B-17s of 388th Bomb Group and newly found engraved wine cooler

Hi All,

In May of this year I found and bought a rather superb engraved silver plated wine cooler from a shop in Edinburgh. It has the names of 2 B-17s crews on it and on the front, “388th Bomb Group Outstanding Crew of the Month. Since then, with the help of the 388th BG database and loads of individuals on both sides of the Atlantic, I’ve been tracing the names and their stories. I’m writing a book called ‘The Trophy’.

Now my forum chums, the mystery is how come this piece of plate ended up in Edinburgh and did any of you ever see it or hear of it? It came from a house clearance north of the city, perhaps not far from Turnhouse. If the owner was an aviation enthusiast (if?) maybe other friends might have seen it sitting in a cabinet. Nobody Stateside has any idea why it was left behind, who had it or why. When I got it, to my amazement, I found a picture of one crew holding the trophy almost straight away on the 388th data site.

We know the base, Knettishall, shut down not long after the end of the war and all the remaining ground crews/staff left via Clydebank back to the USA. So, I’m looking for clues.. According to Antiques Roadshow, it’s 1880s Victorian British made, so it was acquired and engraved during 1944.

If you know anything about the 388th, aircraft, stories, crews, individuals, please tell me about it. It doesn’t matter if I have already heard it and I’ve covered most web sites. My two crews were led by pilots Dong Ong and Johnnie Colburn respectively. Johnnie’s still with us at a respectable 95 going on 96 in January. [ATTACH=CONFIG]233457[/ATTACH] Thanks Guys! I can be contacted directly on [email]david@davidprice.org[/email]