B-24D Liberator 42-40722 491st Bomb Group Assembly Ship “THE LITTLE GRAMPER”
Liberator 42-40723, known as The Little Gramper, flew with the 389th BG/566th BS/8th AF during the Operation Tidal Wave raid on Ploesti and safely returned to Libya. After completing fifty-two combat missions, it was deemed war-weary in May 1943 and reassigned to the 491BG as an assembly ship. It flew its first mission in this role on 12 June over the North Sea. For its new role, The Little Gramper was stripped of its armament and painted in a highly visible scheme: bright yellow with large and small red polka dots scattered across the fuselage, wing tops and bottoms, and nacelles, while the fin was painted green with a horizontal white stripe. After just two months as an assembly ship, by September 1944, the bomber was deemed too worn out and was replaced by the B-24J 44-40165 Rage in Heaven. The Little Gramper was eventually scrapped on 31 May 1945.