Sir Baboon McGoon (aircraft)
| Sir Baboon McGoon | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| B-17Fs of the 323rd Bombardment Squadron USAF | |
| Type | Boeing B-17F-75-DL Flying Fortress |
| Manufacturer | Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, California |
| Construction number | 8442 |
| Serial | 42-3506 |
| Owners and operators | US Army Air Force (USAAF) |
| In service | 1943-1944 |
| Fate | Ditched after collision with a friendly bomb on March 29, 1944 |
Sir Baboon McGoon was an American Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, a Douglas-Long Beach built B-17F-75-DL, ASN 42-3506, last assigned to the 324th Bombardment Squadron, 91st Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, operating out of RAF Bassingbourn (AAF Station 121), Cambridgeshire, England. Its nose art and name were based on the male character Baboon McGoon from Al Capp's comic strip, Li'l Abner.
On Sunday afternoon, October 10, 1943, the aircraft ran out of fuel while returning to Bassingbourn, and landed on its belly in a wet and muddy sugar beet field near the village of Tannington, Suffolk, England. Its recovery was described in an article in the June 1944 issue of Popular Science magazine, as well as a 1945 article in Flying magazine. The article describes how the aircraft was jacked up in the sugar beet field. Once on its own gear, it was determined that it could be flown out of the field and several weeks of mobile repairs resulted in the engines and propellers being replaced and temporary patches being applied. An 1,800 ft long steel mesh temporary runway allowed the aircraft to depart the sugar beet field in November 1943 and fly to a maintenance depot for more extensive repairs. Squadron records of the 324th BS indicate that Sir Baboon McGoon returned to Bassingbourn on 19 February 1944. It flew seven additional missions between 24 February 1944 and its final mission on 29 March 1944.
The 10 man crew for that final mission on March 29, 1944 was headed by 2Lt Edgar C Downing. Most of his crew had flown other missions, and they had flown this particular aircraft on one previous mission since its return to service. The crew members described it as "a real crate" of an airplane – with many patches and quirks. The assigned mission for that day was a bombing run to Brunswick, Germany. As their portion of the formation arrived over the primary target, (also known as Braunschweig), they reported that the target area was obscured by clouds or smoke, so they proceeded to their secondary target.
Bombs released from a bomber above them struck one of their engines. (Believed by the crew to be the #4, or right outboard engine.) This shut down one engine, but the propeller couldn't be properly feathered and there was damage to the electrical and/or hydraulic systems. Their troubles mounted when they attempted to drop their bombs and the bomb bay doors had to be manually opened and the bomb's released manually. Once the bombs were gone, they were unable to close the bomb bay doors. The increased drag of a non-feathered propeller and the open bomb bay doors, combined with the lost power from one inoperative engine, caused them to slow down and forced them to fall out of formation. The crew recalls that they were then attacked by German fighter aircraft and they lost one or two more engines and had to drop down to the cloud deck (tops around 5,000') to attempt to continue flying. The aircraft was headed west towards England, but was lower than their formations and unable to keep up. Witness crew members from a 323rd Bomb Squadron aircraft reported losing sight of the missing aircraft about 30 minutes (east of) the Zuider Zee, but that the aircraft was continuing on course, just lower & slower. The witnesses reported that the engines were feathered, but crew statements suggest that the engines were not turning, however the propellers were not feathered either.
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