Delivered Cheyenne 2/8/42; Sacramento 1/9/42; Hamilton 16/9/42; Assigned 403BS and 63BS/43BG Mareeba, Aus; Iron Range, Aus 17/10/42; Milne Bay, NG 23/11/42; Mareeba, Aus 21/1/43; Port Moresby, NG 11/5/43; Missing in Action New Britain 30/6/43 with Harry Barnett; Co-pilot: Sydney Bossuk, Navigator: Warren Seybert, Bombardier: Jim Burke, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Jim Candy, Radio Operator: Tony Woillard, Ball turret gunner: Bill Mackay {RAAF}, Waist gunner: Bob Burtis, Waist gunner: Don Carlson,Tail gunner: Phil Lones (10 Killed in Action), crashed Kulit, New Britain. Missing Air Crew Report 2086. I DOOD IT/ PLUTO.

From Joe Baugher USAAF serial number listings database 

Accepted by USAAF 1Aug42. United Air Lines, Modification Center #10, Cheyenne Municipal Airport, WY 2Aug42. Sacramento Air Depot, McClellan Field, CA 1Sep42. Hamilton 

Field, San Rafael, CA for preparation for overseas duty 16Sep42. 

Assigned to SUMAC (Fifth Air Force, Australia) 11Sep42.   Ferried on the South Pacific route via Hickam Field, Hawaii then across the Pacific to Australia. Fifth Air Force. 403rd Bomb 

Squadron, 43rd Bomb Group, Torrens Creek, QLD, Australia. 

Field modification of a B-17E nose cone installed with a reinforced gun mount allowing a single 0.50 caliber machine gun to be mounted in the center of the nose. Took off from Jackson Field (7 Mile Drome), Port Moresby,New Guinea in a storm armed with 500 pound bombs on a mission to bomb a light cruiser reported off Buna, New Guinea 29Sep42.  Searching for two hours in the storm without results, the crew was notified the report was in error and instead bombed the Japanese airfield at Buna. The plane was fired on and damaged by anti-aircraft fire but returned safely. Took off from Jackson Field armed with four 1,000 pound bombs on a low-altitude mission to skip-bomb targets off Rabual, New Britain 2Oct42. Battle damaged by anti-aircraft fire but without injury to the crew. Took off from Torrens Creek on a shuttle mission and landed to refuel at Jackson 

Field 8Oct42. Departed on a night bombing mission to Rabaul, New Britain 8/9Oct42. Caught in the searchlights and battle damaged by anti-aircraft fire. Departed on a follow-up night bombing mission to Rabaul, New Britain 9/10Oct42. Again, the plane was caught in the searchlights and battle damaged by anti-aircraft fire. Iron Range,Lockhart, QLD 17Oct42. Took off from Iron Range on a shuttle mission and landed to refuel at Jackson Field 12Oct42. 

Departed on a night bombing mission to Tonolei Harbor, southeast Bougainville 13Oct42. Starting the descent for the bomb run, an anti-aircraft shell struck No.4 engine. The pilot feathered the propeller, steadied the plane and dropped two 1,000lb bombs on a ship. 

Turning for another attack, the plane passed over an airfield and was attacked by more anti-aircraft fire. After dropping two more bombs on another ship, an anti-aircraft shell tore through the Plexiglas nose, creating a hole about two feet in diameter. The air stream 

rushed in through the nose blowing items around including the crew’s mascot, a small dog named ‘Pluto’ but was unharmed. With the loss of power on a second engine, the pilot turned back for Port Moresby. The plane had to climb to cross the Owen Stanley mountains in a violent storm but made it back to Jackson Field where a third engine quit with fuel exhaustion on landing. Milne Bay, New Guinea 23Nov42. Mareeba, QLD 21Jan43. 

63rd Bomb Squadron, 43rd Bomb Group, Jackson Field (7 Mile Drome), Port Moresby, New Guinea Feb43. Accident on a reconnaissance mission over the north coast of New Guinea 9Apr43 (1WIA). Over Finschafen the plane was intercepted by three Nakajima Ki-43-I Oscar fighters. Aboard, the bombardier was wounded when his 0.30 caliber machine gun jammed and a round detonated in the chamber. Equipped with an experimental radar 

detection apparatus with a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) airman assigned to the crew as radar operator Jun43. Took off from Dobodura, New Guinea as part of a strike force on 

an early morning bombing mission against a Japanese airfield at Vunakanau near Rabaul,New Britain 30Jun43 (10MIA). Over the target, the B-17 was spotted and intercepted by a Nakajima J1N1 Irving night fighter which opened fire with its oblique 20mm cannons and 

observed the bomber's crash into the mountains southeast of Cape Lambert. The crash site was near Kulit village on the Gazelle Peninsula, roughly six miles inland from the Mandres Plantation on New Britain.  

Named I DOOD IT. Named after comedian Red Skelton's character "Mean Widdle Kid" Junior from his Raleigh Cigarette radio program, whose 

favorite phrase: "I dood it!" became part of the American lexicon. 

PLUTO - artwork depicted the Walt Disney character "Pluto" sniffing the ground with a chain extending to the co-pilot's window on the left and right sides of the nose. Painted by Sgt Ernie Vandal Apr43.

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