Captain Morgan and the Memphis Belle

One of the images that brought George Petty from successful esquire pin-up artist to American icon was the Memphis Belle, a World War II B-17 aircraft. Of the12,750 B-17's built by the Boeing Aircraft Co, the Belle was the most famous because she was the first heavy bomber to complete 25 combat missions and keep her entire crew alive. During the war the command generals had set 25 missions as an incentive for air crews to go home. When The Belle was created, morale was extremely low because 80% of the bombers were shot down during the first three months. The Belle shot down eight enemy fighters, probably destroyed five others, and damaged at least a dozen more. During her 25 missions she flew 148 hours, 50 minutes, and covered more than 20,000 combat miles. She is the only B-17 to have her own file in the Air Force Film Depository. There is even a Hollywood movie, The Memphis belle, which details the story of this B-17.

The crew of the belle were responsible for naming their plane – and at the time
Captain Morgan was in a romance with Margaret Polk, from Memphis, Tenn. It was Morgan that suggested the name and after convincing one of his fellow crew-members to vote with him on the name “Memphis Belle”, won with a majority of one vote. The men of the American army often looked at pictures of the pin-up ladies in magazines such as Esquire to lift their spirits during cold and lonely nights. Therefore it is not surprising that Captain Morgan contacted George Petty and gained permission to re-create his voluptuous cutie, and Corporal Tony Starcer painted her on the bomber’s nose. She flew for 10 months from November 7, 1942 to May 17, 1943.

References:

http://www.historynet.com/memphis-belle-famous-world-war-ii-eighth-air-force-b-17-bomber.htm/2

http://www.b17flyingfortress.de/eng/memphisbelle/aircraft.php

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