other than the Memphis Belle:

4 February 1943 – Emden, Germany (in B-17 DF-H 41-24515 Jersey Bounce)Morgan and Powers, pp. 167, 384. 26 February 1943 – Wilhelmshaven, Germany (in B-17 41-24515)Morgan, pp. 177 and 384. 5 April 1943 – Antwerp, Belgium (in B-17 41-24480 Bad Penny) 4 May 1943 – Antwerp, Belgium (in B-17 41-24527, The Great Speckled Bird)Morgan and Powers, pp. 196, 385.

The Memphis Belle was flown back to the United States on 8 June 1943 by a composite crew chosen by the Eighth Air Force, airmen who had flown combat aboard; they were led by Capt. Morgan for a 31-city war bond tour. Morgan's original co-pilot was Capt. James A. Verinis, who himself piloted the Memphis Belle for one mission. Verinis was promoted to aircraft commander of another B-17 for his final 16 missions and finished his tour on 13 May. He rejoined Morgan's crew as co-pilot for the flight back to the United States.

Other 25 mission aircraft A B-17E, serial number 41-2489 and nicknamed "Suzy-Q", of the 19th Bombardment Group, was the first USAAF heavy bomber in any theater to complete 25 missions (flown in the Pacific from February to October 1942) and return to the US.

A Consolidated B-24D Liberator, serial number 41-23728 and nicknamed "Hot Stuff", of the 93rd Bombardment Group, was the first B-24 in the European Theater to complete 25 missions, in February 1943, and reached 31 missions before it was sent back to the US. It crashed in Iceland on 3 May 1943, killing the commander of all United States forces in the European Theater of Operations at the time, Lieutenant General Frank Maxwell Andrews.

Recent research by Mick Hanou, president of the 91st Bombardment Group Memorial Association, and historian Jeff Duford, senior historian at the Air Force Research Laboratory History Office in Dayton, Ohio, and a former curator at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, confirmed that a B-17F of the 323rd Bombardment Squadron, 91st Bombardment Group, serial number 42-5077 and nicknamed Delta Rebel No. 2, completed 25 credited combat missions on 1 May 1943. Delta Rebel No. 2, was the first B-17 in the European Theater to complete the feat, two weeks before Hell's Angels. Delta Rebel No. 2, was shot down during the 12 August 1943 mission to Gelsenkirchen, Germany, with six of its crew captured as prisoners of war and four killed in action.

A B-17F, serial number 41-24577 and nicknamed Hell's Angels, of the 303rd Bombardment Group, completed 25 combat missions on 13 May 1943."Boeing B-17F-25-BO Hell's Angels. National Museum of the United States Air Force, 25 June 2009. Retrieved: 16 July 2017.

Postwar history In his memoirs, Morgan claimed that during his publicity tour, he flew the Memphis Belle between the Buncombe County Courthouse and the City Hall of Asheville, North Carolina, his home town. Morgan wrote that after leaving a local airport he decided to buzz the town, telling his copilot, Captain Verinis, "I think we'll just drive up over the city and give them a little goodbye salute". Morgan turned the bomber down Patton Avenue, a main thoroughfare, toward downtown Asheville. When he observed the courthouse and the city hall (two tall buildings that are only about 50 ft (20 m) apart) dead ahead, he lowered his left wing in a 60 degree bank and flew between the structures. He wrote that the city hall housed an AAF weather detachment, whose commanding officer allegedly complained immediately to the Pentagon, but was advised by a duty officer that "Major Morgan...has been given permission to buzz by General Henry "Hap" Arnold".Morgan and Powers 2001, pp. 241–242.

On 23 December 1943, the Memphis Belle, having completed its combat assignment and subsequent stateside war bond drive, was assigned to MacDill Field, Florida. It became a B-17 aircrew and ground crew training aircraft, remaining at MacDill Field until after Victory in Europe Day (VE Day). After VE Day, the aircraft was flown to Altus AAF, Oklahoma for storage and eventual reclamation.

Display in Memphis

After the war, the Memphis Belle was saved by the mayor of Memphis, Walter Chandler, from Altus Army Airfield where it had been consigned since 1 August 1945. He arranged for the city of Memphis to buy the B-17 for (). It was flown to Memphis in July 1946 and stored until mid-1949, when the bomber was placed on display at the National Guard armory near the city's fairgrounds. It sat out-of-doors into the 1980s, slowly deteriorating from weather and vandalism. Souvenir hunters removed almost all of the interior components. Eventually, no instruments were left in the cockpit, and virtually every removable piece of the B-17's interior had been scavenged, often severing the wiring and control cables in the process.

In the early 1970s another mayor donated the historic B-17 back to the custody of the United States Air Force, but they allowed it to remain in Memphis, contingent on it being maintained. Efforts by the locally organized Memphis Belle Memorial Association, Inc. (MBMA) saw the bomber moved to Mud Island in the Mississippi River in 1987 for display in a new pavilion with large tarp cover. It was still open to the elements, however, and prone to weathering. Pigeons nested inside the tarp, and their droppings were constantly needing removal from the bomber. Dissatisfaction with the site led to efforts to create a new museum facility in Shelby County. In the summer of 2003 the Memphis Belle was disassembled and moved to a restoration facility at the former Naval Air Station Memphis in Millington, Tennessee for the work needed. In September 2004, however, the National Museum of the United States Air Force (NMUSAF), apparently tiring of the ups-and-downs of the city's attempts to preserve the B-17, indicated that they wanted it back for restoration and eventual display at the NMUSAF at Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, Ohio. The Memphis Belle-The Final Chapter in Memphis, a documentary film by Ken Axmaker, Jr., focuses on the history of the Belle in Memphis, emphasizing the final days and the volunteers who tried to keep the Memphis icon from disappearing.

Move to Dayton

On 30 August 2005, the MBMA announced that a consultant that they hired determined that the MBMA would not be able to raise enough money to restore the Belle and otherwise fulfill the Air Force's requirements to keep possession of the bomber. They announced plans to return the B-17 to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, Ohio, after a final exhibition at an airshow in Millington, Tennessee from 30 September–2 October 2005. The Belle arrived safely at the museum in mid-October 2005 and was placed in one of the museum's restoration hangars.