Last night (2/12/24) on Antiques Roadshow a lady brought in an A-2 horsehide leather jacket which bore the inscription “Prowlin’ Tom”, a cartoon black cat and 28 bomb symbols on the back. On the front was the badge of the 390th Bomb Group. Cue research.
One of the first “G” models built, “Prowlin’ Tom” was a Boeing-built B-17G-1-BO with AAF serial number 42-31114 . The aircraft was assigned to the 568th Bomb Squadron, 390th Bomb Group based at Framlingham, UK (Station 153) in October 1943.
I looked at a couple of pictures on the Web (picture 3 particularly) and a thought came to mind: If 42-31114 was a B-17G-1-BO why did she have cheek turrets installed? My initial impression has always been that the early B-17G did not feature the cheek turret although it was restored in later production blocks.
I then caught sight of Picture 1 and everything fell into place.
The caption shown in picture 1 (above) mentions Horham (Station 119) , raising the possibility that the B-17 crashed at another base on returning from a raid in March 1944. The chin turret has been forced upwards and backwards causing the deformation in the nose panels. The aircraft is standing on its wheels in the picture but it’s possible the undercarriage may have collapsed on landing or could not be lowered sufficiently. Significantly the cheek gun position seen in later pictures is absent, indicating this is truly an early production B-17G
By the time that “Prowlin’ Tom” emerged from its repairs (perhaps the 457th Sub Base Depot which was at Horham), the aircraft had acquired a cheek gun position on the port side at least, a relocated bomb log and had its name painted in a different position on the nose. I started to wonder if this was a different B-17 with a similar name, but the light patch of Neutral Gray paint under the relocated name seems to match the earlier position of the slanted version. I am comfortable saying this is the same aircraft following nose repairs.
“Tom” was shot down by flak on a mission to Orleans on June 8th 1944, crashing at Maissemy, Northwest of St Quentin. One crew member was killed, one taken prisoner and 8 others evaded capture. If you want to check it out, the Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) number ts 5479
The lady on “Antiques Roadshow” said the jacket belonged to the gentleman whose house she bought. The appraiser told her to get it into an acid free box lined with acid-free paper and conserve it.
Amen.
