Material for this section was compiled by Rob Kirkwood and David Wayrynen
Vintage Kingman photos courtesy William T. Larkins
Additional photographs provided by Clarence Simonsen, Hal Kiena, Lars Schjøring Knudsen, and the Mojave Museum in Kingman
“Warbirds’s Swansong”
by Jerry McLain
It is the story of a thousand fighting planes stored at various places in Arizona, most of them awaiting the junkman’s hammer. In their fighting days they were proud, serene, deadly rulers of all the skies above Earth. Magnificent machines of war, beloved by the young men who were part of them. The young men have scattered now. The planes are left alone on the Arizona desert, dreaming their dreams of glory, and whispering of never-to-be-forgotten days–but maybe it isn’t whispering we hear. Maybe it is the night wind and moondust against the fuselage.
Arizona Highways magazine, May 1947
With only one possible (and debatable) exception,* the aircraft that served the 447th and survived ended up at two storage facilities, where they were unceremoniously stripped, chopped to pieces and melted down. Of those storage fields, Kingman came to be the best known, in part from the article appearing in a 1947 issue of Arizona Highways magazine, and in part because of the scope of the facility. It was once called “five square miles of airplanes.”
Storage Depot No. 41 — Kingman
52 of the 447th’s aircraft are known to have reached Kingman after the war. Those are identified in the following list, together with photographs taken during 1946-1947 before scrapping operations began. Three (possibly four) 447th aircraft are known to have reached another reclamation center at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas.
The 447th BG Forts at Kingman
| 42-31168 | No photo |
| 42-31206 “JOURNEYS’ END“ | Photo in Operation Caption CC34 |
| 42-31225 G “SCHEHERAZADE“ |  |
| 42-37871 | No photo |
| 42-37873 F | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 42-38052 “Lucky Stehley Boy” | No photo |
| 42-39882 L | No photo |
| 42-97092 K “HEEL DER FUHRER“ | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 42-97392 F “RAMBLIN’ WRECK“ | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 42-97646 B | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 42-97803 | No photo |
| 42-97804 E |  |
| 42-97900 D | No photo |
| 42-97976 D
“LOUIE THE CREEP” “BIT O’ LACE“ |
 |
| 42-102668 G | No photo |
| 43-37544 J “D-DAY DOLL“ |  |
| 43-37570 P Stormy Weather | 
|
| 43-37756 G “MILK WAGON“ |  |
| 43-37774 | No photo |
| 43-37795 H “DIXIE MARIE“ | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 43-37797 Q “AMERICAN BEAUTY“ |  |
| 43-37873 N “NAZDROWIE“ | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 43-38230 E “WOLF WAGON“ |  |
| 43-38450 B
“LITTLE HERBIE” “LUCKY PARTNERS“ Fragment of noseart in the collection of the Mojave Museum, Kingman. |
 |
| 43-38466 C |  |
| 43-38524 S “BLONDE BOMBER II“ | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page; also in the Color Collection |
| 43-38622 Q | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 43-38712 C “BUDDY BUDDY“ | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 43-38719 A “THE BLUE HEN CHICK“ |  |
| 43-38768 B “BEELZEBUB” (?) | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 43-38884 A “L’IL SKIPPY“ | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 43-38903 Q | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 43-38905 “BANG BANG LULU“ | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 43-38940 “THE BLACK BRASSIERE“ | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 43-38950 | No photo |
| 43-38984 | No photo |
| 43-39029 N “LINDA SUE“ | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 43-39057 | No photo |
| 43-39194 | No photo |
| 43-39244 | No photo |
| 43-39352 “900 HILGARD“ | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 44-6003 F | No photo |
| 44-6462 O “SANDUSKY JO“ | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 44-6823 “MISS SPENT YOUTH“ | No photo |
| 44-8301 | No photo |
| 44-8310 M “THUMPER“ |  |
| 44-8410 | No photo |
| 44-8415 | No photo |
| 44-8502 “ALWAYS AVAILABLE“ | No Photo |
| 44-8643 K | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
| 44-83279 J | < Click tail number to see Active Duty photo on the plane’s page. |
* The one possible surviving aircraft of the 447th Bomb Group is 44-83684, currently on display and awaiting restoration at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California. There is conflicting information on this aircraft, but both Roger Freeman (B-17 Flying Fortress Story) and Paul Andrews (Project Bits & Pieces) list the aircraft as the last delivered to the 447th.
Material for this section was compiled by Rob Kirkwood and David Wayrynen
Vintage Kingman photos courtesy William T. Larkins
Stormy Weather photo from the Imperial War Museums (“IWM”) American Air Museum