B-17G-85-BO 43-38450
710th SQ — B
Lucky Partners, photographed at Rattlesden after 60 missions (photo between December 1944 and April 1945)
Cropped version of the photo above that better shows the detail of the artwork.
B-17G-85-BO 43-38450 was rolled out of the Boeing plant in Seattle and delivered to the Air Force at Cheyenne on August 8, 1944. By September 4, it was assigned to the 710th Squadron of the 447th, and began flying combat missions just eleven days later with the Hoffman crew.
It was originally named Little Herbie by the Hoffman crew, but did not bear any name or nose art until much later, when its name changed to Lucky Partners.
Flight listings for 43-38450
These lists are NOT limited to officially credited Combat missions, and may include Aborts, returns and non-takeoff occurrences as well.
70 missions, April 12-13, 1945
43-38450 Lucky Partners, previously known as Little Herbie. Photo believed to have been taken in Prestwick, Scotland on return trip to the US in June 1945.
Hanging in the Mohave Museum of History and Arts in Kingman, Arizona, is a section of the nose of a B-17G. Roughly cut from one of the 1,800 Fortresses stored at the reclamation center there before being unceremoniously chopped and melted down in 1947, the fragment disappeared into a storage shed of the local Elks Lodge. There it remained hidden for decades until donated to the museum. None of the members of the lodge knew exactly where it had come from, or why it was stashed in their shed.
Lucky Partners had been known to have been a part of the 447th, based on a few photographs taken at Rattlesden during the spring of 1945. Yet the actual identify of the aircraft remained in question. The nose panel now preserved in Kingman had been cut below the location of the factory-painted serial number, and the existing photos showed that the name “Lucky Partners” had been painted over the last three (and most significant) digits of that serial number.
However, with careful digital enhancement* of the photographs, it has been possible to make out the partial outline of the complete serial number: 43-38450.
*Enhancement was accomplished by progressively increasing brightness and contrast of the relevant section of the digital image. No additional retouching has been applied to the image.
Home Again
| 7/5/1945 | Returned to U.S. at Bradely Field, CN |
| 7/12/1945 | Arrived at South Plains AAF, TX. |
| 12/1/1945 | Assigned Reconstruction Finance at Kingman. |
See also: Combat Diary of Herbert McNabb
Combat Missions (previously compiled)
| No. | DATE | TARGET | PILOT |
| 1 | 09/13/44 | STUTTGART | HOFFMAN |
| 2 | 09/17/44 | ARNHEIM | HOFFMAN |
| 3 | 09/19/44 | KOBLENZ | HOFFMAN |
| 4 | 09/25/44 | LUDWIGSHAFEN | HOFFMAN |
| 5 | 09/26/44 | BREMEN | HOFFMAN |
| 6 | 09/27/44 | LUDWIGSHAFEN | HOFFMAN |
| Bombardier Herbert McNabb is wounded over Ludwigshafen; the crew dubs the plane “Little Herbie” in his honor. | |||
