Memphis Bell Crew

Memphis Belle in Flight.

B-17F "MEMPHIS BELLE"
Print By Sir Ernie Hamilton Boyette 
Limited Edition Print
12" X 18"
Price: $75.00

Colonel Robert K. Morgan
USAFR/RET, PILOT B-17 MEMPHIS BELLE

Limited Edition prints are signed and numbered by the artist and signed by the aviator.  Also available in Open Edition prints which are signed by the artist for $20.00

Robert K. Morgan was born in Ashville North Carolina on July 31, 1918. He attended the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Finance.  During his studies, Morgan saw that America would be pulled into the war in Europe. In January 1941 Robert joined the Army Air Corp and completed three months of Primary Flight training at Camden South Carolina.  Basic training was completed at Bush Field Augusta, Georgia and advanced at Barksdale Field, Shreveport, Louisiana. Five days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Morgan received his Wings and Second Lieutenant Bars.

B-17 training was completed at McDill Field, Tampa, Florida, where he was assigned to the 91st Bomb Group, 324th Squadron. Additional B-17 training was conducted in Walla Walla Washington. This is where Bob met Margaret Polk of Memphis, Tennessee. Morgan would name his B-17 for Margaret, "The Memphis Belle". In September 1942 Morgan and his crew were assigned their new B-17-F at Dow Field, Bangor, Maine.  They trained to work together as a team to ensure their survival in the skies over Europe. Each B-17 was equipped with 10 machine guns and they practiced flying in very tight formation which would give the greatest protection against the German fighters.

In October 1942, the Memphis Belle was flown across the North Atlantic to England and they were stationed as part of the Eighth Air Force at Bassingbourn.  During November and December 1942, the allied bombers were suffering high losses as high as 82% in their groups. The Army Air Corp decided to limit the number of combat missions for the crew members to twenty five.

On May 17, 1943 the Belle’s crew became the first to complete 25 combat missions and were sent home. They had flown 148 hours and fifty minutes and covered more than 20,000 combat miles. Morgan and his crew dropped over 60 tons of bombs over heavily defended strategic targets in France, Germany, and Belgium.

On many occasions Morgan and his crew flew the Belle back from their missions badly damaged by enemy fire. On five occasions they had engines shot out. On one mission their aircraft’s tail was almost torn off and on another mission they lost a large section of their right wing. The crew of the Belle were credited with eight enemy fighters destroyed, five probables, and damaged a dozen more. Only tail gunner John Quinlan was slightly injured during combat.

The 26th mission of the Belle was to fly the war-torn Fortress home to America on a Public Relations Tour. They landed at 30 cities across America in a ‘thank you’ for the support the military received form the citizens. In every city the Belle and her crew received a heroes welcome.  The crew members who returned with the Belle to the states were Captain Robert Morgan, co-pilot Captain James Verinis, Navigator Captain Charles Leighton, and bombardier Captain Vincent Evans. The enlisted men were radio operator Tech Sargent Robert Hanson, flight Engineer and top turret operator Tech Sargent Harold Loch, waist gunners Sergeant Casmir Nastal and Sargent Bill Winchell. The bottom ball turret gunner was Sargent Cecil Scott and tail gunner Sargent Johnny Quinlan.

Morgan then requested an assignment to the Pacific War where he flew 25 missions in a new Boeing B-29. Flying as the Squadron Commander for the 869th Bomb Group, on November 24, 1944, Bob led the first raid over Tokyo since Jimmy Dolittle’s historic raid in 1942.

Morgan left the service in 1965 receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters and the Air Medal with one silver and four bronze Oak Leaf Clusters.

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Limited Edition Prints - $75.00

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