Handley page Halifax B MkII special "Mermaid" BB323 VR-R, "Medicine hat" JD114 VR-D 419sq RAF),

KW148047 - 'Medicine Hat' - 'Mermaid'
Halifax B Mk II Series 1 (Special) 'Medicine Hat' JD1I4, VR-O, of 419 (Moose) Squadron after 45 bombing raids (one carrying an aerial mine) and pictured at Middleton St George in mid-1943 In November 1942, 419 (Moose) Sqn began conversion from the Wellington Mk III to the new Halifax B Mk II. In May 1943, the squadron, based at Middleton St.George, Durham, received a brand new Halifax B II, Series I (Special) which was assigned to FlO Jack McIntosh of Medicine Hat, Alberta. This aircraft, coded at different times as VR-O or VR-D, serial JD114, flew more operations than any other in 419 squadron.

Halifax B Mk II (Special), BB323, 'Mermaid'
In April 1943, Edmonton born Sgt Pilot Bill Gray and his crew received a new Halifax B Mk II (Special), coded VR-R, serial BB323, which they first flew on their sixteenth operation and for the remaining trips of their tour which they completed in June 1943. The mermaid nose art carried by this aircraft was designed by Cliff Wilby and Russ Harling and painted by ground crew member, Cpl John McGregor. The top half of the mermaid figure was adapted from the December 1943 Varga calendar pinup and the bottom half from suggestions by the crew.

The wording, 'Per Flak Ad Nauseum' ('Through flak until you're sick of it') was a play on the wording of the RCAFI
RAF motto, 'Per Ardua Ad Astra' ('Through Adversity to the Stars').