Memphis Belle was one of the top Flying Fortresses that finished 25 missions, what makes Memphis Belle different from the rest of B-17F bombers was her being the First to finished 25 missions and without losing a crew. Now the plane is placed in National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, OH.

^{excerpts from wikipedia}

The "Memphis Belle", a Boeing-built B-17F-10-BO, serial 41-24485, was added to the USAAF inventory on July 15, 1942, and delivered in September 1942 to the 91st Bomb Group at Dow Field, Bangor, Maine. It deployed to Prestwick, Scotland, on September 30, 1942, and then to its permanent base at Bassingbourn, England, on October 14. Captain Robert Morgan's crew flew 25 combat missions with the 324th Bomb Squadron, all but four in the Memphis Belle:

• November 7, 1942 - Brest, France
• November 9, 1942 - St. Nazaire, France
• November 17, 1942 - St. Nazaire
• December 6, 1942 - Lille, France
• January 3, 1943 - St. Nazaire
• January 13, 1943 - Lille
• January 23, 1943 - Lorient, France
• January 27, 1943 - Wilhelmshaven, Germany (in B-17 DF-Y 41-24527 The Sky Wolf)
• February 4, 1943 - Emden, Germany (in B-17 DF-H 41-24515 Jersey Bounce)
• February 14, 1943 - Hamm, Germany
• February 16, 1943 - St. Nazaire
• February 26, 1943 - Wilhelmshaven (in B-17 41-24515)
• February 27, 1943 - Brest
• March 6, 1943 - Lorient
• March 12, 1943 - Rouen, France
• March 13, 1943 - Abbeville, France
• March 22, 1943 - Wilhemshaven
• March 28, 1943 - Rouen
• April 5, 1943 - Antwerp, Belgium
• April 16, 1943 - Lorient
• April 17, 1943 - Bremen, Germany
• May 1, 1943 - St. Nazaire
• May 4, 1943 - Antwerp (in B-17 41-24527)
• May 15, 1943 - Wilhelmshaven
• May 17, 1943 - Lorient

The Memphis Belle flew the following missions with other crews:

• December 30, 1942 - Lorient (Lt. Verinis)
• May 13, 1943 - Meaulte, France (Lt. Anderson)
• May 14, 1943 - Kiel, Germany (Lt. Miller)
• May 19, 1943 - Kiel (Lt. Anderson)

It was then flown back to the United States on June 8, 1943, by Morgan's crew for war bond tours. Capt. Morgan's original co-pilot was Capt. James A. Verinis, who himself flew the Memphis Belle as pilot for one mission. Verinis was promoted to aircraft commander of another B-17 for his final sixteen missions and finished his tour on May 13. He rejoined Morgan's crew for its flight back to the United States as co-pilot.

The plane was named for pilot Robert K. Morgan's sweetheart, Margaret Polk, a resident of Memphis, Tennessee. Morgan originally intended to call the plane Little One, after his pet name for her, but his crew had seen the movie Lady for a Night, in which the leading character owns a riverboat named the Memphis Belle, and as this name also fit Morgan's wishes, he chose it instead.

The 91st's group artist Tony Starcer painted the famous Petty girl nose art as it appeared in the April 1941 issue of Esquire magazine, depicting her suit blue on the aircraft's port side and red on its starboard.

^{excerpts from article of George T. Wilson}

One of Belle's more notable missions was flown as part of the 91st Bomb Group's assault on enemy installations at Romilly sur Seine. In his post-mission debriefing, Morgan recalled: "We hit the hangars and the depots. We wrecked 100 German fighter planes on the ground, and we hit a German officers' mess at lunchtime. We heard later that we also blew up a cellar full of cognac." A diary kept by navigator Charles Leighton provided additional details: "On the way we flew over Romilly. We flew over Rouen, where we were attacked by about 25 German fighters. They were coming at the nose so I got off a lot of shots. Bob said I got one, but I was firing so fast I didn't have time to notice. I shot over 700 rounds. I saw two B-17s go down in front of us. When they fire at you head-on, it looks as if the whole plane is exploding."

Morgan reported: "First one squadron hit us and then another and another. We were shot at on the way to the target, over the target and then on the way out. By the time it was over, some of the Germans had attacked us...landed and refueled, picked up some ammunition and were up attacking us again. For one hour and fifty-eight minutes they followed us. I never saw so many attacks in my life." On that occasion, Belle was over enemy territory for 2 1/2 hours.

After her 25th, and final, raid over Europe, Belle set out on one more mission -- returning to the States on a triumphant public relations tour. That three-month "mission" during the summer of 1943 took the crew to 31 cities, including Washington, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Wichita and Mobile. Every time they appeared -- at bond rallies and aircraft plants -- the crewmen were treated as heroes.

The famous plane had only one female passenger in her triumphal tour across the United States -- the aircraft's mascot, Stuka, a Scottish terrier that came aboard in England. Purchased in a London pet store by co-pilot James Verinis, the Scottie accompanied the crew to every one of Belle's tour destinations. Stuka dined on filet mignon almost daily. Although General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold had given Morgan permission to fly the B-17 as low as he pleased during their tour, it's almost certain that the general hadn't meant for the bomber to buzz rooftops as she made her way across the nation. Nonetheless, when Morgan piloted Belle to an event in his hometown of Asheville, N.C., he brought the big bomber in low, barely skimming the roofs of downtown buildings and seemingly aiming for the city hall and courthouse. There was some space between the two buildings, but not enough to accommodate the 103-foot wingspan of the B-17. Just moments before Belle would have crashed, Morgan flipped her on her side and blasted through the gap -- vertically. Some startled observers on the ground muttered that whoever was piloting the plane should be court-martialed.

