12/31/2024. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The 42-30631 was accepted by the USAAF on July 31, 1943, but was bailed to Boeing twelve days later. It was fitted with a new chin turret designed by Bendix and staggered waist windows. For armament testing the aircraft was transferred to Materiel Command at Eglin Field, Valparaiso, Florida on October 7, 1943. Subsequently it was assigned to the Eighth Air Force, England. Eighth Air Force Service Command.
Eventually it was converted for trooping, being stripped of all armament and turrets, it was capable of carrying thirty passengers on benches installed in the waist and bomb bay. It was assigned to the 310th Ferrying Squadron of the 27th Air Transport Group at Burtonwood (Station 590), Lancashire.
In the summer of 1945 it was returned to the USA and arrived at the 121st Base Unit (Redeployment Processing) at Bradley Field, Windsor Locks, Connecticut on August 11, 1945. Two months later, October 9, it was transferred to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation at Altus Field, Oklahoma, for storage and disposal.
Trivia, the insignia on the fuselage, a blue roundel with a white star and white bars, surrounded by a red lining, was only in use from June 29 to August 14, 1943, thereafter the red lining was replaced by a blue one."
