Pictured at Horsham St Faith mid-June 1944

Returned to Zone of Interior – June 1945

This Liberator had quite the career with the 458th.  An original aircraft, it was flown on the  February 24th and 25th, 1944  diversionary missions in support of “Big Week”; and on the group’s 239th mission (second to last) on April 20, 1945 to Zwiesel, Germany.  This ship remained in the 753rd Squadron for its entire career, amassing a total of 54 credited sorties. A former group lead aircraft, it was relegated to a “wing” ship in June 1944.  This ship also took part on six AZON missions flown by the 753rd Squadron in the summer of 1944.

There are several gaps in the Liberator’s mission dates that may explain the relatively low mission count.  Between June 22 and July 20 no missions are recorded.  There is evidence that an emergency landing took place at Horsham on June 23rd and may be the reason for this. Former 458th radio operator Walter Fifer (Crew 21), who had been transferred to the 93BG in May, made the following entry in his daily journal: “June 23 & 24- Sack time. Our old ship Lady Luck was shot up & crash landed at our old base. Our squadron has been stood down for a few days to get the ships back in condition”.  Records for this particular incident are currently not available.  The second, and much longer period between combat flights came in mid-October 1944, when the last recorded mission was on the 19th to Mainz, Germany.  The next time #408 appears on records is January 29, 1945.  The reason for this three month hiatus is unknown.

Exactly when Lady Luck became The Beast (or, as some called it, Beastface), and the artwork changed is unknown.  Perhaps during one of the long spells of apparent inactivity, someone decided to spice up the nose a bit.