His World War II Bomber Turns Up on Postage Stamp

That’s not just any B-17, Bob Peyton thought as he looked at the postage stamp. That’s my B-17!

Peyton, a retired Air Force captain, had been looking forward to the issuance this summer of a new stamp series called “Classic American Airplanes.”

When he bought a few blocks of the stamps, he looked closely at the one depicting a B-17--the Boeing Flying Fortress of World War II fame.

On the tail were the numbers 337675, and the group markings “L” and “N.” Out of 12,731 B-17s built by Boeing, the one Peyton flew had been chosen for the stamp.

“I got goose bumps on goose bumps,” Peyton said.

Peyton picked up his plane in England in 1945. He and his crew voted to name it Trudie’s Terror, after Peyton’s wife.

Although casualties were heavy among B-17 crews and his plane sustained its share of flak damage, Peyton said his crew didn’t suffer so much as a scratch during 25 combat missions over Europe with the 381st Bomb Group.

Bill Phillips of Ashland, Ore., who did the paintings for the stamps, said Peyton’s plane was used because it was one of the few B-17s photographed in color.

Trudie’s Terror previously had been depicted on a couple of book covers and in the 50th anniversary edition of American Legion magazine.