FLIRTY GERTY BECOMES MY MEMPHIS BELLE

 A very uneventful final mission with some FLAK over BOCHUM but no enemy aircraft, no damage and no casualties. 5 of the crew complete their tour with this mission, and 2 more are on 24 having been in the hospital. I'm surprised the BOMBARDIER has 21 and is still 7ML - but the NAVIGATOR took over doing the shooting.  Even the TG has 18.

An impressive array of kill markers  - though I think we can assume a 5 or 10:1 ratio of claims to actual kills. Even so they did well.

Though FLIRTY GERTY and her crew enjoyed fantastic luck at times, they were often very close to being shot down. What is significant is the long run of easy missions to France during the middle of her tour - had these been missions deep inside Germany things would have been a good deal tougher.

I think I have the balance about right now. What helped this crew was getting HEROIC gunners in the SWG and TT positions early on  - then adding RO and NAV all at 10ML. This made her deadly to BANDITS. She finishes with a total of 6 HEROES.