41-24418 | American Air Museum

41-24418 Mickey Finn aka Special Delivery II

Wes Gallagher, a war correspondent for the Associated Press stationed in North Africa, was allowed aboard a 301st Bomb Group B-17 Flying Fortress on the Group's raid on Tunis in early January 1943. He photographed one of the 301st Bomb Group B-17 Flying Fortresses (serial number 41-24418) through the waist gunner's window aboard the B-17 Flying Fortress he was riding in. Passed for publication 16 Jan 1943. Handwritten caption on reverse: '301BG.' Printed caption on reverse: 'Pictures Taken During Actual B

media-457797.jpg FRE 10130 Wes Gallagher, a war correspondent for the Associated Press stationed in North Africa, was allowed aboard a 301st Bomb Group B-17 Flying Fortress on the Group's raid on Tunis in early January 1943. He photographed one of the 301st Bomb Group B-17 Flying Fortresses (serial number 41-24418) through the waist gunner's window aboard the B-17 Flying Fortress he was riding in. Passed for publication 16 Jan 1943. Handwritten caption on reverse: '301BG.' Printed caption on reverse: 'Pictures Taken During Actual Bombing Raid On Tunis When 19 German Fighters Were Shot Down. This interesting series of photographs were taken by Wes Gallagher, the Associated Press War Correspondent in North Africa, when he flew in one of the bombers which raided Tunis at the beginning of this year. Flying Fortresses carried out the raid, escorted by P-38 fighters. The sortie resulted in the biggest air battle on the Tunisian front to date, 19 German fighters being shot down. Associated Press Photo Shows:- The Fortresses start lining up wing to wing for the attack. This is how one of the bombers looked from the waist gunner's position in the photographer's plane. GAP 254302. 16-1-1943.' Censor no: 243403. On reverse: Associated Press, US Army Press Censor ETO and US Army General Section Press & Censorship Bureau [Stamps]. Roger Freeman Collection

IWM, Roger Freeman Collection

Object Number - FRE 10130 - Wes Gallagher, a war correspondent for the Associated Press stationed in North Africa, was allowed aboard a 301st Bomb Group B-17 Flying Fortress on...

Assigned 352BS/301BG Westover 12/7/42; Chelveston 9/8/42; flew group's first mission 5/9/42; Tafaraoui 26/11/42; as MICKEY FINN 11m; transferred 32BS and renamed SPECIAL DELIVERY II total 79m; Returned to the USA Rapid City 398BG (training) 10/11/43; Written off 20/10/44.

Assigned to the 352nd Bomb squadron at Westover, this B17F was initially named as "Mickey Finn" and flew eleven missions from Chelveston bearing that name. Lt Walter A Williams flew the Fort on the 301BG's first combat sortie to Rouen on 5th September 1942. When the group redeployed to Tafaraoui in North Africa, #418 was transferred into 32BS and re-named as "Special Delivery II" after the originally named Fort suffered flak damage in mid December and was scrapped.

Sixty-eight more missions were completed before "Special Delivery II" was considered "War Weary" and sent back to the USA proudly sporting at least eight swastikas for fighter kills. Here it was used to train the seemingly endless line of fledgling aircrews at Rapid City AAB, including men destined for service with 398BG. In October 1944, it was deemed worn out and written off.

Connections

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Units served with

301st Bomb Group

Unit Hierarchy: Group
Air Force: Eighth Air Force
Type Category: Bombardment

32nd Bomb Squadron

Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
Type Category: Bombardment

352nd Bomb Squadron

Unit Hierarchy: Squadron

398th Bomb Group

Unit Hierarchy: Group
Air Force: Eighth Air Force
Type Category: Bombardment

Places

Chelveston

Site type: Airfield

Missions

VIII Bomber Command 9

Date: 5 September 1942
Official Description:

Events

Event	Location	Date	Description
Assigned	Westover Air Reserve Base, 57 Patriot Ave, Chicopee, MA 01022, USA	12 July 1942	Assigned to 352BS, 301BG 8AF Westover 12-Jul-42.
Other Moved to ETO	Chelveston, Wellingborough NN9, UK	9 August 1942	Moved to ETO with 352BS, 301BG 8AF.
Other Moved to MTO	Tafraoui, Algeria	26 November 1942	Moved to MTO with 32BS, 301BG 8AF.
Other Returned to Zone of the Interior	Rapid City, SD, USA	10 November 1943	Returned to the USA with 398BG training crews for ETO.
Other Written off	Rapid City, SD, USA	20 October 1944	Written off and scrapped 20-Oct-44.
Manufactured	Seattle, WA, USA		Built at Boeing.
Delivered	Washington, USA		Delivered to USAAF.