| Caption | The United Kingdom’s Princess Elizabeth of York holding onto her hat against the wind at RAF Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, England, 6 Jul 1944. She is standing with Col. George Robinson, base commanding officer. ww2dbase | |||||||||
| Photographer | Unknown | |||||||||
| Source | ww2dbaseImperial War Museum | |||||||||
| Link to Source | Link | |||||||||
| Identification Code | IWM FRE 5939 | |||||||||
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| Photos on Same Day | 6 Jul 1944 | |||||||||
| Photos at Same Place | Thurleigh, England, United Kingdom | |||||||||
| Added By | David Stubblebine | |||||||||
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This photograph has been scaled down; full resolution photograph is available here (3,564 by 5,425 pixels). | ||||||||||
| Licensing | According to the United Kingdom National Archives, Crown copyright material that has been created prior to 1 Jun 1957 is considered to be in the public domain. Please contact us regarding any inaccuracies with the above information. Thank you. |
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Modern Day Location
| WW2-Era Place Name | Thurleigh, England, United Kingdom |
| Lat/Long | 52.2297, -0.4747 |
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20 Sep 2023 10:28:39 PM
The occasion was the re-christening of the B-17G Fortress ‘Rose of York’ seen behind the Princess and the Colonel. The christening itself was by means of breaking a bottle of English cider, inside a bag, against the airplane. That bag can be seen hanging at right. So that there would be something to smash the christening bottle against, the bomber was fitted with a small metal plate mounted between the barrels of the forward twin-machine guns (also seen here) which was also painted with the ‘Rose of York’ nose art (barely visible). This plate was removed immediately after the ceremony and undoubtably became a keepsake for someone. Lastly, many other sources (including the Imperial War Museum) identify the officer in this photo as Col Claude Putnam, but this is incorrect. Col Putnam had been the commanding officer of the 306th Bomb Group (and therefore of RAF Thurleigh) but he was relieved by Col Robinson over a year before this event. The war diaries of the 306th Bomb Group describe the events of this day in detail, including names of all dignitaries, and say the ceremonies were hosted by Col Robinson. Col Putnam is not mentioned.