The B-17F Memphis Belle, the first U.S. Army Air Forces heavy bomber to return to the United States after completing 25 missions over Europe – will be placed on public display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force on May 17, 2018 exactly 75 years after its crew finished their last mission in the war against Nazi Germany on May 17, 1943.
Pilot Robert Morgan named the aircraft after his wartime girlfriend, Margaret Polk, of Memphis, Tenn. Morgan chose the now famous artwork from a 1941 George Petty illustration in Esquire magazine.
After returning to the United States in June 1943, its crew flew the aircraft across the country on a three-month war bond and morale boosting tour.
With the bond tour and the 1944 William Wyler documentary color film titled “The Memphis Belle” – which contained actual combat footage – the aircraft and its crew became widely known and celebrated. In 1990 a major motion picture of the same name added to their fame.
Following decades of display in Memphis, the historic aircraft came to the museum in October 2005, when work began on a careful, multi-year conservation and restoration effort including corrosion treatment and the full outfitting of missing equipment, which continues today.
