Help Identifying Great Uncle's B-17 (1 Viewer)

Yesak23 · Wednesday at 7:05 PM

Hi!
I have a family mystery I hope someone one here can solve.
I've been trying to identify my Great Uncle's B-17 from WW2 to no avail. I have some pictures attached, but they have limited information. One picture has a little bit of the nose art that I hope will help identify it. His name was Roy L. Simmons Jr. and he was a Navigator. He made it back from the war and died in the 1970's I believe. I never met him.
Once identified, I would like to do some research on it. I appreciate any help the anyone here can provide!!

Thank you!!
Yesak23

SaparotRob · Wednesday at 9:11 PM

I can't help but there are those here who might be able to. Great project and welcome.

mjfur · Wednesday at 11:25 PM

Jr. passed in 1988 1LT Roy L Simmons Jr. (1922-1988) - Find a Grave...
Sr. passed in 1973 Roy L Simmons (1894-1973) - Find a Grave Memorial

It's most likely a B-17E or F, no chin turret. Unfortunately "len" leads to a lot of possibility's.

The photos in general, what the crew is wearing, etc., gives me the impression that these photos were taken Stateside while in Training. Not 100% sure, but best guess. While it was rare some training aircraft did have names applied.

Snautzer01 · Thursday at 4:15 AM

https://www.fold3.com/search?docQuery=(fieldedKeywords:!((texts:!(Roy+l+simmons+jr),type:full-name)),filters:!((type:military.conflict,values:!((label:World+War+II,value:World+War+II)))))

Wurger · Thursday at 7:29 AM

mjfur said:
Unfortunately "len" leads to a lot of possibility's.

IMHO that's the name 'Helen"

Yesak23 · Thursday at 7:55 AM

mjfur said:
Jr. passed in 1988 1LT Roy L Simmons Jr. (1922-1988) - Find a Grave...
Sr. passed in 1973 Roy L Simmons (1894-1973) - Find a Grave Memorial

It's most likely a B-17E or F, no chin turret. Unfortunately "len" leads to a lot of possibility's.

The photos in general, what the crew is wearing, etc., gives me the impression that these photos were taken Stateside while in Training. Not 100% sure, but best guess. While it was rare some training aircraft did have names applied.

That's right. I got it wrong in my initial post. Jr. passed in the 80's. Thanks for the information!!

fubar57 · Thursday at 7:39 PM

Going through the "B-17 Nose Art Name Directory" Halfway through and found several hits for "len". Keep in mind that the book was publish a long time ago and isn't complete; where the book say no nose art photo, I found a few. Also, the nose art name might be stacked, as in

Stolen
Baby

or something like that. I'm checking that avenue as well. I'll post a list of what I've found later tonight or tomorrow

fubar57 · 2024-12-20T10:53:35-0500

Okay, this is what I found in the directory and remember, its not a final say as not all B-17s were documented or had photos taken. We'll start with Wojtek's Helen. It will include Bomb Group, Bomb Squadron, s/n and whether there is a known photo

Helen: no data
Helen Belle: 2nd BG, 429th Sq, 44-6350, No
Helen Heaven: 303rd BG, 358th Sq, 42-31224, No
Helen Repeat: 401nd BG, no other data
~~Lady Helen of Wimpole: 91st BG, Yes~~
Our Helen: no data
~~Thru Helen Hiwater: 303rd BG, 427th Sq, 42-39875, Yes~~
Virginia Helen: 447th BG No
Satan's Chillen: 401 BG, No
Jackie Ellen: 305th/379th BG, 423rd/562nd Sq, No
Mark Allen: 447th BG No

This is all now track em down

Wurger · 2024-12-20T10:56:41-0500

Geo, the "Thru Helen Hiwater" we may exclude. Not the font style ...

the source: the net.

fubar57 · 2024-12-20T10:58:02-0500

Done

Wurger · 2024-12-20T11:07:19-0500

The Lady Helen of Wimpole too ...

the pic source: Helen E Pierson | American Air Museum

fubar57 · 2024-12-20T11:12:21-0500

Done

Wurger · 2024-12-20T11:31:44-0500

Neither Mary Ellen ...

the source: Archived Gallery 1 - 385th BGA

nor the Mary-Ellen II

the source: B-17 #42-30601 Photo | B-17 Bomber Flying Fortress – The Queen Of The Skies

fubar57 · 2024-12-20T11:38:14-0500

Hah....I forgot to include Mary Ellen as it was late and when I woke up this morning I forgot where I was . Note that there were three of them and note, the pic you posted, according to the directory, doesn't exist....well done

Just noticed the BG number, something odd here

fubar57 · 2024-12-20T11:53:26-0500

Just seen your edit. Good one. As I mentioned before, I've found nose art where the book says there was none. One photo I found was in a forum about vintage race car racing

Wurger · 2024-12-20T12:09:17-0500

Yep .. also believing mjfur's guess it could be the training unit and it can be a problem. Most of such pics were taken while servicing in a operational squadrons but not during a training. It may be a trouble in finding at all. What is more the images in the first post seem to be taken with a smartphone and the flash what resulted in making the pics of the worse quality.

fubar57 · 2024-12-20T12:27:45-0500

Aaaaaah, never saw his edit. Very possible. Lots of training class history books out there but can't remember where I saw them. Problem is, which base and which class

fubar57 · 2024-12-20T13:21:33-0500

Looks like a good place to start..... View Items

Yesak23 · 2024-12-20T15:14:56-0500

fubar57 said:
Okay, this is what I found in the directory and remember, its not a final say as not all B-17s were documented or had photos taken. We'll start with Wojtek's Helen. It will include Bomb Group, Bomb Squadron, s/n and whether there is a known photo

Helen: no data

Helen Belle: 2nd BG, 429th Sq, 44-6350, No

Helen Heaven: 303rd BG, 358th Sq, 42-31224, No

Helen Repeat: 401nd BG, no other data

~~Lady Helen of Wimpole: 91st BG, Yes~~

Our Helen: no data

~~Thru Helen Hiwater: 303rd BG, 427th Sq, 42-39875, Yes~~

Virginia Helen: 447th BG No

Satan's Chillen: 401 BG, No

Jackie Ellen: 305th/379th BG, 423rd/562nd Sq, No

Mark Allen: 447th BG No

This is all now track em down

This is awesome! I'll see what I can find. Thank you! - Yesak23

Yesak23 · 2024-12-20T15:21:51-0500

Wurger said:
Yep .. also believing mjfur's guess it could be the training unit and it can be a problem. Most of such pics were taken while servicing in a operational squadrons but not during a training. It may be a trouble in finding at all. What is more the images in the first post seem to be taken with a smartphone and the flash what resulted in making the pics of the worse quality.

Yeah, I have the hard copy pictures (poor quality). To post them on this site I, to took with my iPhone. I'll double check when I get home, but I believe he trained in Alexandria, Louisiana. Looking online it looks like it was called Pollock Army Air Field.

Help Identifying Great Uncle's B-17 (1 Viewer)

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