41-11766 | American Air Museum

Nicknames: - Chug-A-Lug
Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
Production block number: B-24-D-CO
Manufacturer: Consolidated
Markings & paint scheme: The B-24D, named Chug-A-Lug, 41-11766, was painted in the U.S. the U.S Army's standard sand color for the MTO in the North African desert. It's name and nose art on the RH side of the airplane's nose section, were it's name, Chug-A-Lug, painted in block letters next to a picture of a young lady, apparently, sitting on a bomb, and waving with her right hand. To the left of her, was a picture of an exploding German swastika over a list of countries the airplane had flown over, with a number of smaller swastikas numbering the German fighters shot down by the plane's gun crew, and a group of smaller bombs picturing the aircraft's many bombing missions flown. On the LH and side of the airplane's forward nose section, was a simpler portrait of the same lady, sitting and holding a Martini glass, next to the airplane's name, Chug-A-Lug, painted in thinner block letters. The national insignias were white five pointed stars on blue roundels with rectangular wings on both sides of the roundels with red border surrounds around the insignias, for the mid to late 1943 insignia directives. However one insignia shows a yellow surround still on an insignia without the rectangular "wings" on the bottom side of the aircraft's RH wing in another photo. On the aircraft's outboard sides of it's two tail fins, were white triangles and another marking in large white solid circles, with it's RCL, a large white "V" letter at the top rear of the fins inside a vertical white stripe. The RCL "V" is also visible on the outboard sides of the number 1 and 4 engines. The airplane also still had, in 1943, two early British fin flashes on it's vertical fins, with the thin white bars between the thicker red and blue bars. Another photo of, Chug-A-Lug, shows it's RH vertical fin removed for repair or replacement. - Note : - Also, see a photograph of the B-24D, 41-23661, Black Jack, with a kicking mule and horse shoes, as nose art, on that B-24D, with the RH vertical fin from, The Vulgar Virgin, which had been interned in Turkey, now installed on, Black Jack, some time after the Ploesti mission, as a robbed part repair. 1943

41-11766 - Chug-A-Lug

media-15201.jpeg UPL 15201 B-24D Liberator, 41-11766, Chug-A-Lug, 345th BS, 98th BG, 9th AF, flew in the bombing mission to destroy the oil refineries at Ploesti, Rumania, piloted by LeRoy B Morgan, returning safely to Libya. 1 WIA - 1 KIA 1 Aug 43. Photo taken on war bond tour.
Crew left to right:
Front row T/Sgt. Richard A Kraham of Cooperstown, NY radio operator; S/Sgt. John I White of Plainview Arkansas, waist gunner
2nd Row: S/Sgt. John Martko, Mainville, NJ tailgunner; 1st Lt Charles B Hill Shreveport, LA navigator; 1st Lt John W Childers, Talent, OR co-pilot; 1st Lt Reuben J Weltha, Roland, IA pilot; S/Sgt. Donald F Swanson, Walsenberg, CO, waist gunner; 1st Lt Richard J Morrow, Madison, WI bombardier; S/Sgt Prentice Boston, Moundsville, WV, waist gunner; T/Sgt. Russel T Elkin, Markleysburg, PA Engineer,
Sgt Boston and Elkin can be seen on top of the plane.

Best Web - B-24 - Chug-A-Lug

Object Number - UPL 15201 - B-24D Liberator, 41-11766, Chug-A-Lug, 345th BS, 98th BG, 9th AF, flew in the bombing mission to destroy the oil refineries at Ploesti, Rumania, ...

The B-24D Liberator, bomber, 41-11766, Chug-A-Lug, was in the 345th Bomb Squadron, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 9th Air Force, and flew on Operation Tidal Wave, the low level mission to bomb the Romanian oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, on the Ploesti mission piloted by Lt. Leroy B. Morgan. Returned to Benghazi, Libya. 1 KIA - T/Sgt. James Van Ness, and 2 WIA - 2nd Lt. Victor Larson, Navigator, and T/Sgt. Robert L. Tipton - Engineer. 1 Aug 43

Chug-A-Lug's Crew On War Bond Tour 1944 :

TSgt. Richard A. Kraham - radio operator -

SSgt. John I. White - waist gunner -

SSgt. John Martko - tail gunner -

1st Lt. Charles B. Hill - navigator -

1st Lt. John W. Childers - co-pilot -

1st Lt. Reuben J. Weltha - pilot -

SSgt. Donald F. Swanson - waist gunner -

1st Lt. Richard J. Morrow - bombardier -

SSgt. Prentice Boston - waist gunner -

TSgt. Russel T. Elkin - engineer -

Connections

See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.

Units served with

345th Bomb Squadron

Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
Air Force: Ninth Air Force
Type Category: Bombardment

Three airmen of the 389th Bomb Group stand with a B-24 Liberator used as a Flight Assembly Ship. Image via Tim Bivens. Handwritten caption from Bivens: 'My friend remembers it being named "Bucksheesh Benny" that it was used to fly Jack Benny around USA shows. Says it flew in North Africa with Benny and was eventually assigned to 389th as a hack and later as a form-up ship. He thinks it was originally with another group (possibly 376th or 98th).' Handwritten caption on reverse: '389th BG Form-up ship.'

