Lady Moe the Donkey

Mascot

media-387766.jpg FRE 5888 "Lady Moe" the donkey mascot of the 96th Bomb Group. Associated caption: 'Lady Moe was Queen of the Heath, and she was free to roam wherever she pleased. She was so popular on the base that both the ball park and movie theatre were neamed for her. Furthermore, like many other pets on the base, she was a seasoned aviator and had actually been on a bombing mision. So she related well to the flying crews and could be seen at the control tower "sweating on" the bombers returning from a mission. Cigarettes were a favourite of Lady Moe, she ingested them as chewing tobacco.' Roger Freeman Collection

IWM, Roger Freeman Collection

Object Number - FRE 5888 - "Lady Moe" the donkey mascot of the 96th Bomb Group. Associated caption: 'Lady Moe was Queen of the Heath, and she was free to roam wherever she...

Lady Moe, a Tunisian donkey, was the mascot of the 96th Bombardment Group.

Moe was picked up in an Algerian slum in August 1943 by a B-17 crew taking part in the Regensburg shuttle mission, she accompanied the crew back to England on August 24, 1943 on the return leg of the shuttle mission. On this return trip the crew bombed Bordeaux, France, making Lady Moe the only known donkey ever to fly on a combat mission.

Moe became internationally famous as 'Queen of the Heath' even serving as a mascot at the Army-Navy football game at London's White City Stadium on November 12, 1944. At home at Snetterton she lent her name to the base cinema and ballpark, developed a taste for tobacco, toilet roll and doughnuts and became increasingly irascible.

Moe died on 3 October 1945 when she wandered onto a railroad track near the base and was killed by a train. She was buried at the airbase in a simple ceremony. To those who served with her, she will always be remembered as the "Queen of the Heath"