New Photos

"Swoose" (A cartoon character at the time.) This is P-5lC, 42-l03007. G4-P. There is no other photo of it with this name. It soon became "Joan." The men in the photo are Harry Baily, left, armorer, and Ray Morris, Crew Chief. This airplane was wrecked in a ground accident, rebuilt and transferred to another group.

This is a photo of PARKER 5l, that I had forgotten I had. A couple of months ago I heard from a chap from the Parker Pen (IN UK), saying that they had sponsored a P-5l in our outfit, and could I tell them anything about it, or send photos. (The Parker 5l was a popular and widely used pen in those days.) Although I once had a poor photo of the airplane, it has been lost years ago, so I had nothing, but a drawing I had made of the airplane. I told them that Maurice Baker, the pilot, was from Parker, SD, and I suspected that is where the name came from, not from the pen company. (Although Baker likely had a Parker 5l) After I sent them what I had, they sent a beautiful new Parker pen, in a case, very nice of them. While searching for your photos, I came across this one of Baker and his crew and the airplane, which was s/n 43-6824, 362nd code G4-F. The people are (l-r), SSgt Bob Hall, Armorer Ernest Huckleberry, Capt Baker, SSgt Rouse. I have sent it on to the Parker people also. Merle Olmsted View a model of Parker 51 at this link: http://www.inkblotters.com/