大象传媒

March 1944
A new B17-G aeroplane is rolled out onto the apron at Vega's Burbank works, it has cost the US taxpayer $247,000 so far.

A Vega employee gives it the name Miss Lollipop, in the hope that that it will be a good ship and bring its crew back safely. But the clock is running - Miss Lollipop has less than three months of service ahead.

24 March 1944
Miss Lollipop arrives at Tulsa for acceptance into the USAAF as #42-97883 and is wheeled into the hangar to be fitted out with her war equipment.

21 days left
The refit is complete and Miss Lollipop is needed in England for the D-Day invasion, along with all other finished aircraft. The long transit flight starts from Nebraska with a number of short hops across America. At each overnight stage, more war-ready B17s join the flight and the pace quickens.

13 days left
The flight has reached New Hampshire and is getting ready for the ten-hour trip across the Atlantic Ocean to England. The crew now joins. They are a mix of six from New York State and four from the Confederacy. A new crew for the new aircraft.

Atlantic Transport Command assigns Miss Lollipop and the crew to the 349th Bombardment Squadron of the 100th Bombardment Group at Thorpe Abbotts.

11 days left
The Bloody 100th is the new home for Miss Lollipop and missions start immediately. The group is doing all it can to destroy the French rail and communication network before D-Day in five days' time, and needs every aircraft for the job.

20 minutes left
A total of 769 B17s are leaving airfield targets in northern France after their bomb runs. Miss Lollipop has a problem. The bomb bay doors will not close, but she keeps up with the group at 26,000 feet.

Ten minutes left
The group has reached the Channel and flak is coming up from Calais coastal defences. Miss Lollipop takes a hit on number four engine. The right waist gunner sees fire under the wing and reports it to the pilot.

Number three engine is now alight. A further flak burst hits the underside of the aircraft, wounding the ball turret gunner. The radio operator drags the ball gunner out of his turret onto the floor of the radio room to deal with his injuries. The right waist gunner reports the fire spreading and hears number two engine running rough.

Five minutes left
The pilot has feathered both number three and number four engines but the fire extinguisher systems have had no effect. Miss Lollipop has been put into a series of steep dives to blow the fire out, but each time they level out the right waist gunner reports the fire blazing up again. The aircraft is now at 2,500 feet and flying parallel to the English coast.

Miss Lollipop has now been seen by the coast watchers. An Air Sea Rescue launch from Ramsgate, on standby at a buoy, is given the crash call and heads for the aircraft. The civilian lifeboat crew have seen the situation and are already underway when they receive the rescue call to Miss Lollipop. A further Air Sea Rescue launch slips its moorings in Dover harbour and heads for the scene.

The pilot is struggling to keep Miss Lollipop airborne and alters course to pass over three minesweepers. With no alternatives he orders the crew to abandon so they can be picked up quickly.

The tail gunner is first to leave through the waist position, but his parachute does not open. The left waist gunner has frozen with fear and the right waist gunner takes command and aids him out of the waist door, but his parachute also fails to open. The right waist gunner looks back into the radio room but cannot see any more crew, so he abandons and correctly deploys his parachute before landing near the minesweepers.

In the nose of Miss Lollipop the engineer has turned, crawled through his turret and is standing on the walkway between the bomb racks. He looks aft but can see no sign of the crew so he bails out through the open bomb doors.

Two minutes left
The last man to leave is the pilot, but he has left it too late as Miss Lollipop is now at 800 feet and his parachute does not open fully.

The end for Miss Lollipop
Miss Lollipop noses over and dives into the English Channel.

After 25 minutes the minesweepers pick up the right waist gunner and the engineer from the Channel, alive. The lifeboat picks up the fatally wounded pilot and puts him ashore before continuing the search for the rest of his crew.

The Air Sea Rescue launches search the area where Miss Lollipop crashed, then back-track towards the minesweepers before returning to base four hours later. The body of the bombardier is the only other crew member recovered.

55 years later
Divers find the shattered remains of Miss Lollipop 60 feet down and just one mile short of the English Coast.

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