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41-24444

B-17 Flying Fortress

  • Front fuselage of the B17 41-24444, The Red Gremlin

    Front fuselage of the B17 41-24444, The Red Gremlin

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  • 340th Bomb Squadron- a modern recreation of the squadron patch. The patch shows the Disney characters, Huey, Dewey and Louie, (Donald Duck's nephews) commandeering a bomb in flight at an angle. Huey is perched at the front, ready to drop a bomb of his own; Dewey is in the middle with his hands on a control stick; Dewey attends to the rear with an anti-aircraft gun. The bomb and crew are shown against a cartoon cloud; the cloud is in the foreground of a blue sky. If you look VERY CLOSELY at the insignia on the jacket of Glen V Leland (5th from left, the picture of the bomber crew of the 97th Bomb Group) you can make out the faint outlines of this same patch.

    340th Bomb Squadron- a modern recreation of the squadron patch. The patch shows the Disney characters, Huey, Dewey and Louie, (Donald Duck's nephews) commandeering a bomb in flight at an angle. Huey is perched at the front, ready to drop a bomb of his own; Dewey is in the middle with his hands on a control stick; Dewey attends to the rear with an anti-aircraft gun. The bomb and crew are shown against a cartoon cloud; the cloud is in the foreground of a blue sky. If you look VERY CLOSELY at the insignia on the jacket of Glen V Leland (5th from left, the picture of the bomber crew of the 97th Bomb Group) you can make out the faint outlines of this same patch.

    Show caption About this image
  • Herman S. Haag, top turret gunner, and engineer of the B-17 41-24444, The Red Gremlin

    Herman S. Haag, top turret gunner, and engineer of the B-17 41-24444, The Red Gremlin

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Assigned 92BG Bangor 2/8/42; 340BS/97BG Polebrook 24/8/42 THE RED GREMLIN; took Gen Eisenhower to Gibraltar (1st B-17 to Gib) with Paul Tibbets; Maison Blanche 13/11/42; Tafaraoui 22/11/42; Biskra 25/12/42; Chateau-du-Rhumel 8/2/43; Pont-du-Fahs 1/8/43; Depienne 15/8/43; Cerignola 20/12/43; Amendola 16/1/44; Returned to the USA 13/7/44; Salvaged 19/6/46. SUPERMAN.

1. It was assigned to the 92nd Bombardment Group (Heavy), at Bangor Army Air Field, Maine, on 2 August, 1942.
2. It was re-assigned to the 340th Bomb Squadron (BS) (H), 97th Bomb Group (BG) (H), at Polebrook, England, on 24 August 1942, at which time it was named The Red Gremlin.
3. On an unspecified date, with Paul Tibbets as pilot, it ferried General Dwight Eisenhower to Gibraltar, becoming the first B-17 ever to land there.
4. On 13 November 1942, it flew to Maison Blanche Airfield, in Algiers, Algeria.
5. Beginning on 22 November 1942, it was based at Tafraoui Air Base, at Oran, Algeria.
6. On 25 December 1942, it relocated to Biskra Airfield, at Biskra, Algeria.
7. On 8 February 1943, it relocated to Châteaudun-du-Rhumel Airfield, near Chelghoum el Aid, Algeria.
8. On 1 August 1943, it relocated to Pont-du-Fahs Airfield, at El Fahs, Tunisia.
9. From El Fahs, it transferred the short distance to Depienne Airfield, some 12 kilometers northeast of El Fahs, on 15 August 1943.
10. On 20 December 1943, it flew to Cerignola Army Air Field, Italy, which was part of the huge complex of air bases around Foggia.
11. On 16 January 1944, it transferred to Amendola Army Air Field, Italy, which was another base within the Foggia complex.
12. On 13 July 1944, 41-24444 returned to the United States.
13. On 19 June 1946, it was “salvaged” (which Freeman and Osborne define as “destroyed/scrapped beyond economical repair”, p. 71). At the time of its demise, it bore the name Superman, though Freeman and Osborne (in their book, The B-17 Flying Fortress Story ((London: Arms & Armour, a Cassell imprint, 1999)), p. 83) do not state when the name was changed from The Red Gremlin. Forman (op cit.) confirms that, in addition to The Red Gremlin, 41-24444 also carried the name, Superman, though does not say when the name was changed, either (p. 82).

