Plane Names & Fancy Noses: The 91st Bomb Group (Heavy), United States Army Air Force, Bassingbourn, England, 1942-1945
London: Design Oracle Partnership / USAAF Nose Art Research Project, 1993. Bowden, Ray. First Edition. Large Hardcover. Good / Good. Item #2354580
ISBN: 1898575002
First edition. Signed by author without inscription on half-title page. Bottom third of cover stained, interior clean and unmarked. Errata slip laid in.
256, 32 pp. Jacket art by author. A collection of 400 black-and-white photographs depicting 270 Flying Fortresses, many never previously published, with a list of 340 combat missions flown by the 91st Bomb Group (Heavy) with aircraft losses, a full crew listing for all named aircraft MIA with the 91st, and a listing of serial numbers of all known B17s assigned to the 91st. From the jacket: "The 91st Bomb Group had the good fortune to number among its ranks several talented and artistic men. This good fortune manifested itself in the display of some of the finest examples of airplane nose art to be seen in the US 8th Air Force in England or indeed anywhere in the world. The Flying Fortresses from Bassingbourn sported an impressive array of humorous, glamorous, outrageous or sentimental artworks, many copied in miniature form onto the backs of aircrew A-2 jackets. Almost 300 different B17s displayed nose art at Bassingbourn, many carrying two or three different designs in the course of their service with the group. But Fate was no respecter of Art or artistic talent and the stories of these B17 Flying Fortresses span every aspect of the vicious air war that was fought high above Hitler's Third Reich. Some of them ended their days as a pile of twisted junk in a German field, some just got weary of war and were salvaged after many missions over enemy territory. Others survived their combat service and returned to the States for War Bond drives, displaying their glory to the public, or to take part in training programmes for fledgling crews. Two, just two, of the 91st's planes survive today after half a century. Renovated and refurbished they live on, inspiring new generations with their stories and the stories of their crews. Ordinary men who attained extraordingary achievements, on the ground and in the air, men who still talk of 'their' planes. These are their stories."
Price: $125.00