This folder contains a repaint for the A2A WoP2 B-17G in the colors of B-17G-85-BO #43-38348 LG-O "Roxy's Special" of the 322 BS/ 91st BG based in Bassingbourne UK. #348 arrived in Bassingbourne on 18 August 1944, and very quickly received her nose art, by Corporal Tony Starcer. By 5 September, it had flown four missions to Germany. The next mission, on the 8th of September, was to the I.G. Farben Chemical Plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany. On board this mission was David McCarty, pilot, Neil M. Mylin, co-pilot, Donald L. Brazones, navigator, Frank S. Bolen, bombardier, John Cangemi, top turret, Frank F. Trim, Jr., ball turret, Charles E. Beebe, waist guns, Floyd Z. Dillon, tail gun, and Henry R. Schuls, radio operator. Around 11.35 hours, short of the bomb drop near Ludwigshafen, “Roxy’s Special” took a hit ripping off a wing. A spin ensued pinning Bolen and navigator Don Brazones in their nose bubble followed almost immediately by an explosion blowing them free of the aircraft. Bolen and Brazones were the only two survivors of “Roxy’s Special.” They both parachuted down, but not together, therefore neither knew the fate of the other until later. Bolen eluded capture for 7 days before being picked up and carted off to Stalag Luft 1 near Barth, Germany after interrogations. Brazones had been picked up before Bolen and processed through the channels to Stalag Luft 1. The two were reunited at Stalag Luft 1 where they spent the remainder of the war. On Sept. 14, 1944, the day Bolen was captured, his wife Frances gave birth to their first child, Linda, in Selma - a child Bolen would not see until returning from imprisonment and the war. The “Roxy’s Special” crash site was near a Lutheran Church in Ludwigshafen. A very respectful group of Germans removed the remains of the air crew and buried them in the local cemetery. After the war, the remains were turned over to American authorities and they moved them to a National Cemetery in Northern France. In 1947, Bolen served as casket bearer for David McCarty when he was brought home to rest in Birmingham.
Repaint by Jan Kees Blom, based on the paint kit by A2A.
