Way back in July 2015, I posted an image on my Aero Vintage B-17 News page sent in to me by noted author Steve Birdsall that showed some interesting modifications done to a B-17E at a aircraft depot in Italy. Well, a few months later, I got a bunch more information on this airplane from David Procaccini who has done some extensive research. David is the unit historian for the 38th Air Depot Repair Squadron, the unit David’s grandfather was assigned to and the unit that the history of this airplane revolves around.
The basis for what follows is something I posted on my site later in 2015, but I think it is a story worth re-telling and updating. This is a very long story but I think an interesting story and should be told somewhere, so if you are interested in such things, grab a cup of coffee and peruse this tale…
The story starts on April 15, 1942. The U.S. was barely four months past Pearl Harbor. The Japanese expansion in the Pacific was unchecked and the meager Allied forces fighting the onslaught could not even sustain a holding action. For the American efforts in the Philippines, the U.S. and Filipino forces had surrendered at Bataan just the week before, and the Bataan Death March was underway. The British had lost its colonies at Hong Kong and Singapore, and the Dutch were being forced out of Indonesia. New Guinea and, further south, Australia, were under the threat of invasion by the Japanese. In Europe, the infant Eighth Air Force was just beginning to pull together its headquarters structure in England, but the first combat groups were months away from arriving. Every commander of every combat unit demanded priority for manpower and supplies due to the critical situations being faced everywhere.
Into all of this rolled a brand new B-17E, s/n 41-9109, which came off the Boeing production line in Seattle that mid-April day, the 376th of the 512 B-17Es built by Boeing. The Air Corps (not yet the Army Air Forces) slated this new B-17E to go to the 97th Bomb Group hurriedly being formed at Sarasota, Florida, as one of the first bomb groups to go to England.
B-17E 41-9109 into combat in India
It and a number of other new B-17Es were quickly diverted, however, to instead go to the Southwest Pacific as replacement aircraft for combat bomb groups, either the 19th or 7th, then engaged in a desperate fight to stop the Japanese expansion from bases in Java and Australia. The sketchy information available suggests it was ferried via the South Atlantic ferry route from Florida to Brazil to the west coast of Africa and up through to the Middle East and on to India, from where it would stage to Australia. It never got beyond India, however, as when 41-9109 arrived in Karachi, India in early May 1942, the 7th Bomb Group had already evacuated from Java and was reforming at Karachi. It appears 41-9109 was then assigned to the 7th Bomb Group, and may have begun combat action by flying missions against the Japanese in Burma or China, though the account of this action remains incomplete. A month later in mid-June, though, it appears that 41-9109 and the remaining small fleet of B-17s in the 7th Bomb Group, totaling nine aircraft, were detached and moved to the Middle East to support the British in desperately defending Egypt from a pressing German offensive by the Afrika Korps.
B-17E 41-9109 to the Middle East as Reich Wrecker
This small group of B-17s and a small group of similarly diverted B-24s, all under the command of Gen. Louis Brereton, became the nucleus of the U.S. Middle East Air Force. The B-17s, technically assigned to the 9th Bomb Squadron and later the 1st Provisional Bomb Group, were based at Lydda in Palestine and conducted bombing missions against Tobruk and other German targets in Libya. Again, it is not clear whether or not 41-9109 was part of this small group of B-17s but the time line fits the scant information available from the aircraft record card. In November 1942, the 9th Air Force was established and took overall control of the U.S. air efforts in the Middle East. There were still a handful of B-17s operating from Palestine, but replacements coming in were the longer-range B-24s. The bombers were soon moved forward to bases in Egypt to support a British offensive moving westward across North Africa. And, that same month, the TORCH landings were made in Algeria, supported by the new 12th Air Force, and a second front was established pushing eastward across North Africa, with the embattled German Afrika Corps increasingly squeezed between the two efforts.
The record card for 41-9109 indicates it was assigned to the 12th Air Force in January 1943, apparently sent from Egypt to Algeria and a bomb group there. It is possible that the few remaining B-17s based in Egypt were reassigned at this time to standardize on the longer-ranging B-24 for operations from Egypt. With what bomb group and from where this B-17E was based has not (yet) been definitively uncovered, but presumably it continued flying missions against the Germans from a base in Algeria through 1943. At some point, photos show the airplane gained the name Reich Wrecker with nose art.