| 7 | 09/28/44 | MERSEBURG | HOFFMAN |
| 8 | 10/07/44 | MERSEBERG | HOFFMAN |
| 9 | 10/09/44 | GUSTAVSBURG | HOFFMAN |
| 10 | 10/12/44 | BREMEN | HOFFMAN |
| 11 | 10/14/44 | COLOGNE | HOFFMAN |
| 12 | 10/18/44 | KASSELL | HOFFMAN |
| 13 | 10/19/44 | MANNHEIM | HOFFMAN |
| 14 | 10/22/44 | MUNSTER | HOFFMAN |
| 15 | 10/26/44 | HANOVER | MCDERMOTT |
| 16 | 11/04/44 | HAMBURG | MOORE |
| 17 | 11/05/44 | LUDWIGSHAFEN | HOFFMAN |
| 18 | 11/06/44 | NEUMUNSTER | LOVETT |
| 19 | 11/09/44 | SAARBRUCKEN | HOFFMAN |
| 20 | 11/11/44 | OBERLAHNSTEIN | HIGHT |
| 21 | 11/16/44 | DUREN AREA | HOFFMAN |
| 22 | 11/21/44 | KOBLENZ | HOFFMAN |
| 23 | 11/26/44 | HAMM | HOFFMAN |
| 24 | 11/27/44 | BINGEN | HOFFMAN |
| 25 | 11/30/44 | LUTZKENDORF | HOFFMAN |
| 26 | 12/06/44 | MERSEBURG | NORTH |
| 27 | 12/12/44 | DORMSTADT | NORTH |
| 28 | 12/15/44 | HANOVER | NORTH |
| 29 | 12/30/44 | MANNHEIM | RECK |
| 30 | 12/31/44 | WENZENDORF-STADE | RECK |
| 31 | 01/02/45 | NALBACH- | BATES |
| 32 | 01/03/45 | KOBLENZ | COHEN |
| 33 | 01/06/45 | WORMS | NORTH |
| 34 | 01/08/45 | FRANKFURT | LARRANCE |
| 35 | 01/14/45 | MADGEBURG | ARMSTRONG |
| 36 | 01/15/45 | AUGSBURG | NORTH |
| 37 | 01/16/45 | DESSAU | BATES |
| 38 | 01/20/45 | HEILBRONN | NORTH |
| 39 | 01/21/45 | MANNHEIM | JESSEN |
| 40 | 01/29/45 | KASSEL | NORTH |
| 41 | 02/01/45 | WESSEL | KEARNEY |
| 42 | 02/03/45 | BERLIN | NORTH |
| 43 | 02/07/45 | CHEMNITZ | JENNINGS |
| 44 | 02/09/45 | WEIMAR | CHANDLER |
| 45 | 02/14/45 | WESEL | JENNINGS |
| 46 | 02/15/45 | COTTBUS | BEIGHLEY |
| 47 | 02/24/45 | BREMEN | LAWRENCE |
| 48 | 02/26/45 | BERLIN | JENNINGS |
| 49 | 02/27/45 | LEIPZIG | JENNINGS |
| 50 | 03/01/45 | ULM | LARRANCE |
| 51 | 03/02/45 | DRESDEN | DECASTER |
| 52 | 03/03/45 | BRUNSWICK | WAGNER |
| 53 | 03/07/45 | DATTELN | BEIGHLEY |
| 54 | 03/08/45 | FRANKFURT | JENNINGS |
| 55 | 03/09/45 | FRANKFURT | JENNINGS |
| 56 | 03/10/45 | DORTMUND | JENNINGS |
| 57 | 03/11/45 | HAMBURG | JENNINGS |
| 58 | 03/12/05 | INGLOSTADT | JENNINGS |
| 59 | 03/14/45 | HANOVER | COTTLE |
| 60 | 03/15/45 | ORANIENBURG | S. K. JOHNSON |
| Photo bearing the name Lucky Partners after 60 missions | |||
| 61 | 03/19/45 | ZWICKAU | JENNINGS |
| 62 | 03/24/45 | VARRELBUSCH A/F | BLASCHKE |
| 63 | 03/28/45 | HANOVER | BEIGHLEY |
| 64 | 03/30/45 | HAMBURG | JENNINGS |
| 65 | 03/31/45 | BRANDENBURG | JENNINGS |
| 66 | 04/03/45 | KIEL | JENNINGS |
| 67 | 04/05/45 | NURNBERG | JENNINGS |
| 68 | 04/07/45 | SCHWERIN | BAIER |
| 69 | 04/10/45 | BRANDENBURG | JENNINGS |
| 70 | 04/11/45 | INGLOSTADT | JENNINGS |
| 71 | 04/14/45 | ROYAN AREA | JENNINGS |
| 72 | 04/15/45 | ROYAN AREA | JENNINGS |
| 73 | 04/16/45 | ROYAN AREA | KRONSCHNABLE |
| 74 | 04/17/45 | DRESDEN | KRONSCHNABLE |
| 75 | 04/21/05 | INGLOSTADT | KRONSCHNABLE |
Some photos/information provided by:
- Clarence Simonson
- Rob Kirkwood
- Hal Kiena