42-72846, No. 47, Mammy Yokum

Photo from Walter Bjerklund and Harry Porter

Photo from Harry Porter

Photo from Glynn Hendrix

15/09/43 arrived in theatre (IARC); first mission 23/09/43; CL 15/11/43; repaired; 376 group diary notes that on 12/12/43 that the a/c is ready at Foggia and the 512th was to go pick it up; an assumption was made that this meant that it then served with the 512^th (as #39) but it never appears in 512^th mission reports, so it actually returned to the 513^th and continued as #47; A photograph of #47 dated 20/12/43 reinforces this; Shortly after this date, there was the disastrous Dec 28th mission, where 6 of the 512th planes and crews were lost.  This was followed by a month of inter-squadron transfers and a stand down until early February.  When the 376 resumed ops, #47 was now 42-64474, Little De-Icer. 42-72846 cannot be traced in Group records between 20/12/43 and its W/O date of 27/08/44: the IARC below says CON OS 27/08/44 [photo: HD]

07/08/43 ACP AAF; 09/08/43 Tucson Mod Center; 30/08/43 ACHE A; 15/09/43 GLEN R; 27/08/44 CON OVERSEAS