The 12th Air Force only had two heavy bomb groups attached to it: the 301st BG and the 97th BG, so presumably it was assigned to one of them. Having information that seems to exclude it from being assigned to the 301st BG, it is probable that it ended up with its original earmarked unit off the Boeing production line, the 97th BG. Records are scant, however, so it is hoped that more information will surface. From the photos available, 41-9109 flew at least thirty-three combat missions and probably many more.
When the 15th Air Force was established in Tunisia in November 1943, both of the 12th Air Force bomb groups were reassigned to the new unit, and the aircraft record card does show it assigned to the 15th AF. In December 1943, the 97th BG was moved forward to Cerignola Airfield at Foggia in Italy, and began operations there against targets in northern Italy and southern Europe and, presuming this aircraft was assigned to that group, it moved with the group. However, how long this by-then war weary B-17E remained assigned to combat when much improved B-17Fs were available has yet to be determined but, presumably, it was out of combat duty by the end of 1943.
Reich Wrecker damaged and ready for salvage
At this point, thanks to research by David Procaccini, a narrative of the aircraft’s story is picked up by Capt. Robert E. Johnson, Engineering Officer with the 38th Air Depot Repair Squadron based at Capodichino airfield at Naples in Italy. He tells the story that the B-17E was flying a combat mission ‘over Europe’ and that this B-17 had a load of anti-personnel bombs dropped on it from an aircraft flying above in formation, and that some of the bombs hit and were embedded in the left wing of the B-17E. The crew feared an imminent explosion but nonetheless elected to try and fly the airplane back to base, but later decided to land at the Pomligiano airfield near Naples, then a fighter and light-bomber base. After landing, a bomb retrieval squad removed the bombs and made the airplane relatively safe. The 38th Squadron was assigned the task to repair the airplane but after evaluation of the damage and considering the war-weary condition of the nearly obsolete B-17E, recommended it for salvage. The unit commander, however, overruled that assessment, feeling that ‘we were salvaging too many repairable airplanes.’ A crew under the direction of Sgt. Curtis Foster was assigned the months-long task of repairing the airplane. It was then released back to service and departed Pomligiano to a destination and assignment unknown but, in fairly short order, probably by March 1944, it ended up at a storage yard for war-weary bombers at the 38th Air Depot at Gioia Del Colle Air Base in southern Italy.
The men of the 38th Squadron at the depot unofficially adopted the B-17E and decided, on their own, to convert it to be used for squadron transportation. From the accounts, the unit was suffering from low morale and had been subjected to unearned derision by local commanders, so the assumption of the project appears to have been an effort by the men in the unit to show what they could do.
Rebuilding a War Weary B-17E
And, they did a lot to the old and tired B-17. Besides the mechanical work required to put the airplane back into good condition, the airplane was stripped of all combat gear including turrets and gun mounts and armor. Extra windows were cut into the fuselage, including the two odd-shaped windows behind the cockpit. The tail gunner compartment was rebuilt and faired over. Note in the photo below, the templates for the aft cockpit windows appears to be taped in place.
Into the stripped out fuselage went plushed-out (used loosely) accommodations for passengers. The installed seats were salvaged from nearby war weary B-24s, and the seat covers were made by the parachute guys. Whatever was needed was scrounged or manufactured or, probably, covertly appropriated. The nose glass was replaced with one from a B-17F, and other custom modifications were made at the suggestions of those working on the airplane.
Note the attention to detail on the interior finish work, something not usually seen in the combat zone. Curtains, even.
The exterior paint was stripped off and the bare aluminum was polished back to a high luster, and standard U.S. markings were reapplied.
Napoli Express
The squadron had voted to just call the airplane ‘109’ but a more formal name was felt necessary. The name Napoli Express was soon decided upon, a reference apparently to its use in transportation to Naples. And, a talented squadron artist named Ken Duffin carefully applied a fitting piece of art to the both sides of the nose aft of the painted name, lending a distinctive flair to the completed aircraft.
Dates become a bit fuzzy, because it appears the airplane made its transformation to become this very nice administrative transport probably by mid-1944, but it was not officially transferred to the squadron for use until May 1945. Accounts suggest it was used extensively through the first half of 1945 while based with the 38th Depot at Gioia Del Colle Air Base. In March, the unit was told to stop operating the airplane as it was not assigned to the squadron and was instead consigned for scrapping. The unit nonetheless continued to operate the airplane and made more requests to have the airframe actually assigned to the them.
