William J. Cullerton Sr. and ‘Miss Steve’
Bill Cullerton was born on June 2nd, 1923, in Chicago to a well-off family from Oak Park, Illinois. Oak Park is now part of Greater Chicago. It is home to several notable landmarks, including the birthplace of writer, journalist, and Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway. The city also still has a number of buildings designed by the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who lived and worked here for two decades in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His architectural studio is now a museum and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Bill Cullerton was born on June 2nd, 1923,
in Chicago to a well-off family from Oak Park,
Illinois. Oak Park is now part of Greater Chicago.
It is home to several notable landmarks,
including the birthplace of writer, journalist,
and Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway.
The city also still has a number of buildings
designed by the famous American architect
Frank Lloyd Wright, who lived and worked
here for two decades in the late 19th and early
20th centuries. His architectural studio is now
a museum and is listed on the National Register
of Historic Places.
Bill Cullerton's family also includes several
notable individuals, such as former Chicago
City Council member and Illinois State
Senator Edward Cullerton, and his cousin
John Cullerton, who was even President of
the Illinois State Senate. His grandfather Bill
Jamison, in whose fishing bait manufacturing
company he helped as a teenager, had a great,
perhaps fundamental influence on his personal
development. Bill Cullerton graduated from
the local high school in Oak Park, the private
Catholic Fenwick High School, and after
graduating, he entered university. However,
he did not complete his university studies,
because after the US entered the war he put
them on the back burner and on September
11th, 1942, he joined the USAAF. After
completing his training, he became a member
of the 357th Fighter Squadron, 355th Fighter
Group at Steeple Morden Air Base on June 12th,
1944. He completed his first operational tour on
November 4th, 1944.
During his first operational tour, Bill
Cullerton flew P-51D-5, serial number 44-13677,
named ‘Miss Steve’ after his fiancée Elaine
Stephen. After his departure, the aircraft was
taken over by David P. Watkins and renamed
‘Fickle Fanny’. The aircraft was written off after
an emergency landing when another pilot,
Richard F. Misner, crashed about a mile from
Steeple Morden Air Base on March 18th, 1945,
following an engine failure. Cullerton returned
to the unit, probably in early March of 1945, and
flew P-51D-20, serial number 44-64011, also
named ‘Miss Steve’. On April 8th, he was shot
down by flak while strafing Ansbach airfield.
According to the report of another pilot who
participated in the attack on the airfield, Walter
Bill Cullerton seated on the wing, with ground crew members tending to Cullerton's Mustang. Standing
second from left is Staff Sergeant Jerome E. Seidl, Crew Chief.
Bill Cullerton at Steeple Morden
in the fall of 1944.
German 20 mm Flakvierling 38 anti-aircraft gun.
The anti-aircraft quad had a rate of fire of 600 rounds
per minute.
This photograph, dated March 30th, 1945,
is most likely from Cullerton's ‘Miss Steve's’
gun camera and shows the shelling
of the airfield at Lowenstadt.
Text: Vladimír Šulc
Model built: Jan Baranec
MODEL & STORY
William J. Cullerton Sr.
and ‘Miss Steve’
INFO Eduard6
March 2026