Description
OUR BABY PRINT SIGNED BY MAJOR GALE (BUCK) CLEVEN OF THE 100th BOMB GROUP
Our Baby when it was shot down on the Bremen Raid 8 Oct 1943
Print by Artist Scott Nelson
This numbered print is the only print signed by the Pilot, Gale (Buck) Cleven (very limited quantities available)
All prints are signed by Buck Cleven and by the Artist, Scott Nelson
Crew of Our Baby when it was shot down on 8 October 1943: Major Gale Cleven – Commanding Officer-Left seat, Capt. Bernard DeMarco – Pilot – Right seat, Flight Officer James Thayer – Co-pilot – Nose gun, S/Sgt Jerome Ferroggiaro – Top Turret, Lt. John Downs – Navigator, Lt. Francis Harper – Bombardier, T/Sgt. Thorton Stringfellow – Radio room, S/Sgt. William Woodbury – Waist Gunner, T/Sgt. James Barr – Waist Gunner, S/Sgt. William Williams – Ball Turret Gunner, S/Sgt. Harry Calhoun – Tail Gunner
Buck Cleven shared the following story about the day he was shot down with Artist, Scott Nelson
"It was Oct. 8, 1943. A raid on Bremen, Germany. Flak over the target was intense, causing the Group to break up, leaving Buck’s plane unprotected. German fighters pounced, riddling the bomber with machine gun and cannon fire. Buck’s plane took extreme damage, Number 2 engine was off line, number four engine was literally blown away, #3s controls were shot away. The vertical stabilizer was blown open and the horizontal tail was thoroughly holed. 6 to 10 feet of the left wing was gone and number one engine eventually caught fire. Buck tried to reach the Netherlands as they steadily lost altitude and continued attacks by fighters did more damage. When the bomber descended to 2000 feet, Cleven ordered the crew to bail out as more altitude was lost. He stayed at the controls as the last of the crew jumped, then jumped himself and pulled his rip cord as the tail went over his head. The chute had just barely opened when Buck went through the back door of a German farm house, hitting with such force that he totally destroyed the little stove in the small room. Buck was scrambling around on the floor trying to get his feet under him. The lady of the house was hysterical, screaming and calling Buck a ‘luftgangster’ and ‘terrorflieger’. Buck was still trying to get off the floor and struggling with the chute harness when the old farmer came and pressed the tines of a hay fork against his chest. Cleven was desperately trying to remember some phrases of his High School German to explain what a nice guy he was but wasn’t having much luck. About the time Buck thought he would be run through, a German policeman showed up and took him in custody. Cleven and his crew were all captured and Buck eventually ended up at Stalag Luft 3."
Price: $200.00
Overall size 26.6 inches wide by 20.4 inches high
Image size 23.0 inches wide by 16.5 inches high
