“Jitters From Bitters”
Piloted by Lieutenant David 'Brandy' Brandfass, this aircraft (call sign 204-I) was crippled by flak on the November 25, 1944 Bingen/Bingerbruck mission, losing two engines and its Gee box, and was belly-landed on a soft mesh airstrip near Ghent, Belgium. A second takeoff attempt to fly it home failed when it sank into marshy ground; the crew was extracted separately by a borrowed B-17.
The aircraft's nose art was painted by radio operator Leo Hebert, at the crew chief's request, after years of ground crew duty at Hardwick without a named plane. Hebert used enamel paint scrounged in red, yellow, and white to depict the name and a foaming mug of bitters, the English ale served at the pub near the base.
Sortie Log
A sortie is a single combat mission flown by an aircraft and its crew. The entries below document known sorties associated with this airman, drawn from flight logs, mission records, and archival sources. This list represents verified flights but may not be complete; gaps may reflect missing documentation, transferred assignments, or records lost to time.