Plane Names & Bloody Noses: The 100th Bomb Group (Heavy), United States Army Air Force, Thorpe Abbotts, England, 1943-1945, Plane Names - Volume 2 [100BG]

296 pp. Jacket art by author, eight color examples of nose art on jacket flaps and rear panel. Black-and-white photographs throughout text. From the jacket: 'Amid the horror of war, emblazoned on the machines of destruction there was often to be found beauty, humour, poignancy and wit. It was no different at Thorpe Abbotts - home of the group dubbed by some as 'The Bloody Hundredth' or 'The Vanishing Americans.' Many of the B17F and B17G Flying Fortresses based at Station 139 carried nose art or names. Some sported two or three different designs during the course of their combat service. The glamorous, flamboyant pin-up so often associated with the genre resided alongside the cartoon, the sentimental and the sometimes outrageous image. Some crews made do with simple lettering while others, full of intent, could find no-one to paint their plane. The name so lovingly or irreverently bestowed had to be carried from Fort to Fort in the minds of men, or painted onto the back of their A-2 leather jackets. Includes: 260+ Flying Fortresses - their crews, their service, their fate and their nose art; 360+ photographs, many never previously published; 306 combat missions listed and credited to the 100th Bomb Group (Heavy), with aircraft losses; Crew listings for the 120 named aircraft of the group designated as Missing in Action.