Ме́мфис Бе́лл: Легенда́рный бомбардиро́вщик вре́мени второ́й мирово́й войны́

Boeing B 17F bomber

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 B 17s used in the 1990 feature film was most recently housed at the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo, New York but is currently undergoing extensive maintenance at the Palm Springs Air Museum in California.

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, and delivered in September 1942 to the 91st Bombardment Group at Dow Field, Bangor, Maine. 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.

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 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. 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.

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 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. 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.

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". 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.

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 (350.0 in 1945 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years). 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. After stripping the paint from the aft fuselage, hundreds of names and personal messages were found scratched in the aluminum skin. It turned out that, during the B 17's war bond tour, people were allowed to leave their marks. Footage of people writing on the bomber can be seen in the documentary film The Cold Blue. In May 2017 the museum announced the goal of completing the restoration and putting the Memphis Belle on display by 17 May 2018, the 75th anniversary of the aircraft completing its 25th mission. On 14 March 2018, the Memphis Belle was moved into the museum's WWII Gallery in a private event and was officially unveiled two months later on 17 May 2018. A Rockwell B 1B Lancer (AF Ser. No. 86 0133) was named Memphis Belle. In 1996, Colonel Robert K. Morgan, pilot of the original Memphis Belle, received the opportunity to fly in this aircraft, while it served with the Georgia Air National Guard's 116th Bomb Wing at Robins AFB, Georgia. A General Dynamics FB 111A Aardvark (AF Ser. No. 68 0267) was also nicknamed Memphis Belle II for a period during the 1980s. It is currently located at the Strategic Air Command Museum, located in Ashland, Nebraska. Two Boeing B 52 Stratofortresses have carried the name Memphis Belle. B 52G (AF Ser. No. 59 2594) was named Memphis Belle III and took part in the 1991 Gulf War. That aircraft was retired from active service as the B 52G was phased out of USAF service and sent to the AMARC at Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona in October, 1992. The first B 52H (AF Ser. No. 60 0001) was named Memphis Belle IV and is currently assigned to the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, having seen action in both Iraq and Afghanistan in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. A McDonnell Douglas F 15E (AF Ser. No 89 0485) from the 336th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Wing, flew with the nose art "Memphis Belle III" during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. A Lockheed C 141 Starlifter (AF Ser. No 67 0024) became the Memphis Belle V. It was transferred to the AMARC inventory upon the retirement of all C 141s from active service in the U. S. Air Force, to include the Air Force Reserve and the Air National Guard. A Lockheed C 5 Galaxy (AF Ser. No. 69 0025) was named the Memphis Belle X was assigned to the 164th Airlift Wing of the Tennessee Air National Guard at Memphis Air National Guard Base. A Boeing C 17 Globemaster III (AF Ser. No. 93 0600) is named the Memphis Belle XI assigned currently to the 164th Airlift Wing of the Tennessee Air National Guard at Memphis Air National Guard Base. Pinnacle Airlines' first Bombardier CRJ (N8390A) is named Spirit of Memphis Belle.