![]() | 447th Bomb Group The Kingman Planes |
| "Warbirds's Swansong" by Jerry McLain |
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| It is the story of a thousand fighting planes stored at various places in Arizona, most of them awaiting the junkman's hammer. In their fighting days they were proud, serene, deadly rulers of all the skies above Earth. Magnificent machines of war, beloved by the young men who were part of them. The young men have scattered now. The planes are left alone on the Arizona desert, dreaming their dreams of glory, and whispering of never-to-be-forgotten days--but maybe it isn't whispering we hear. Maybe it is the night wind and moondust against the fuselage. | |
| Arizona Highways magazine, May 1947 | |
With only one possible (and debatable) exception,* the aircraft that served the 447th and survived ended up at two storage facilities, where they were unceremoniously stripped, chopped to pieces and melted down. Of those storage fields, Kingman, came to be the best known in part from the article appearing in a 1947 issue of Arizona Highways magazine, and in part because of the scope of the facility. It was once called "five square miles of airplanes." 52 of the 447th's aircraft are recorded as having reached Kingman after the war. Those are identified in the following list, together with photographs taken during 1946-1947 before scrapping operations began. Three (possibly four) 447th aircraft are known to have reached another reclamation center at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. |
![]() Storage Depot No. 41 - Kingman, Arizona |
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| 42 31168 | No photo |
| 42 31206 "JOURNEYS' END" | No Photo |
| 42 31225 G "SCHEHERAZADE" |
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| 42 37871 | No photo |
| 42 37873 F | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 42 38052 | No photo |
| 42 39882 L | No photo |
| 42 97092 K "HEEL DER FUHRER" | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 42 97392 F "RAMBLIN' WRECK" | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 42 97646 B | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 42 97803 | No photo |
| 42 97804 E |
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| 42 97900 D | No photo |
| 42 97976 D "LOUIE THE CREEP" "BIT O' LACE" Profile in the Library |
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| 42 102668 G | No photo |
| 43 37544 J "D-DAY DOLL" Profile in the Library |
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| 43 37870 P Possibly "Stormy Weather" |
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| 43 37756 G "MILK WAGON" Profile in the Library |
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| 43 37774 | No photo |
| 43 37795 H "DIXIE MARIE" | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 43 37797 Q "AMERICAN BEAUTY" |
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| 43 37873 N "NAZDROWIE" | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 43 38230 E "WOLF WAGON" |
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| 43 38450 B "LITTLE HERBIE" "LUCKY PARTNERS" Fragment of noseart in the collection of the Mojave Museum, Kingman. |
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| 43 38466 C |
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| 43 38524 S "BLONDE BOMBER II" | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery, Color Collection |
| 43 38622 Q | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 43 38712 C "BUDDY BUDDY" | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 43 38719 A "THE BLUE HEN CHICK" |
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| 43 38768 B "BEELZEBUB" (?) | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 43 38884 A "L'IL SKIPPY" | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 43 38903 Q | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 43 38905 "BANG BANG LULU" | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 43 38940 "THE BLACK BRASSIERE" | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 43 38950 | No photo |
| 43 38984 | No photo |
| 43 39029 N "LINDA SUE" | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 43 39057 | No photo |
| 43 39194 | No photo |
| 43 39244 | No photo |
| 43 39352 "900 HILGARD" | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 44 6003 F | No photo |
| 44 6462 O "SANDUSKY JO" | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 44 6823 "MISS SPENT YOUTH" | No photo |
| 44 8301 | No photo |
| 44 8310 M "THUMPER" |
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| 44 8410 | No photo |
| 44 8415 | No photo |
| 44-8502 "ALWAYS AVAILABLE" | No Photo |
| 44 8643 K | Active Duty photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| 44 83279 J | Accident report photo in Aircraft Gallery |
| * The one possible surviving aircraft of the 447th Bomb Group is 44-83684, currently on display and awaiting restoration at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California. There is conflicting information on this aircraft, but both Roger Freeman (B-17 Flying Fortress Story) and Paul Andrews (Project Bits & Pieces) list the aircraft as the last assigned to the 447th, but likely not ferried to England. | |