Service

Units

People

  • Thomas Ferebee

    Military | Colonel | Bombardier | 97th Bomb Group
    He was the Bombardier who dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima. Paul Tibbets was the pilot. They had flown together in combat completing 63 missions over Europe and North Africa. They flew on the 'Red Gremlin' The atom bomb drop was on 6 Aug 45.

  • Zackie Gowan

    Military | 97th Bomb Group

  • Herman Haag

    Military | Master Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner/ Flight Engineer | 97th Bomb Group
    Herman S. Haag served on the B17 Flying Fortress, #41-24444, known as the "Red Gremlin." The aircraft was commanded by pilot Paul Tibbets with Tom Ferebee serving as the bombardier and Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk. They led the group on its first...

  • Orville Splitt

    Military | Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade) | Radio Operator, Red Gremlin B-17 | 97th Bomb Group

  • Paul Tibbets

    Military | Colonel | Pilot | 97th Bomb Group
    Flew 1st bombing mission of WW II in B-17 'Butcher Shop' with his CO, Col. Armstrong. His regularly assigned plane was #41-24444 'The Red Gremlin'. Flew the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 Aug 1945. He...

  • Theodore Van Kirk

    Military | Captain | Navigator | 97th Bomb Group
    Flew many missions with Paul Tibbets in 'The Red Gremlin' and was picked by him to navigate the atom bomb drop on Hiroshima

Places

  • Polebrook

    Military site : airfield
    Polebrook was laid down for RAF Bomber Command use in 1940-1941. Built by George Wimpey and Co. Ltd, it had short runways which were lengthened for USAAF heavy bomber use. The RAF used the base for operational trials - including of B-17 Flying...

  • Amendola

    Military site : airfield

  • Chateaudun-du-Rhumel

    Military site : airfield

Events

Not yet known

Nicknames
"The Red Gremlin", "Superman"
Production block number
Not yet known
Manufacturer
Boeing
Markings and paint scheme/livery

According to Freeman and Osborne (The B-17 Flying Fortress Story; London: Arms & Armour, a Cassell imprint, 1999, p. 83), 41-24444 was a B-17F-10-BO. The series letter, “F,” indicates that ̛̛444 was part of the sixth production series of the B-17. The manufacturer’s code, -BO, indicates that it was built at Boeing’s Plant 2 in Seattle, Washington, just about a mile north of The Museum of Flight. (The plant was torn down in 2011, in partial settlement of an environmental lawsuit that had been brought against Boeing by a number of entities.) The “block number,” -10, can be read as the “contract number” and indicates that ̛444 was part of the third contract for the B-17F that the U.S.A.A.F. had signed with Boeing for the B-17F series. Block (“contract”) numbers were allocated in the order -1, -5, -10, -15, 20, -25, etc., so Block 10 would indicate the third contract for Boeing-built B-17Fs. The serial number for the B-17F-10-BOs ran from 41-24440 to 41-24489, so ̛444 was the fifth B-17F-10-BO.

Revisions

Date Contributor Update
24 May 2020 19:08:59 harrietschariot Changes to person associations and media associations
Sources

Removed incorrect associations.
Date Contributor Update
21 October 2019 12:24:46 harrietschariot Changes to person associations
Sources

Mission log of George Housten Simpson
Date Contributor Update
16 December 2017 02:03:43 Videogoat60 Changes to nicknames
Sources

Personal collection of Bethany S. Huber, daughter of Herman S. Haag (top turret gunner and engineer of B-17 41-24444, the Red Gremlin)
Date Contributor Update
15 December 2017 20:35:26 Videogoat60 Changes to person associations
Sources

Personal collection of Bethany S. Huber, daughter of Herman S. Haag (top turret gunner and engineer of B-17 41-24444, the Red Gremlin)
Date Contributor Update
15 December 2017 20:31:24 Videogoat60 Changes to place associations
Sources

Personal collection of Bethany S. Huber, daughter of Herman S. Haag (top turret gunner and engineer of B-17 41-24444, the Red Gremlin)
Date Contributor Update
15 December 2017 20:21:06 Videogoat60 Changes to description
Sources

Email from Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA, USA.
Date Contributor Update
15 December 2017 18:30:28 Videogoat60 Changes to manufacturer, nicknames and markings
Sources

Info sourced from an email from the Museum of Flight. Email was in response to my request for any info about 41-24444, The Reg Gremlin. My wife's father was Herman Haag, the top turret gunner and engineer of The Red Gremlin
Date Contributor Update
27 September 2014 18:40:02 AAM AAM ingest
Sources

Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log

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