Railroad officials repainted SD70AH, or SD70AC, No. 9026 as No. 1943, commemorating the year that B-17F Flying Fortress bomber, The Spirit of the Union Pacific, rolled off an assembly room floor bound for the skies over Nazi-occupied Europe. Nazis shot down the aircraft while it and its crew were on a bombing mission over Munster, Germany.
Union Pacific painted the locomotive to honor veterans in all branches of military service and included design elements from each: Air Force silver, a blue stripe from Strategic Air Command, hand-drawn lettering in homage to the B-17’s nose art, a Coast Guard safety stripe, Navy battleship gray, and camouflage for the Army and Marine Corps. A prisoner of war-missing in action, or POW-MIA, emblem is painted on the unit’s B-end.
The locomotive appeared in San Antonio, Texas, today; and will appear in New Orleans, Oct. 21; North Little Rock, Ark., Oct. 24; Van Buren, Ark., Oct. 25; Fort Riley, Kan., Nov. 6; Omaha, Neb., Nov. 10; and Cheyenne, Wyo., Nov. 13.