Finally, on May 15 (1945), the unit got the official notice that “…SINCE AUTHORITY TO SALVAGE B-17E, NUMBER 41-9109, HAS ALREADY BEEN RECEIVED FROM THE FEA, YOUR SQUADRON MAY USE THE AIRCRAFT FOR ADMINISTRATIVE PURPOSES. WHEN AIRCRAFT IS NO LONGER DESIRED IT WILL BE SALVAGED IN ACCORDANCE WITH EXISTING INSTRUCTION.” It continued in service with the unit until the end of August 1945.
The 38th Repair Squadron took a great deal of pride in the airplane, and all men in the unit were afforded the opportunity to fly on the airplane, presumably on local flights or in the course of its duties to transport personnel and material to and from Naples and other Italian bases.
Captain Johnson related a story provided to me by David Procaccini, of how his unit, the 38th Air Depot Repair Squadron, had been continuously run down by the overall commanding colonel of the repair group to the point that the colonel eventually dispersed parts of the squadron all over Italy. Johnson ran into that colonel one day at Naples and took the occasion to show him what they had done with the war weary that was now the Napoli Express. The colonel was quite impressed with the B-17E and, in a long conversation, confessed he had been terribly wrong about the 38th Squadron and work at the depot had suffered greatly after he had dispersed them. From the account, Johnson took a great deal of satisfaction in showing the colonel the caliber of the work capable by the men in his unit.
Back to the U.S.
In early September (1945), 41-9109 was ordered to be flown back to the U.S. by a seven-man crew commanded by Capt. James B. Pritchard. The airplane left Naples as Napoli Express shortly afterwards and was, by one account, ferried through Boston along the way.
Becoming Nobby’s Harriet “Z”
After its arrival back in the U.S., it enjoyed a short stint as a transport for the Air Transport Command and its assigned pilot was Norbert “Nobby” DeGravelles. He evidently had little appreciation for the name Napoli Express but he did have an appreciation for his current girlfriend, a lass named Harriett and who’s last name has disappeared into history, but apparently started with the letter “Z.” Soon enough, a new name was painted on the airplane and it became Nobby’s Harriet “Z”. Fortunately for posterity, the nose art was left untouched for the brief time the B-17E remained in service and, hopefully, Harriet Z. appreciated the honor. It was short lived, though, as on October 10, Nobby’s Harriet “Z” was transferred to the Reconstruction Finance Corp. for disposal, and sent to the RFC storage depot at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. There, it joined 5,600 other war weary bombers and fighters lined up in neat rows across a huge airfield. Its fate was established when it came to Walnut Ridge.
Like its brethren, it was stripped of engines and propellers and sat for nearly a year before the depot’s content was sold, via auction, to the Texas Railway Equipment Corp. for salvage and scrapping. In the subsequent year, over 4,600 surplus bombers and fighters were broken up and smelted, a practice that was repeated on four other large surplus depots across the country. By the end of 1947 they, including 41-9109, were gone.
Saved by the Scrapman
Ah, but there is a postscript. The story goes that the man in charge of breaking apart the airplanes at Walnut Ridge, a gentleman named Minot Pratt, recognized the great examples of folk art painted on some of the airplanes. He quite unusually chopped out of 34 airplanes the aircraft names and nose art and set them aside before the airplanes were scrapped. One wonders how this passed muster with the corporation that was seeking the aluminum from the airplanes, but these nose panels did somehow survive. And, in the mid-1960s, these panels were donated to the Confederate Air Force, then based at Harlingen, Texas (now the Commemorative Air Force based at Dallas, Texas). So, there survives the nose panel from B-17E 41-9109, a veteran bomber that had quite a tortured trail through history as the Reich Wrecker and then Napoli Express and finally as Nobby’s Harriet “Z”.
In 2015, the nose art collection was placed on loan to the EAA Museum at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. These unique and rare panels, including Nobby’s Harriet “Z,” are now displayed at the EAA Museum.
Thanks to David Procaccini and his sources, Robert E. Johnson and Charlie Sulkala, for much of this material, plus the always valuable help of Steve Birdsall.