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B-17F, Serial 42-30066, named Mugwump, did
and did not have a long history. On the one hand,
it was among the first twenty B-17s that the 100th
Bomb Group lost, but on the other hand, it was
probably the last F model that served with the
Bloody Hundredth to fly a combat mission. I will
try to explain this apparent contradiction in the
following paragraphs.
When the 100th Bomb Group at Kearney, Nebras-
ka received its aircraft with which it was to move
to Europe after training, 066 was among them,
built in Block 85 as an F-series by Boeing in Se-
attle. Crew commander Lt. William Flesh, to whom
the aircraft was assigned, was probably the one
who named the aircraft. Although the meaning of
the word Mugwump, which dates back to the vo-
cabulary of the native inhabitants of North Amer-
ica, is ambiguous, in slang at the time it meant
someone who could stand up to a dispute in such
a way as not to anger the other side. The idea used
to be caricatured as a bird sitting on a fence, with
head on one side, and butt on the other... that this
was the meaning of the name on the new B-17F
is evidenced by the drawing of an ostrich, which
was added to the inscription on the nose before
the unit moved to Europe. It was certainly not
the first name given to this aircraft, as the pho-
tos show a patch of fresher olive paint under the
Mugwump inscription after the original name had
been painted over.
Text: Jan Zdiarský
Color profiles: Michal Fárek
Photos: 100th Bomb Group Archives
MUGWUMP
B-17F-85-BO 42-30066 LD
-
U
Title photo: Cruikshank’s crew with Mugwump at
Algiers field after the mission to Regensburg,
17 August 1943. Although no damage is visible
to the aircraft from this view, her condition
did not permit an immediate return to England.
Mugwump before it was painted with a drawing of an
ostrich on the right side of the nose. Available photo-
graphs suggest that the drawing on the left side was
painted while still at the US base before moving to Eu-
rope, and the one on the right side at Thorpe Abbotts.
INFO Eduard
Speciál B-17F / The Bloody Hundredth 1943
66
June 2024