Aero Vintage Books

Five batches of photos from Hobbs just ended on eBay; I only won one batch of two photos, so here are the auction images:

These are the ones I won; #99 and #12; when I get them I'll scan them better - #12 looks like a 44-XXXX number


B-17F #39 and B-17G #44


B-17F #93, nose art Kay or Ray?


B-17F #95, 42-5452




B-17F #51 in the background, and B-17F #40, 42-37779 Pist'l Packin' Mama/Belle's Pist'l Pakin' Mama - pretty sure these are both the same plane, with the 25 mission marks on either side. Most Hobbs B-17s were new planes, but this one's a combat veteran; per Osborne:

Dave Osborne wrote:42-37779 Del Denver 25/8/43; Scott 23/10/43; ass 401BG Deenethorpe 14/11/43; tran 324BS/91BG [DF-B] Bassingbourn 20/11/43; then AFSC 3/5/44; retUS 8STA Homestead 11/6/45; 4136 BU Tinker 14/8/45; 3017 BU Hobbs 1/9/45; RFC Walnut Ridge 3/1/46. PIST’L PACKIN’ MAMA.

B-17G #09, serial's blurry but looks like 44-8064 - first of a batch of five (8064-8068) that were sent to Hobbs. (8064 is also the closest match in my earlier thread for the photo of crash-damaged #30 - may have to rethink that one.)


B-17F #93 again in the background; serial looks like 42-5XXX (possibly 42-5416), and B-17G #98. Lacking cheek guns, this one looks like it should be one of the six candidates for the Paducah plane; however...

...if it were, part of that number would be visible in the newspaper photo. The search continues...

Got the two photos in the mail today - and we have another confirmed serial and plane number:





So 44-6070 is Hobbs #12. I tried to enlarge the data block on #99, but it just wasn't clear enough - although the shape of the little blobs looks like it could be another 44-XXXX number.
Just wish I could have won all of them...