B-17G Flying Fortress "2nd Patches" Art by Willie Jones. This image is copyrighted and is the property of Willie Jones Jr. and is available only to members of the Armed Forces and Military organizations. 2nd Patches was a 15th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress assigned to 346th Bomb Squadron, 99th Bomb Group during World War II. On 31st March 1944 B-17F “Patches” of the 346th BS/99th BG effectively and B-17G 42-38201 of the 815th BS/483rd BG switched places. The B-17G became “2nd Patches”. 2nd Patches had been it’s share of rough times during it’s combat career as aircraft had replacement wing panels, fin and crew access door. It carried over 20 mission symbols and wore 99th BG late war markings with the addition of a shark-toothed chin turret. The black diamond Y represents the 99th Bomb Group and the ‘I’ the 346th Bomber Squadron. “2nd Patches” crashed on take off on the 24th August 1944 and was salvaged to keep other B-17s flying, whilst the original ‘Patches’ only survived until 31st March 1944. The B-17 had one of the heaviest bomb loads of the USAAF bombers of World War II. It could carry 6000 pounds of bombs over 2000 miles. B-17s dropped over 640,000 tons of bombs on Germany.
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