This B17 was named as a replacement for the earlier 42-3131 "Flak-Wolf" which was lost on 11 January 1944 on a mission to Oschersleben.
"Spirit of Flak-Wolf" piloted by the crew of Lt McGarry crashed on 9 April 1944 taking off for a mission to Marienburg. It hit a tree and lost part of its tail stabiliser then struck another tree and finally crashed south of Winwick.
Spirit of Flak-Wolf had completed 18 missions successfully including two to Berlin, as well as the recalled attempt on 3 March 44. It had been hit by machine-gun fire over Aschersleben and flak over Berlin and had been the regular mount for the crew of Lt Harrison who had aborted on 9 April flying in another Fort.
