Dorothy (Dottie) Jackson and Nell Dolf just after a double wedding ceremony in the base chapel at Dalhart Army Air Base, Dalhart, Texas. They are wearing the wings of their husbands.
Dottie and Nell would have only 5 weeks to spend with their husbands before the Clayton crew left Dalhart (October 21, 1943) bound for the European Theater of Operations (ETO). Dorothy gave birth to twin daughters (Harriette and Beverly) on July 7, 1944. Win would not see them until February, 1945.
According to former T/Sgt. Miles Lisenby, (radio operator), the Clayton crew decided in January, 1944, to name a B-17 after the two brides. It was called the "Dottie Nell". On January 30th, the "Dottie Nell" was shot up and Nell's husband Dick Dolf was badly wounded returning from a mission to Brunswick, Germany.
The aircraft had lost one engine on the bomb run due to flak. As the formation let down over the Zuider Zee on the return flight, it passed unsuspectingly over a disguised flak ship. The formation was hit by highly accurate medium altitude flak. The "Dottie Nell" lost a second engine, fuel tanks were holed, the command radio wrecked, the plastic nose was shattered and Dick Dolf was wounded in the knee. Throwing out all the equipment that they could do without, the Clayton crew made it to a fighter base on the coast of England. The last two engines quit on the runway due to fuel starvation. The B-17 had to be towed off the runway. According to Lisenby, the aircraft was salvaged. Dick Dolf never flew again.
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