“Katy Bug”

The B-24D Liberator bomber 41-23475 carried the name Katy Bug across its forward nose in bold block letters. The nose art depicted a large, lobster-like bug with an oversized claw, a small emblem that marked this as someone's plane among many others.

In the scheme of 1943, it wore the standard colors of the U.S. Army's air war in Europe. Olive drab covered the upper surfaces of the wings and fuselage, designed to blend with the landscape below. The underside and engines were painted light sky gray, a standard protection against the sky. On each vertical stabilizer fin, the abbreviated serial number 123475 was stenciled in place. The national insignia of the time, white stars centered in blue roundels with yellow borders, identified it as American.