43-37644 FEATHER MERCHANT
MACR 11231
MISSION #183 TARGET: HAMBURG
MACR 11231
MISSION #183 TARGET: HAMBURG
Feather Merchant: The name for this plane was from the cartoon strip called Lil Abner. The cartoonist, Al
Capp, would invent ficticious characters in his strip and one was an eastern salesman who was working
the Lil Abner area selling his wares. He was inclined to blow hot air and sell items that the people did
not need so they gave him the name Feather Merchant. During training, The original pilot Jim Shawhan
would call someone a Feather Merchant if they made a goof. They would quickly reciprocate and call him
one when he made a mistake. The nose art was a big white ball with top hat, glove, and cane inside the
ball with the name next to the ball.
Capp, would invent ficticious characters in his strip and one was an eastern salesman who was working
the Lil Abner area selling his wares. He was inclined to blow hot air and sell items that the people did
not need so they gave him the name Feather Merchant. During training, The original pilot Jim Shawhan
would call someone a Feather Merchant if they made a goof. They would quickly reciprocate and call him
one when he made a mistake. The nose art was a big white ball with top hat, glove, and cane inside the
ball with the name next to the ball.
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Crew on December 31, 1944
On New Year's Eve, 1944 German fighters hit this plane while it was dropping its' bomb load over Hamburg.
While the plane was going down, it peeled off to the right, spiraled down, made two slow rolls with the
fighters following it. No chutes were seen. Feather Merchant was last seen 12:14 hours at an altitude of
25,000 feet, heading straight down. It crashed at Osterholtz-Scharmbeck near Ritterhude, which is north of
Bremen, Germany.
While the plane was going down, it peeled off to the right, spiraled down, made two slow rolls with the
fighters following it. No chutes were seen. Feather Merchant was last seen 12:14 hours at an altitude of
25,000 feet, heading straight down. It crashed at Osterholtz-Scharmbeck near Ritterhude, which is north of
Bremen, Germany.