Plane Names & Bloody Noses: The 100th Bomb Group (Heavy), United States Army Air Force, Thorpe Abbotts, England, 1943-1945, Plane Names - Volume 2 [100BG]

Dorset, England: Design Oracle Partnership / USAAF Nose Art Research Project, 2000. First Edition. Large Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good. 11x8x1. Bowden, Ray. Signed by author. First edition. Inscribed and signed by author on half-title page, and also signed by 100BG member Louis Paltrineri (mentioned in the author's acknowledgements), with both inscriptions to Mike Raftus (also mentioned in the author's acknowledgements): 'To Mike Raftus, A fellow devotee of the 100th BG. Best wishes, Ray Bowden'; 'To Mike, My Big Best Friend, Thanking you, helping me relive my experience during my tour in the ETO, Love, Louis Paltrineri, 100th BG Group'). Laid in is an email printout in which Bowden thanks Raftus for putting him in touch with Paltrineri, and providing some interesting photographs on the subject. Bottom corner of rear jacket flap lightly creased, portion of author acknowledgments mentioning Mike Raftus, Lou Paltrineri, and one other individual (Jack O'Leary) highlighted with related note on half-title page, otherwise text unmarked. Binding tight and square. 2000 Large Hardcover. 296 pp. Jacket art by author, eight color examples of nose art on jacket flaps and rear panel. Black-and-white photographs throughout text. From the jacket: 'Amid the horror of war, emblazoned on the machines of destruction there was often to be found beauty, humour, poignancy and wit. It was no different at Thorpe Abbotts - home of the group dubbed by some as 'The Bloody Hundredth' or 'The Vanishing Americans.' Many of the B17F and B17G Flying Fortresses based at Station 139 carried nose art or names. Some sported two or three different designs during the course of their combat service. The glamorous, flamboyant pin-up so often associated with the genre resided alongside the cartoon, the sentimental and the sometimes outrageous image. Some crews made do with simple lettering while others, full of intent, could find no-one to paint their plane. The name so lovingly or irreverently bestowed had to be carried from Fort to Fort in the minds of men, or painted onto the back of their A-2 leather jackets. Includes: 260+ Flying Fortresses - their crews, their service, their fate and their nose art; 360+ photographs, many never previously published; 306 combat missions listed and credited to the 100th Bomb Group (Heavy), with aircraft losses; Crew listings for the 120 named aircraft of the group designated as Missing in Action.