41-11591 Queen B / Lorraine

Queen B, serial number 41-11591, was one of the original 23 B-24s that left the United States as part of HALPRO.  Her original RCL was #9.  She participated in the very first mission of HALPRO, the June 12, 1942 raid on the Ploesti oilfields.  She flew 10 missions as #9.

Following the creation of the 376th HBG in early November 1942, her RCL was changed to #34.  She flew 11 missions with this RCL.

In the spring of 1943, a renumbering of the B-24s to align them with their various squadrons occurred.  Since 41-11591 flew with the 513th, she was given the RCL of #45. She flew 25 more missions as #45.

Sometime after the reorganization of the 376th HBG, the plane was renamed Lorraine.

Her last mission was on October 5, 1943 after flying a total of 46 missions.

She was transferred to the 450 HBG.  On a flight from from Casablanca to RAF St. Mawgan in Cornwall Mar 29, 1944.  Due to fog, she was unable to locate St. Mawgan and diverted to Fairwood Common.  Unable to descend because of clouds, crew was ordered to bail out.  Four did so and landed safely.  However, the flight engineer refused to jump, possibly due to the low altitude.  The pilot had to try and crash-land the plane, the plane passed over the airfield, lost height, smashed through a guard hut, and came to rest with its nose embedded in the hedgebank.  The pilot survived the crash but the flight engineer had forgotten to buckle himself into the copilot's seat was thrown through the windscreen on impact and died in hospital 3 days later.  She was condemned crash Apr 2, 1944.

Missions Flown

Group      Date      A/C # and   Mission Target         Pilot

Mission #               letter

  1     1   6/12/1942   9 H   Polesti Romania               James Sibert
  2     2   6/15/1942   9      Convoy Mediterranean       James Sibert
  3     3   6/21/1942   9      Benghazi Libya                   Mark Mooty
  4     4   6/24/1942   9      Benghazi Libya                   James Sibert
  5     6   6/26/1942   9     Tobruk Libya                         John Payne
  6     7   6/28/1942   9 H   Tobruk Libya                     Martin Walsh, Jr
  7   10   7/  2/1942   9 H   Tobruk Libya                   James Sibert
  8   13   7/  4/1942   9 H   Benghazi Libya                   James Sibert
  9   14   7/  6/1942   9 H   Benghazi Libya                   James Sibert
10   16   7/  8/1942   9 H   Benghazi Libya                   James Sibert
11   77 11/21/1942 34 K   Tripoli Libya                         Edward Crouchley
12   80 11/29/1942 34 H   Tripoli Libya                         Ferdinand Schmidt
13   81 12/  4/1942 34 H   Naples Italy                         Norman Appold
14   88   1/  2/1943 34 H   Kastelli Crete                         Reynold Soukup
15   89   1/  7/1943 34 H   Palermo Sicily                         Reynold Soukup
16   92   1/16/1943 34 H   Tripoli Libya                         Fred Milam
17   93   1/20/1943 34 Q   Tripoli Libya                         William Dwyer
18   96   2/  3/1943 34       Palermo Sicily                         Norman Appold
19   97   2/  7/1943 34 S   Naples Italy                         Richard Rhoades
20   98   2/10/1943 34 S   Palermo Sicily                         Norman Appold
21 100   2/20/1943 34 H   Naples Italy                         Norman Appold
22 108   4/  2/1943 45 N   Palermo Sicily                         Dean Lear
23 109   4/  4/1943 45 N   Naples Italy                         Dean Lear
24 110   4/  6/1943 45       Messina Sicily                         ?
25 114   4/16/1943 45       Catania Sicily                         Dean Lear
26 120   5/  1/1943 45 G   Reggio Italy                         Robert Smith
27 121   5/  4/1943 45 G   Reggio Italy                         Robert Smith
28 124   5/11/1943 45 G   Catania Sicily                         Paul Fallon
29 125   5/13/1943 45 G   Augusta Sicily                         William Zimmerman
30 127   5/24/1943 45 P   Reggio Italy                         Richard Beck
31 130   5/30/1943 45 G   Foggia Italy                         James deVeuve
32 133   6/  9/1943 45 G   Gerbini A/D Sicily                   Hubert Whitlock
33 139   6/27/1943 45 G   Kalamaki A/D Greece             William Zimmerman
34 148   7/16/1943 45 G   Bari Italy                         William Zimmerman
35 149   7/19/1943 45 G   Littorio A/D, Rome Italy       William Zimmerman
36 150   8/  1/1943 45 G   Polesti Romania                   William Zimmerman
37 151   8/13/1943 45 G   Weiner Neustadt Austria       William Zimmerman
38 157   8/28/1943 45 G   Taranto Italy                         Kenneth Turner
39 158   8/31/1943 45     Pescara Italy                         William Zimmerman
40 159   9/  3/1943 45 G   Sulmona Italy                         William Zimmerman
41 160   9/  8/1943 45 C   Foggia Italy                         Kenneth Turner
42 161   9/  9/1943 45 G   Foggia Italy                         Kenneth Turner
43 162   9/10/1943 45 G   Foggia Italy                         Byfield Gordon
44 166   9/16/1943 45 G   Potenza Italy                         Kenneth Turner
45 172 10/  4/1943 45 G   Tatoi A/D Greece                   Kenneth Turner
46 173 10/  5/1943 45 O   Eleusis Greece                         Kenneth Turner