From the notes of Capt. Alfred Jones:
"Davie was a bus and the 'Flying Fortress' moniker seemed to pass her by, but it was a ship with a brave crew. The trudge of getting back to England from enemy territory is a story for another day. I miss her and sometimes I miss the boys we lost that day."
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B-17F "Dear Davie":
*U.S. Army Model B-17F-65-BO
Air Corps Serial No. 42-29670
Delivered Cheyenne 31/1/43; Pueblo 18/2/43; Salina 15/2/43; Brookley 19/3/43; Smoky Hill 23/3/43; Dow Field 18/4/43.
Assigned to the 333rd Bomb Squadron/94th Bomb Group [TS-L] "DEAR DAVIE" 22/4/43; Missing in Action near Hamburg 25/7/43 with Alfred "Comet" Jones, **Co-Pilot: Daryl "Speed" Reed, Navigator: Richard Reed, Bombardier: Charlie Marstaller; Radio Operator: Johnathan Graves, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner: Clyde "Pepsi" Ray, Ball Turret Gunner: William Ortlieb, Waist Gunner: Leslie Lipsey, Waist Gunner: Paul Rapoport, Tail Gunner: Thomas Pugh (6 Killed in Action); "DEAR DAVIE" lost to flak/anti-aircraft fire, crashing near Uetersen, 15 miles NW of Hamburg, Germany.
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[nerd things & acknowledgements below cut]
Notes on the B-17F...
The B-17F was an upgrade of the previous E model, with several notable changes: A one- or two-piece plexiglas nose cone, as opposed to the ten-paneled cone of previous versions. Reinforced landing gear allowed for a greater maximum payload, from 4,200 lb (1,900 kg) of ordnance to 8,000 lb (3,600 kg). Flight and combat range of the F model was improved by 900 mi (1,400 km) with the addition of nine self-sealing rubber fuel cells in the wing root, aka, "Tokyo tanks". The F model was generally characterized by being tail-heavy - which lead to part failure - and woefully undefended from the front; the early F models had no front-facing armament, leaving a 60° blind spot to the direct front of the aircraft - a flaw which was exploited by German pilots, who held air superiority. Later F models would see a list of possible available modifications (factory and field) such as inserting two .50 caliber machine guns into the nose cone to solve the blind spot. Other modifications to later F models were bulged cheek turrets, as opposed to the window-mounted guns of earlier iterations, and the available addition of the iconic "Bendix" chin turret. The chin turret is far more common on the subsequent G "gunship" variant. ("Dear Davie" is an early F model without the nose mount, bulged cheeks, or chin turret.)
*This model production block, serial no., and fate are borrowed from real-life B-17F #42-29670, "Thundermug." "Thundermug" was an aircraft that originally served in the 333rd Bomb Squadron/94th Bomb Group alongside my great-grandfather and his usual steed, "The Gremlins Hotel." It was transferred to the 544th BS/384th BG, at which point it went Missing in Action over Hamburg from flak/aa-fire; 8 of its crew became POWs while 2 were KIA. I have had the honor to speak to descendants of both of its crews and help them research "Thundermug"; I wish to voice a mere glimpse of their stories in a unique way.
**All names of Alfred's crew are either cobbled-together family names throughout our history here or entirely fictitious - though some were inspired by real people whom I grew up with stories of. All inspirations were individuals that lived good lives post-war.
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SLAU! One - @dianagj-art
2AL Poptart - @intotheelliwoods
。˚✧ I love the besties but I started watching super sons and the dynamic between Jonathon & Damian to then Poptart & One… I see no difference. One is a cinnamon roll that could kill you, the other could kill you but is a cinnamon roll
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Eleanor Shellstrop may be one of my favourite characters of all times
She's one of the few female characters who is truly allowed to be gross and morally questionable but also likeable and charming which is my favourite type of character
AND she has a great character arc!
Like her journey as a character is so well written and satisfying
Damn I need to watch the Good Place again because she was such a fun character and really well played
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Some of my thoughts while going through the Scara quest ✨
“Keep your pretty eyes open”
Oh? So you admit you find her eyes pretty mister wanderer??
Oooo so now we have confirmed that Scara does know abt Lumi not being from Teyvat and he has looked into her
Also celebrity Lumine is real you guys. I bet there are a bunch of Lumi stans running loose around Teyvat XD
He’s so desperate 😭😭
Just say you wanna be her (boy)friend and go
ASHZAHAHSHHSHS$&$&@$!&&!
Can’t believe they jumped straight into the hand holding 🫣
Oh cool, so they can still use that bond whenever they touch each other
(This gives me so many fic ideas, I’m about to lose it)
Let me tell you I was SHOOK when I saw this new version of Scara, but I couldn’t stop laughing at this scene
The way Lumi is just staring at him like “hun, you have no idea”, while Scara is doing the puppy eyes XD
Scara thinks he is only worthy as long as he is useful
I think Lumi can also relate to that, since she is always running around helping everyone else
I hope together they can learn they don’t have to be useful to be worth of love
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No because you don't understand. Since the popularity polls for us are technically the same as the hero ranking system in mha, Katsuki would constantly rank as the number one hero
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