Memphis Belle Nose Art Photo signed Robert Morgan

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I have been attending the annual World War II weekend that is scheduled every June in Reading Pennsylvania for over 10 years. It's three days long and I usually attend everyday to acquire relics and autographs as well as see the great events. This show and reenactment has lots of great airplanes, reenactors and famous WWII vets signing autographs. Robert Morgan or the pilot of the Memphis Belle was t in the year 2003 and every year before that as long as I can remember. Just before the 2004 show, he fell down cracking his neck and very sadly died of complications. Sadly he and his wife were very widely missed at the 2004 show and 2005 show. I spoke with him many times and had him autograph items that I brought to shows over the years. I'm offering this Robert Morgan signed Memphis Belle nose art photo. I had Col. Morgan sign this photo several years ago at the MAAM weekend in 2003. It is his signature and not a photocopy. This photo is a gloss photo measuring 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches. It is signed in black felt tip on the glass nose canopy. Below is information on the MAAM show, Morgan, and the Memphis Belle. At Boeing Field, Washington state on July 17, 1935 an aircraft that was destined to become a legend, was rolled into view for the first time. That aircraft was the model 299, the forerunner of the B-17 Flying Fortresses. During the production run Boeing manufactured 12,731. One of these was AF S/N 41-24485 an F model, came to be known as the Memphis Belle. During the war, approximately 4500 of these aircraft were shot down or so badly damaged as to un-useable. After the war ended, most of the remaining aircraft were sent to scrap yards to be turned into toasters and waffle irons. Today t are about 50 airframes, only 14 of which are in flyable condition. Of these, not one has a combat record. Of the surviving B-17's, only three, possibly four, have combat records. Shoo, Shoo, Shoo Baby is proudly displayed at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. The Swoose, the only surviving B-17D, is in storage at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., and the Memphis Belle which is undergoing a three year restoration at the old Navy base in Millington Tennessee. The fourth, Chuckie, may have flown costal patrol during the war. How the Belle came to in Millington Tennessee is a long story. It started in 1946 when a reporter for the Memphis (Commercial) Appeal was in Altus Oklahoma visiting the aircraft bone yard when he came across the B-17 "Memphis Belle" and remembered hearing about it during the war bond tour of World War II. At the time the "Belle" was flying combat, t was no long range fighter protection over Europe, and because of this the loss rate was around one-third. Moral was low among the crews, and their families back home. It was decided that a boost in moral was needed on the home front, so a decision was made to send the first aircraft and her crew to complete the required twenty-five combat missionÃ*s home to the United States to go on a war bond tour. The idea was to show the folks back home that it was possible to survive the dangers of air warfare even at a time when fighter cover was not available. The Memphis Belle was not the first B-17 to complete twenty-five missions. That distinction goes to Hell's Angels. Unfortunately, some of her crew was killed completing her twenty-five missions and due to her name, "Hells Angels", the powers in Washington decided that the "Memphis Belle" would make a better impression and sell more bonds. Her namesake, Miss Margaret Polk, and the love story behind the naming of the aircraft was a more appropriate choice, and besides, none of the Belle's crew was killed during her raids over Europe. So the 'Belle' became the first B-17 to complete twenty-five missions and return home for a bond tour. After the bond tour the Belle was sent to MacDill Field in Florida w she was used to train pilots. After the war she was sent to Altus Field in Okalahoma. The reporter went home to Memphis and wrote a story on the upcoming fate of the "Memphis B... read more

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