Corgi AA33314 B-17F, 8th Air Force, 41-24577, 303rd Bomber Group, ‘Hell’s Angels’, Molesworth, England, 1943

Boeing B17F serial number 41-24577, better known as ‘Hells Angels’, was the first US 8th Air Force B17 to complete 25 missions on May 13th 1943. The following day, Captain Irl E.Baldwin the legendary pilot of ‘Hells Angels’, became the first officer from the 303rd BG (H) to complete a combat tour of 25 missions after a raid on Kiel, Germany. Taking its name from a 1930 Howard Hughes movie, ‘Hells Angels’ was assigned to the 358th Bomb Squadron, part of the 303rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) based at Molesworth in Huntingdonshire, England from 1942-45. In January 1944 the 303rd BG(H) adopted the name of ‘Hells Angels’ in tribute to one of its most famous planes After successfully completing 48 missions, Boeing B17F ‘Hells Angels’ returned to the United States on January 20th 1944 to embark on a morale boosting tour of war production factories. When the tour finished in May 1944, ‘Hells Angels’ was transferred to the USAAF for use as an aircrew training aircraft before being scrapped in August 1945.