447th Badge447th Bomb Group
USAAF Station 126 - Rattlesden 
43-37544, D-Day Doll
D-Day Doll 
No. 43-37544, A B-17G-65-BO, delivered in April 1944, and assigned to the 710th Squadron on 2 May.
One of the more colorful examples of nose art in the 447th, and one of the few preserved for us in color photographs.  Mission records available to us indicate that she flew her very first combat mission on June 7, 1944, one day after D-Day.

Photo taken after a gear collapse, probably in July or August, 1944. 
Inspecting damage is Sgt. Richard Weaver, Reece crew, 710th Sqdn.
D-Day Doll disappears from mission records for 16 days after July 25,
and again for 11 days after August 13.


Left-side (photo taken by Mark Brown, 3AD photographer, on or after 4/21/45)

Right-side (photo taken by Mark Brown, date uncertain) 

More photos below

Combat Missions
  Date Target Pilot
1 6/7/1944 NANTES (π) Elder
2 6/14/1944 FLORENNES/JUZAINE A/F (π) Voorhees
3 6/15/1944 MISBURG Voorhees
4 6/20/1944 FALLERSLABEN KONINGSBORN Voorhees
5 6/21/1944 BERLIN Voorhees
6 7/6/1944 SOUTRECOURT (π) Newman
7 7/11/1944 MUNICH Reece
8 7/12/1944 MUNICH Reece
9 7/13/1944 MUNICH McKinley
10 7/16/1944 STUTTGART Reece
11 7/18/1944 CUXHAVEN Reece
12 7/20/1944 MERSEBURG Mattenson
13 7/21/1944 REGENSBURG McDermott*
14 7/24/1944 ST. LO AREA McKinley
15 7/25/1944 ST. LO AREA McKinley
16 8/11/1944 BELFORT M/V (π) McDermott
17 8/13/1944 SEINE R. AREA(π) McDermott
18 8/24/1944 BRUX McDermott
19 8/25/1944 RECHLIN McDermott
20 8/26/1944 BREST (π) Brown
21 8/27/1944 BREST (π) McDermott
22 8/30/1944 BERLIN McDermott
23 9/1/1944 MAINZ McDermott
24 9/3/1944 BREST (π) Moore
25 9/5/1944 BREST (π) Moore
26 9/8/1944 MAINZ McDermott
27 9/9/1944 GRASSY McDermott
28 9/10/1944 GIEBELSTADT McDermott
29 9/11/1944 FULDA McDermott
30 9/13/1944 STUTTGART Moore
31 9/17/1944 ARNHEIM McDermott
32 9/22/1944 KASSEL McDermott
33 9/25/1944 LUDWIGSHAFEN Milks
34 9/26/1944 BREMEN McDermott

 

Significant damage on this raid.  Mr. McDermott assumed it had  been 
salvaged and was unaware until just recently  that D-Day Doll was repaired and returned to the 447th.
35 1/5/1945 WORMS Reck
36 1/10/1945 KARLSRUHE Hodge
37 1/13/1945 MAINZ Shepard
38 1/15/1945 AUGSBURG Beighley
39 1/16/1945 DESSAU Beighley
40 2/3/1945 BERLIN Larrance
41 2/7/1945 CHEMNITZ Larrance
42 2/14/1945 WESEL Larrance
43 2/15/1945 COTBUS Larrance
44 2/16/1945 WESEL Larrance
45 2/19/1945 WESEL Larrance
46 2/24/1945 BREMEN Gurney
47 2/25/1945 NEUBERG Larrance
48 2/26/1945 BERLIN Johnson
49 2/27/1945 LEIPZIG Johnson
50 3/1/1945 ULM Schwab
51 3/2/1945 DRESDEN Larrance
52 3/3/1945 BRUNSWICK Larrance
53 3/7/1945 DATTELN Larrance
54 3/8/1945 FRANKFURT Larrance
55 3/9/1945 FRANKFURT Larrance
56 3/10/1945 DORTMUND Larrance
57 3/11/1945 HAMBURG Hayes
58 3/15/1945 ORANIENBURG Larrance
59 3/17/1945 RUHLAND Johnson
60 3/18/1945 BERLIN Larrance
61 3/20/1945 HAMBURG Larrance
62 3/21/1945 WITTMUNDHAFEN Larrance
63 3/22/1945 HELBERT AREA Larrance
64 3/23/1945 HOLZWICKEDE Larrance
65 3/28/1945 HANOVER Larrance
66 3/31/1945 BRANDENBURG Larrance
67 4/4/1945 KIEL Jennings
68 4/5/1945 NURNBERG Larrance
69 4/7/1945 SCHWERIN Montague
70 4/8/1945 PLAUEN Montague
71 4/9/1945 NEWBURG A/F Montague
72 4/10/1945 BRANDENBURG Montague
73 4/17/1945 DRESDEN Montague
74 4/20/1945 NEURUPPIN Montague
75 4/21/1945 INGLOSTADT Montague
 

75 Combat Missions 

At Kingman

D-Day Doll returned to the US in July 1945, and was scrapped at Kingman during 1946.


The Doll at Kingman.
Same plane, modified art

Evolution of D-Day Doll's Nose Art

Left side nose art sometime during the July or August 1944.  Simple standing figure in a bikini, with lettering consistent with right side.
17 missions. Mid-August 1944.  
Original art with flak burst, unpainted chin gun fairing.

 
74 missions. Taken shortly after April 21, 1945.
Original art remains.  Larger photo above shows red-painted fairing behind chin gun
New left-side nose art, taken at Rattlesden; date uncertain, but probably April 1945 or later.
74 missions, figure has changed, and is now carrying a .50 cal.  For more detail, see photo below.
Right-side at Kingman in 1946. Lettering, bomb and flak burst remain as before (although faded). The figure has been redone, as a blonde, with some additional hardware.  In some ways (hair color, shoe style, quantity of clothing) she more closely resembles the figure on the left side.  Note also the addition of names Geisinger, Bartoo and Lamprecht.  All three appear in the "Roster of Enlisted Men of the 447th as of 1945" (Pictorial History), indicating that their names, at least, were added at Rattlesden between April and July, 1945.