media-414173.jpg FRE 7996 The damaged tail of a B-24 Liberator (DC-A, serial number 42-50390) of the 392nd Bomb Group. Handwritten caption on reverse: 'Battle damage - Flak? Quite a hole - eh!' Second Handwritten caption on reverse: 'Survived war, DC-A, 577BS.' Printed caption on reverse: '392BG, 577SQ.' On reverse: John E. Bode Aug 05 1964 [Stamp]. Additional Information: 42-50390 replaced 42-51207 (B-24H-30-DT) as DC-A+ in the 577BS after its loss on 02/12/44. 42-50390 was named DOOLITTLE’S DELIGHT on the right nose. It flew 22 missions until 22/03/45 when it was strafed on its home airfield by enemy intruders. This is the damage shown in the photograph. It was repaired and transferred to the 579BS coded GC-A (bar over) in May 1945 but did not fly any combat missions, being flown back to the US in June 1945. It arrived at Altus, OK, for the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in October 1945 and was eventually cut up and melted down for scrap along with all the other AAF aircraft stored there. Roger Freeman Collection

Bob Livingstone