10 Things To Know About The Memphis Belle’s Last Mission

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It’s 1943 and at the height of WWII- young men are flying into dangerous skies, and many won’t return. However, ten men who were brave and very lucky survived 25 combat missions and earned them a trip home. These men were aboard a plane that they call the Memphis Belle.
Here are ten things that you need to know about Memphis Belle’s last mission:
1. The crew of the Memphis Belle, a B-17 bomber, was from the Eight Air Force, 91st Bomb Group
The crew were among the first of the American bomber crews to see combat over Europe.
2. On May 17, 1943, the crew of the Memphis Belle became the first B-17 crew to complete 25 missions
The Belle is one of a group of American bombers based in Britain. After completing 25 missions, the bomber returned to the United States.
3. The Memphis Belle performed its 25th and last mission in a bombing raid against Lorient, a German submarine base
The crew attacked a turbo engine workshop and engineers’ workshop at Kiel.
4. The Belle flew its 25th mission with Lt Clayton L. Anderson’s crew aboard
The Anderson crew took the Belle to 25 missions, having flown the plane on its 21st.
5. The 25-mission milestone drew huge publicity for the Allied Air Force
The Belle’s crew returned to the US in the summer of 1943 and engaged in an exhausting tour to promote the sale of war bonds.
6. Other aircraft and skippers had reached the 25-mission mark before the Memphis Belle
However, the return of the crew of the Memphis Belle was the closest thing to a full crew that had so far completed a tour.
7. Memphis Belle’s place in history has essentially been already set when film director William Wyler picked Morgan’s crew as a subject for the documentary he was filming
All in all, Wyler’s cameras only accompanied them for seven missions.
8. After the war bond tour, the Belle remained a useful airframe
It became a trainer for air and groundcrew at MacDill Field, Florida.
9. The plane was almost scrapped
After VE-Day, the plane joined hundreds of war-weary planes that awaited scrapping. Thankfully, it was discovered and purchased at $350. The Bell stayed in an outdoor display in different locations until 2004 when at this point, it was in poor condition. All interior fittings of the plane were removed by souvenir hunters. In August 2005, It was finally moved to Dayton for complete restoration.
10. The iconic plane has gone through a 13-year restoration at the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton Ohio
The staff had to go through thousands of restoration pieces, identify, catalog, and keep track of them. The process of identifying parts, evaluating them, and deciding whether they could be kept or not took years.