Morgan again put on a good show in Memphis, the second stop on the tour. Once more someone mentioned a court-martial for the pilot, this time a high-ranking military officer. One Memphis newsman wrote: "He had a special reason to pull out all the stops here. Waiting on the ground was the girl he loved (Margaret Polk), the girl he was engaged to marry. A cocky young man always wants to strut in front of his girl." Morgan and Polk never quite made it to the altar, but they remained lifelong friends after their romance ended. As for Belle, she would eventually end up in the city that she was named after.

Morgan's military career did not end with his final flight in Memphis Belle . When the young pilot returned from Europe, USAAF Commander Hap Arnold had jokingly told him that he could have any position in the Army Air Forces but his own. Morgan subsequently volunteered to lead a squadron in the first Boeing B-29 Superfortress strike against Tokyo, in November 1944. He flew in a B-29 dubbed Dauntless Dotty (named after Dorothy Johnson, the woman Morgan did marry, just before shipping out for the Pacific War). Morgan's B-29 strike against Tokyo was America's first attack on the Japanese city since the Doolittle raid two years earlier in North American B-25s. One hundred eleven planes were launched against the Japanese city, 17 of which were forced to turn back by engine problems. The flight was commanded by General Emmett "Rosy" O'Donnell, flying with Morgan in Dotty .

When they encountered the jet stream for the first time during that mission, the bomber formations were disrupted, making accurate bombing all but impossible. Morgan later recalled of that sortie, "We had a hell of a time with our bombsight, and I had the best bombardier with me, Vince Evans, my bombardier on the Memphis Belle."

A later mission to the Japanese Home Islands, on March 9, 1945, proved much more successful. This time 302 B-29s participated, with 270 arriving over the target.

As a squadron commander, Morgan went on to fly with many different crews, racking up mission after mission. On April 14, General O'Donnell suggested that it was about time for him to quit risking his life, saying: "Don't you think it's time to retire from combat? You've been extraordinarily lucky to complete 50 missions, and I think it's time for you to go home." After he arrived back in the States, Morgan continued to serve in the U.S. Air Force, retiring in 1965 as an eagle colonel. Dauntless Dotty flew 53 combat missions but failed to survive the war. On her return flight to the States, she plunged into the Pacific.

Divorced from Dorothy in 1958, Morgan later remarried -- in a venue befitting a former Flying Fortress pilot. He and Linda Dickerson, herself a pilot, were married in a red-carpet ceremony in 1992 on Mud Island, near Memphis, with Memphis Belle serving as the backdrop for the ceremony. Dickerson, an airshow producer, was given away by retired General Paul Tibbets, the man who dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Morgan's co-pilot on Belle, James Verinis, served as best man.

After her public relations tour, Belle had been assigned for a time to a training command. But in 1945 she ended up in the aircraft boneyard in Altus, Okla., waiting to be scrapped. An enterprising reporter saw her, wrote a story on her plight and contacted the mayor of Memphis -- who engineered her purchase for $340.

For a time the famous B-17 rested outside Memphis' National Guard armory, mounted on a concrete base. Belle was eventually moved near the Memphis International Airport, where she remained on display in the open, unprotected from the elements, for many years.

Then Hugh Downs, host of the ABC News TV show 20/20, flew to Memphis in May 1986 to narrate a special segment on Belle . Downs, who had served as a pilot in World War II, interviewed both Morgan and Colonel Richard Uppstrom, director of the Air Force Museum near Dayton, Ohio. Uppstrom delivered an ultimatum to the city of Memphis: If they continued to force Belle to live like some of its street people, he said, she was going to be reclaimed by the Air Force.

After the show aired, Frank Donofrio, chairman of the Memphis Belle Memorial Association, found that he had some fresh recruits. One of the most enthusiastic was Memphis advertising executive Ward Archer Jr., who would found the Save the Belle Fundraising Drive. Contributions rolled in from the city of Memphis, Boeing Aircraft Company, local corporations and thousands of private citizens -- $552,000 in six months.

In May 1987, Memphis celebrated Memphis Belle's homecoming to Mud Island. Thousands of city residents flocked to the island to see the largest formation of B-17s assembled since World War II roar across the sky in tribute. Among those present on the stage were Polk, Morgan, Donofrio and Archer. Other Belle crew members on hand were navigator Charles Leighton; James Verinis (who recently died); Casimar A. "Tony" Nastal and Clarence E. "Bill" Winchell, both waist gunners; and Robert J. Hanson, radio operator. For all, it was a memorable occasion. Belle had come home, destined for refurbishment and an exciting new career in the public eye.

Now in his mid-80s, Robert Morgan still makes personal appearances and speaks at airshows, collectibles shows and universities. Few know more about real aerial combat than Morgan -- although moviegoers are pretty well versed about Morgan's career with Memphis Belle, thanks to a spate of films and documentaries that immortalized the famous B-17's story.

Filmmaker William Wyler created his The Memphis Belle documentary during the war. In postwar interviews, Morgan recalled that working with Wyler gave him his first taste of cinema. He told an interviewer that Wyler "gave out 16mm cameras to crew members. He said, 'If you're not busy shooting your guns, stick these cameras out the window and get some footage.' Wyler stayed back by the waist gunners, because the angles he'd have gotten from the front would have been terrible. He flew five missions with us. We thought he was making a training film."

The postwar movie 12 O'Clock High was partially based on Belle's history, as was the 1990 film Memphis Belle . While the latter was fictional (it borrowed exploits of many bombers), that and other movies have brought renewed attention to an aircraft that deserves a permanent spot in the hearts of Americans.

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