THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT THAT WAS LINKED TO THE "GEAR DOWN" INCIDENT AND ONE OF THE 100^TH BOMB GROUPS MOST FAMOUS LEGENDS. SUPPOSEDLY THE LOWERING OF THE GEAR SIGNALED SURRENDER, BUT WHEN FIGHTERS APPROACHED THE AIRCRAFT TO LEAD IT TO A LANDING THEY WERE FIRED ON. THUS THE LUFTWAFFE SINGLED OUT THE SQUARE D AIRCRAFT AND ATTACKED THEM WITH GREATER INTENSITY THAN OTHER GROUPS. THIS NEVER OCCURRED IN REGARD TO "PICKLEPUSS. " MARTIN MIDDLEBROOK HAD TRACED A "WHEELS DOWN" INCIDENT TO ANOTHER GROUP B17 ON THE REGENSBURG MISSION. HE HAS INTERVIEWED THE GERMAN FIGHTER PILOTS WHO SHOT DOWN THE "PICKLEPUSS" AND THEY REFUTE THE GEAR DOWN THEME. (Adolf Galland, Commander Fighters Luftwaffe, had never heard of any special attention to any Group until after the war…. PW. (Paul West’s assessment from Adolf Galland is correct but my findings do not concur with Middlebrook’s conclusion that this incident never happen to the Knox Crew. My interviews with Ernie Warsaw, the only living survivor, suggest the opposite …Michael P. Faley-100th Bomb Group Historian)