Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby

Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby was a B-17 bomber of WW2 and was named by her crew for a song of the same name made popular by The Andrews Sisters, the favourite... more

by Anastasios Polychronis

Title

Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby

Artist

Anastasios Polychronis

Medium

Digital Art

Description

"Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby" was a B-17 bomber of WW2 and was named by her crew for a song of the same name made popular by The Andrews Sisters, the favourite song of its crew chief T/Sgt. Hank Cordes. Photographs of the bomber indicate that a third "Shoo" was added to the name at some point in May 1944 when the original aircraft commander completed his tour of duty and was replaced by another pilot.
The nose art on the airframe was one of some 130 pieces painted by line mechanic Tony Starcer for "The Ragged Irregulars", this one based on Alberto Vargas' "Hawaii" Esquire pin up art.
On 26 April 1944 she flew her final mission. The crew's navigator, 2nd Lt. John M. Lowdermilk, described the circumstances of Shoo Shoo Baby's final mission:
�Soon after we crossed the German border, we lost number three engine, I believe because of losing oil pressure. Bob could not get the prop feathered (rotated 90� to put the blade edge perpendicular to the airflow). It continued to windmill (turn without power in the airflow) the entire trip with no vibration. We attempted to stay in formation with three engines but found this impossible and had to drop out. We continued on course to the best of my ability. We were losing altitude but continued to the target and dropped our bombs. Flying alone toward the Baltic Sea, we saw many German fighters attacking formations of B-17s and could not understand why they didn�t pick us out as a straggler. Before we reached the Baltic Sea, we lost the second engine, and the decision had to be made to go to Sweden because we could not make it back to England. Bob asked for a course to Sweden, and I charted one to a little town called Ystad in the very southernmost part of Sweden.

Uploaded

August 11th, 2015