Mission Belle


The plane

The Boeing B-17 was a  four-engine heavy bomber for long distance missions, and the B-17G  was the last and most perfected operational version with a ball turret in her belly and all turrets had double Browning calibre 0.50 machineguns. It was the last version that took part in the war. The B-17 was used in very large numbers over the European theatre.

In total there were 12.731 B-17 planes build and some of them still fly.

Some specifications of this plane are:
Length    74 feet and 4 inch
Height    19 feet and 1 inch
Wingspan  103 feet and 9 inch
Empty weight    31.135 lb (pounds)
Loaded weight    54.000 lb (pounds)
Maximum takeoff weight    65.500 lb (pounds)
Maximum speed  287 miles per hour
Armament    13 pieces of Browning calibre 0.50 machinegun


The Boeing B-17G 'Mission Belle' with factorynumber 42-31097 ended up, after repeatedly being attacked and in addition heavily damaged, against a jetty in the Lek river between the villages Nieuw-Lekkerland and Streefkerk on December 1st, 1943. The unit of this plane was the 535th Squadron of the 381th Bombardment Group. The plane was transferred to her squadron on November 21st, 1943 at her homebase Ridgewell, Engeland, and flew her first mission.

Logo of the 381st Bomb Group
 Logo of the 535th Squadron
 Tail marking of the 381st Bomb Group


©  & ® Mission Belle, September 19th, 2016.