 It was assigned Army Air Force serial number "42-24592", and Boeing-Wichita constructors number (c/n) 4253.The future "Dotty" was assigned to the 497th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy), with three assigned squadrons, at Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas, in the spring of 1944.The 497th was deployed to the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO) in September 1944, being assigned to the XXI Bomber Command 73d Bombardment Wing in the Northern Mariana Islands, and stationed at Isely Field, Saipan.