On Christmas Eve 1944, as the Battle of the Bulge continued across Western Europe, crews of the U.S. Eighth Air Force took off for another major operation against targets in Germany. Among the B-17 Flying Fortresses in the formation was High Tailed Lady, B-17G 43-38028 of the 838th Bomb Squadron, 487th Bomb Group.
Christmas Eve Over Europe
The 24 December mission placed American bomber formations over a battlefield already defined by winter weather, heavy fighting on the ground, and determined German resistance in the air. The 487th Bomb Group was assigned to strike Babenhausen, Germany, while Luftwaffe fighters attempted to break up the bomber stream before it reached its objective.
Among the German units committed that day was IV.(Sturm)/JG 3, equipped with heavily armed Focke-Wulf Fw 190s for close attacks against four-engine bombers. The resulting fighting near Liège became one of the costly aerial encounters of the period. For the bomber crews, the date carried an additional human weight: losses on Christmas Eve meant empty bunks and missing crews the following morning.
Historical reference photograph associated with B-17G High Tailed Lady.
The Aircraft Behind the Artwork
High Tailed Lady survived the war and provides the historical focus for Craig Tinder's artwork of the same name. Rather than presenting the B-17 simply as an anonymous heavy bomber, the piece centers the story on a specific aircraft, unit, and mission during the final winter of the air war over Europe.
The surviving historical record also helps place the aircraft within the larger campaign. By late 1944, Allied air power had achieved overwhelming strength, but individual missions remained dangerous. German fighter units could still inflict serious losses, and bomber crews continued to face flak, weather, mechanical failure, and fighter attack on operations deep into enemy territory.
A Relic from a Surviving B-17
The related Aces In Action artwork includes an authentic B-17 Flying Fortress wing-skin fragment originating from B-17G-95-DL 44-83872, better known as Texas Raiders. The material was removed during a major wing-spar restoration in 2001. Craig Tinder, who served as a loadmaster and restorer on the aircraft, personally acquired material from the restoration for preservation in his relic artwork.
That fragment does not come from High Tailed Lady itself. Instead, it provides a tangible connection to the same aircraft type while the artwork preserves the story of 43-38028 and its Christmas Eve mission.
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