Picture Above from left to right

back row 1st Lt. Dave Carlock, Pilot; 1st. Lt.  Coleman Andrews, Jr., Navigator;  1st Lt. Franklin G. Dorman, CP;

T/Sgt Guideon W. Laporte, E  Seated left to Right 1st Lt. Ralph E. Stewart, Passenger; T/Sgt. Warren G. Reid, RO.  B17F Type aircraft #44-6391 Project RP 0511-4-0

The fifth army passengers which we picked  up in Naples

 are shown above.   They all signed the side of the 44-6391

 and drew the 5th Army patch.  They all signed my

 Short-Snorter so I have their names: Fred Ende,

 William Phillips, Floyd Beaudin, Harold E. Fields,

 Malcoln H, Joyce, Warren G. Read & Duane G. Cole.

 Most of them were from the Nebraska Area.

 "Lucille" she brought us home!!!

Pilot and Navigator after a long trip home

After WW2. We picked up the worn out B-17 F

 #44-6391 in Naples to fly home. It had been

stripped down and made into a passenger ferry

 plane used between Italy and Casablanca.

   The picture on the left is the crew I flew home

with.  We didn't realize what we were in for! We

 also had 8 passengers from the 10th Mountain

 Div of the US 5th Army T/Sgt and S/Sgt to fly

 home. Took off from Naples and flew to Oran,

 Algeria No 2 engine sputtering all  the way. Spent

 the night there and the next morning  left for

 Dakar, French West Africa ! #2 engine

 started smoking and sputtering. We shut her down

 and started looking on the maps for a place to land.

 There it was just below us a small 3000' Runway

 at  Port Lyautey on the coast of Morocco.

 We landed safely.  Found two English sailors and

signed a receipt for a tank of Shell oil. Started

up #2 engine it  sounded OK. We took off and

 headed for Dakar.

 We were informed at Dakar that we could not take

 off for Natal Brazil until #2 had been changed. 

 They had extra engines and tools but no one to

change the engine (all been sent home) I asked

 the crew and passengers if they wanted to change

 the engine and everyone agreed. Seven days later

 (I know you Ground crew people would say should

have done that in 3 hrs.) the co-pilot and I took her

 up for a two hour test hop. THE NEXT

 MORNING WE LEFT FOR NATAL, BRAZIL.

 That BIG

 STORM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ATLANTIC

IS ANOTHER STORY.!!!! When we landed at

Morrison field it was the end of an interesting

 journey. From Hunter Field, Georgia; Bangor,

 Maine; Gander, Newfoundland; Azores Islands;

 Marrakech, Morocco; Algiers, Algeria; Tunis,

Tunisia; Naples, Italy; and (home away from home)

 Foggia, Italy. About one year

 later, after a lot of sweat and tears (happy times

too), we left Naples for Oran, Algeria; then had

a forced landing at Port Layautey, Morocco;

 Dakar, French West Africa (week here to change

engine #2); a killer front in the center of the

Atlantic Ocean; Natal, Brazil; Georgetown, British

 Guyana; Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico; Morrison

Field, West Palm Beach, Florida; and "home".

Unloading at Morrison Field