FOUR JILLS IN A JEEP Entertaining the troops.
Landis, Mayfield, Francis and Raye.
BY REG REYNOLDS
T
he B-17 Flying Fortress was a state-of-the-art fighting machine, but this one was in serious trouble as it flew through a storm towards Gibraltar. It was the height of World War II and air, sea, and land battles were all the news, but if this four-engine bomber crashed it would make headlines around the world as it carried four Hollywood stars celebrated variously for their acting, singing, dancing and comedy. The four celebrities were actor Carole Landis, comedian and singer Martha Raye, actor Kay Francis and dancer Mitzi Mayfield. At an undisclosed airfield in December 1942 the women were issued with fur-lined flying suits to put over their clothes. “I felt that I must look like a walking house,” wrote Landis in 34
her book Four Jills in a Jeep, “and when I looked at Kay and Mitzi, I was sure of it. Some glamour girls.” The troupe was headed for Morocco to entertain troops who had recently landed in North Africa during the invasion code-named Operation Torch. The flight was very rough, and Landis, who was recovering from an infection after an emergency appendectomy, had to continuously excuse her way past the flight crew in order to get to the loo. The flight was scheduled to land at Casablanca but due to the poor conditions was forced to try for Gibraltar. The western Mediterranean was fog bound and the transmitter at Gibraltar failed so they couldn’t fly in via
They were exhausted from the cold and terror of the flight.
the directional beam. Landis described the frightening events in her book:
“A crew member came in with life belts and said, ‘Well girls, we’re sorry this has happened, but you better put on these Mae Wests.” “Do you mean….?” Kay asked. He shrugged, “Could be,” he added laconically. Suddenly, a bit of an opening came through the fog, and there in front of us was the Rock. A moment later and we might have crashed but in that split instant the pilot zoomed over and around it and flew back in the direction in GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE MAY 2020
