B17 "CAN DO", was it real?

Yep! The one I was thinking of was called “Leper Colony”.

Regards;
Steve

The ‘Can do’ was in the ‘1000 Plane Raid’, and at the end of the film when the aircraft completed the mission, I recall that ‘Can’ was chalked out, and ‘Did’ was chalked on the nose.

Just thinking out aloud…

…But wasn’t the “Can Do” the B-17 in 12’oClock High that all of the so called “Dead Beat” crew were allocated to? Haven’t seen the film for ages, but I seem to remember that those that weren’t up to scratch were assigned to the “Can Do” as a sort of punishment.

Maybe wrong though..

Regards;
Steve

WOW!!. well done indeed Duggy, its nice to know the name and aircraft did actualy exist although i think it was in a movie i saw so the name must have inspired the film producer also as its not a name that 1st springs to mind when you want to name an aircraft.. must get a copy of the suggested films to see.

a tragic loss of crew though

Duggy, welcome to the forum and what an entrance you have made.

That picture is a great find – thank you for posting.

B-17G 44-8477 “Can Do” (aka Winged Victory) crash on approach St Trond, orientation mission, 21 sept 1945, Major Brookes crew, all killed (source : “John Burn One Zero Five” by William Donald)

Regards Duggy

so im not daft then, i will continue to search for a picture though

1000 plane raid

I can remember seeing a site that had pictures of aircraft nose art but cannot seem to find it now. Looking at the http://bomberflight.info/links_pages…omb_groups.htm posted by bager1968, I think these names are moto’s for the group and not specific aircraft names.

http://bomberflight.info/links_pages/links_8th_air_force_bomb_groups.htm

Group _____ Moto or Sobriquet _____ Association Web Site
305th BG _____ “Can Do” _________ 305th Bomb Group Memorial Association [ B-17 ]

It’s in one of the B17 films, possibly “The war lover” from memory. Could be “12 O’Clock High” though or one of the others.