USAAF Nose Art Research Project


 

Piccadilly Lilly II
B-17G-10-DL 42-37800

100th Bomb Group, 351st Bomb Squadron

Appearance

Nose art painted by
Sgt Frank STEVENS
100th Bomb Group, 351st Bomb Squadron
Thorpe Abbotts, England

Piccadilly Lilly II
This was the replacement aircraft for an earlier similarly named B-17F which was shot down on 8th October 1943. "Lilly II" took off for its first combat mission on 5th November 1944 and completed 32 successful sorties before over-running the runway on take-off on 27th June. Having sliced across a road and drainage ditch before ending its run on a field, the plane was too badly damaged to be repaired.

Frank Stevens painted a beautiful nude (one of the few seen at Thorpe Abbotts) on the right side of the nose. It was a considerable improvement on his earlier version painted on "Piccadilly Lily" which had been the Fortress flown to Regensburg with Beirne Lay who later immortalised that plane when he wrote "Twelve o'clock High".





 
You May Also Be Interested In
 Spirit Of Columbus, Miss 
Spirit Of Columbus, Miss
B-17G
  


  




© Ray Bowden 30 November 2023
Plane Names & Fancy Noses Tales To Noses Over Berlin Merseburg: Blood, Flak & Oil Plane Names & Bloody Noses The Flight of Eagles  
Information Update for Readers of
"Plane Names & Fancy Noses - 91st Bomb Group (Heavy)"