Warbird Information Exchange

A few years back when my son lived in Memphis , there was a photo of a B-24, most likely a "D" model, in the Memphis Memories part of the paper. It had been payed for with war bonds and because of the black Memphians, (their words ,not mine), support among others, it was named "The Spirit of Beale Street.
Can anyone fill in the model a little better and possibly provide the missing serial number as it's not visible in the photo.
Paint job looks like OD over gray.
mike13

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Hello,
I have checked the Forman book "B-24 Nose Art Name Directory" and there is no mention of a B-24 with that nose art/name.

I would say, if you can see who the photographer was, chances are that person may now be deceased, however, maybe you could start a quest to find a next of kin, and maybe, just maybe, the next of kin "may" have his/her photofiles and negatives. I would venture a guess that way back then, tha there was more than one photo taken of the Liberator in question.
Good Luck

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Kind Regards,
Gary Lewis
J.A.F.O.

Mike13,

I've done a bit of research on the airplane in question and found nothing. One possibility is that The Spirit of Beale Street ended up in the training program in the U.S. and simply faded into obscurity. There were a lot of airplanes named during Bond Drives and it would be neat to track them.

Was the name painted on the left nose in the "usual" place for nose art? The reason I ask is that Ford named a lot of early "E" models and had various celebrities photographed with these airplanes at Willow Run. The naming usually was on the forward fuselage. Also, the camouflage demarkation line between the O.D. and gray followed a pattern that differed from manufacturer to manufacturer. That might help to identify her origins.

Scott

It took me awhile, but I thought this B-24 name sounded familiar. I was looking for information about this same aircraft way back in September of 2006.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8935

Todd

Todd,

Did you happen to go through the FOTKI collection of Willow Run photos? I haven't been there in a good while, but several presentation airplane photos were posted there. It might be worth another look.

S

No nose art. The name occupied two staggered lines

THE SPIRIT OF
BEALE STREET

The letter B was directly underneath the letter E in the word "THE"
"THE" is in line with the co-pilot's window. The gray/OD demarcation is about even with the bottom of the inboard engine nacelle. There is a photo of the plane in my daughter's book 'Lost Memphis', and there is a mention if the plane in the Jan 15, 1943 issue of the Memphis World".

Welcome to WIX, JimC from another Jim C.

A little more info from Pinnacle:

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zht ... highlight=

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