WOOD'S CHOPPER (PIC 1)

NAME	TP	-	M#	SER	-	BLK	-	MF	SERIAL #	AF	BG	BS	SC	RCL/#	V#-P	PHOTO CREDITS
WOOD'S CHOPPER	B	-	24	H	-	5	-	FO	42-7750	15	449	718	~	35	00-1	NORFIELD PUBLISHING

Starboard (Right) Side

Contributor - Don Shepherd

On the field at Grottaglie, Italy. Early 1944. Delivered to Bruning, Nebraska, 20 Oct 43, and assigned to J. W. Wood's crew.

WOOD'S CHOPPER was lost 2 Jul 44 when it crashed, just short of the runway four miles north of it's home base, out of fuel, at Grottaglie with Kirkland's crew aboard. It returned, damaged from a mission to Budapest, Hungary, with 3 KIA.

The original nose art showed an ax descending upon the neck of "Tojo". The already severed head of "Hitler" is seen to the right and in April, 1944, a Wing inspector ordered that the caricatures of "Tojo and Hitler" be painted over. The reason... "To avoid offending the enemy"!