98th Bomb Group

Unit Hierarchy: Group
Air Force: Ninth Air Force
Type Category: Bombardment

People

Prentice R Boston

Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
Nationality: American
Unit: 98th Bomb Group 345th Bomb Squadron
Service Numbers: 35740029
Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
Role/Job: Waist Gunner

John William Childers

Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
Nationality: American
Unit: 98th Bomb Group 345th Bomb Squadron
Service Numbers: 39305311 / O-?
Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
Role/Job: Pilot

Russell Thomas Elkin

Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
Nationality: American
Unit: 98th Bomb Group 345th Bomb Squadron
Service Numbers: 13085441
Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
Role/Job: Flight Engineer / Top Turret Gunner

Charles Baker Hill

Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
Nationality: American
Unit: 98th Bomb Group 345th Bomb Squadron
Service Numbers: 14065301
Highest Rank: Captain
Role/Job: Navigator

Richard Anthony Kraham

Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
Nationality: American
Unit: 98th Bomb Group 345th Bomb Squadron
Service Numbers: 12137641
Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
Role/Job: Radio Operator

Places

Benina

Site type: Airfield
Known as: Soluch Airfield

Missions

Operation Tidal Wave

Date: 1 August 1943
Official Description:

Aircraft

41-23661

Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
Nicknames: - Black Jack
Unit: 98th Bomb Group 345th Bomb Squadron

42-40765

Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
Nicknames: - Valient Virgin
Unit: 93rd Bomb Group 329th Bomb Squadron

Events

Event	Location	Date	Description
Other Survived Ploesti	Ploiești, Romania	1 August 1943	Flew on 1st Aug 43 Ploesti oil refinery raid piloted by Leroy B Morgan, returning to Libya, 1 KIA / 2 WIA.
Assigned	Benghazi, Libya		345th BS, 98th BG, 9th AF.

Event

Location

Date

Description

Other

Survived Ploesti

Ploiești, Romania

1 August 1943

Flew on 1st Aug 43 Ploesti oil refinery raid piloted by Leroy B Morgan, returning to Libya, 1 KIA / 2 WIA.

Assigned

Benghazi, Libya

345th BS, 98th BG, 9th AF.

Revisions

Date21 May 2022 09:31:30

ContributorAl_Skiff

Changes

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http://usaafdata.com / https://www.flickr.com

Date18 May 2022 03:55:31

ContributorKickapoo

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Detail added. - Kickapoo

Date18 May 2022 03:54:51

ContributorKickapoo

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Black Sunday-Ploesti - Michael Hill

Date16 May 2022 09:11:16

ContributorAl_Skiff

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http://usaafdata.com / https://www.flickr.com

Date21 Apr 2022 04:51:53

Contributorjmoore43

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Removed extra characters from the nickname.

Date7 Feb 2022 12:01:05

ContributorKickapoo

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Details added. - Kickapoo

Date8 Dec 2021 21:51:14

ContributorKickapoo

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Added details. - Kickapoo

Date8 Dec 2021 14:58:46

ContributorKickapoo

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Details added. - Kickapoo

Date8 Dec 2021 14:53:53

ContributorKickapoo

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Detail added. - Kickapoo

Date8 Dec 2021 14:34:00

ContributorKickapoo

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Best web - B-24 - 41-11766 - Chug-A-Lug

Date8 Dec 2021 14:13:15

ContributorKickapoo

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Best Web - B-24 - 41-11766 - Chug-A-Lug

Date8 Dec 2021 10:56:20

ContributorKickapoo

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Spacing. - Kickapoo

Date8 Dec 2021 10:54:06

ContributorKickapoo

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Spacing. - Kickapoo

Date8 Dec 2021 10:53:15

ContributorKickapoo

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Best Web - 41-11766 - Chug-A-Lug

Date8 Dec 2021 10:50:54

ContributorKickapoo

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Best Web - 41-11766 - Chug-A-Lug

Date8 Dec 2021 10:38:28

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Best Web - B-24 - 41-11766 - Chug-A-Lug

Date29 Aug 2021 13:36:02

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Best web - B-24 - 41-11766 - Chug-A-Lug

Date29 Aug 2021 04:42:42

ContributorKickapoo

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Best Web - B-24 - Chug-A-Lug - 41-11766

Date6 Jul 2021 09:25:46

ContributorKickapoo

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Black Sunday - Michael Hill

Date6 Jul 2021 09:19:29

ContributorKickapoo

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Black Sunday - Michael Hill

Date29 May 2021 18:16:02

ContributorKickapoo

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Best Web - B-24 - 'Chug A Lug'

Date21 Nov 2016 05:01:53

Contributor466thHistorian

Changes

Sources

http://www.forgottenairfields.com/italy/apulia/foggia/foggia-airfield-c…

Date19 Apr 2015 16:01:43

ContributorAl_Skiff

Changes

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http://usaafdata.com / https://www.flickr.com

Date19 Apr 2015 15:45:04

ContributorAl_Skiff

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41-11766: Gallery (8 items)

Object number: UPL 15201 - B-24D Liberator, 41-11766, Chug-A-Lug, 345th BS...

Object number: UPL 15203 - Nose art of B-24D Liberator, 41-11766, Chug-A-Lug...

Object number: UPL 15204 - Left hand nose art of the B-24D, Liberator, 41...

Object number: UPL 15205 - B-24 Liberator, 41-11766, Chug-A-Lug, 345th BS...

Object number: UPL 44664 - T/Sgt James Van Ness, engineer and top turret...

Object number: UPL 51029 - B- 24D - Chug-A-Lug - 41-11766 - Right wing...

Object number: UPL 51030 - B-24D - Chug-A-Lug - RCL “V” of the 98th Bomb...

Object number: UPL 54040 - B-24D - Chug-A-Lug - 41-11766 - 9th Air Force -...