Surviving B-17 with most combat missions....

[jmkendall]

I saw this question posted on WIX and....well....came to a different conclusion than most would have.

Documented? Probably "Memphis Belle". Though if you count all the combat mission of the front AND back of "The Swoose" you probably have more than the Belle.

But in absolute terms? Well, my candidate is.....44-83785.

We may never know how many missions she flew with the CIA. We many never know her real identity. And there are some who say that missions with the CIA dont' count. But folks more than one CIA Fort and Privateer were shot down in aerial combat.

Not a stretch to think she flew more than 25 missions in all the years she worked for the CIA.

BTW, does anyone have an idea of how many missions the Black Cat Pass bird has?

[hang the expense]

Steve Birdsall would be your best bet I'm guessing on the missions of BCP.Parts of her fly on in 03Gulf to this day.

[Steve Birdsall]

The records of the 19th and 43rd Bomb Groups are incomplete, so the best I can do is come up with an estimate of 41-9234's total missions. It's based on material gathered from various sources by Bruce Hoy, Janice Olson, Robert Stitt and I.

The number I arrived at is 24.

This is further confused by the fact that sometimes the flights from Australia to New Guinea incorporated sea searches and were fairly counted as combat missions.

[hang the expense]

AWESOME.The early war in the pacific has always facinated me and I'm sure AIRFORCE had something to do with it.Thank you Steve for posting that info.Merry Christmas.

[Steve Birdsall]

There's a new book coming soon that will certainly add a lot to what we know about the early days in the Southwest Pacific. The details are at http://www.tainanbooks.com/index.html.

My part in the book was very minor and its main focus is on the Japanese side of the story, but it's a real insight into what it must have been like for all the airmen involved.

[jmkendall]

Thanks Steve, I really appreciate it.

By the way, I have enjoyed your books since I got "Log of the Liberators' from the Military Book Club in the mid 70s as an 8th grade kid! Best 99 cents I ever spent!

I agree though the early Pacific War years always seems to take a back seat to the airwar in Europe and Africa. And yet it has always seemed to me that the hardships and drama as well as the combat was in some ways much more intense in the Pacific as in the ETO.