WOOD'S CHOPPER (PIC 4)

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	00-4	N/A

Port (Left) Side

Contributor - Brendan Wood

Info Contributor - Don Shepherd
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 left 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"!