556TH BOMBARDMENT SQUADRON, MEDIUM

Q Q Q Q
Martin B-26B-20-MA Marauder
Sn: 41-31695
Squadron Code: FW-G

        Q Q Q Q was in active service for the Group's entire combat tour. It was one of the original fourteen aircraft assigned to the 556th and ferried by the squadron to England; it flew on the Group's first bombing mission, and it participated in the Group's last day of combat operations.. The crew to which the aircraft was originally assigned and that flew the aircraft from the United States to England was:
 

Flight Chief M/Sgt. George R. Collins accompanied the aircraft on its trip to England.

        The crew originally tried to name the aircraft '4Q' but the powers that be thought the name too vulgar. The crew changed the spelling to 'Q Q Q Q' but did not change the pronunciation.  Bill Thompson, the squadron's postwar historian, commented "The first time I saw this B-26 was when our crew joined the 556th at Stoney Cross in mid-August, 1944. The names on their bombers brought exclamations of delight the first day that we toured the aircraft dispersal area at Station 457. None so much as Q Q Q Q. If ever an aircraft's name signified the average U.S. GI's thoughts during those days of our youth, Q Q Q Q would win hands down."

        Q Q Q Q was part of both the group's first bombing mission on August 15, 1943, against the St. Omer-Ft. Rouge airdrome, and its last on April 26, 1945, against oil storage tanks at Schrobenhausen, Germany. In the latter mission the Group was recalled three minutes from base because the target had been overrun by the fast-advancing U.S. ground forces; the Group did not get credited for the mission because it never entered hostile air space.

        The name of the aircraft is sometimes written as QQQQ, without the spaces between the letters.