Aero Vintage Books

Well, isn't this just too cool. Here is the ex-Madras Maiden in her new colors.

yeah, they spent 10+ years trying to get a chin turret and now they made her a B-17F abortion (ie a B-17F with staggered waist guns).

Did not bother asking anybody about getting the color right -- the Triangle-K should be Blue on a light grey background and not white / black..

terveurn wrote: ↑Tue Feb 12, 2019 7:40 am yeah, they spent 10+ years trying to get a chin turret and now they made her a B-17F abortion (ie a B-17F with staggered waist guns).

Did not bother asking anybody about getting the color right -- the Triangle-K should be Blue on a light grey background and not white / black..

I was going to ask if this was a historically accurate paint job, because different paintings of the plane show a variety of different colors. Thanks for the insight. Either way, the story that comes with this re-creation is incredible... hopefully this new generation of uber-soft millennial's can appreciate it.

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I was going to ask if this was a historically accurate paint job, because different paintings of the plane show a variety of different colors. Thanks for the insight. Either way, the story that comes with this re-creation is incredible... hopefully this new generation of uber-soft millennial's can appreciate it.
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44-8543 is a pretty rare B-17 and should have been restored correctly -- she was built as a PFF ship and is only one of three remaining.

this crap of having to paint a ship as some combat fantasy wet dream is ridiculous when the trend is for accurate restorations.

then again, you have the Collings Foundation P-51 restored in fake markings instead of restoring this 8th AF veteran in the markings she wore when her pilot was KIA.

But I guess that 90% of the idiots that read about the 8th AF do not understand that bare metal B-17G's were more active then OD/G B-17F's and that bare metal B-17's first came off the production lines in January 1944 and served 16 months of very hard combat (harder combat then a lot of what the B-17F's saw)

DryMartini wrote: ↑Fri Feb 22, 2019 1:09 pm
I'm not going to disagree about the significance of it being a PFF ship,
and I know Doc was trying to get the correct radar equipment at one time,
but...

It is out there to make the new owner/leaser $$$

"Desert Rat" has the same problem. Many have expressed the view
that it should have stayed an XC-108. Problem is, few know what
an XC-108 is.

At least with the Rat, you are painting her in markings found on her and as a B-17E again, in her historical, original markings.

You are not sitting there, going to paint her as some combat B-17E with a thousand mission markers and hundreds of jap flags (or maybe, according to the logic, paint her as a combat B-17F).

* * *
If the new owners wanted to do a repaint, then a more accurate scheme, appropriate for the airframe could easily be found -- how about Carolina Moon ?

Hell, if a new owner wants to make big bucks, do the aircraft as 5 Grand and let the people (for 300 - 500 a shot) sign their name on the airframe in different shade and colors.

Yes, we were going to add the radome and radar operator's station in Chuckie when the Hospers' still owned her--the mold form for the dome is still in pieces in my shop..… Working for Dr. and Mrs. Hospers was without doubt the best warbird work my wife and I have ever done. I'm not fond of what has happened to their airplane since it left Meacham, but it is what it is.

"Yes, we were going to add the radome and radar operator's station in Chuckie when the Hospers' still owned her--the mold form for the dome is still in pieces in my shop"

Ah shit..................................

The more things change . . . this discussion made me recall a meeting at Len Morgan's house in Dallas on the 1960s. Jerry Groh and I were talking with some rich guy from the Confederate Air Force and Jerry asked, "why do you guys use that godawful paint scheme on your planes".

I don't remember his exact words, but the monied man's meaning was clear - if we try to paint them in wartime colors a bunch of nitpickers like you two make our lives miserable.

terveurn wrote: ↑Fri Feb 22, 2019 6:44 pm "Yes, we were going to add the radome and radar operator's station in Chuckie when the Hospers' still owned her--the mold form for the dome is still in pieces in my shop"

Ah shit..................................

Remind me to dig out my photos of '543 tonight!

Steve Birdsall wrote: ↑Fri Feb 22, 2019 11:57 pm The more things change . . . this discussion made me recall a meeting at Len Morgan's house in Dallas on the 1960s. Jerry Groh and I were talking with some rich guy from the Confederate Air Force and Jerry asked, "why do you guys use that godawful paint scheme on your planes".

I don't remember his exact words, but the monied man's meaning was clear - if we try to paint them in wartime colors a bunch of nitpickers like you two make our lives miserable.

That because the alternative was much more attractive.......

Hey, I did not say not to paint in wartime scheme, just make sure it is appropriate (as well as technically correct for the airframe). I still believe Memphis Belle should have been painted as a TB-17F from MacDill.

It's funny.
We get posts of the vein "Why don't you post more pictures/video/do more updates so I can sis here on my
comfy-schmupy couch, and ask you why you are using AN455 rivets?" all the time.
I wish each question like that had a $100 donation. We might have a zero-timed R-1820-97 by now.

Steve Birdsall wrote: ↑Fri Feb 22, 2019 11:57 pm I don't remember his exact words, but the monied man's meaning was clear - if we try to paint them in wartime colors a bunch of nitpickers like you two make our lives miserable.

DryMartini wrote: ↑Sat Feb 23, 2019 7:01 am
It's funny.
We get posts of the vein "Why don't you post more pictures/video/do more updates so I can sis here on my
comfy-schmupy couch, and ask you why you are using AN455 rivets?" all the time.
I wish each question like that had a $100 donation. We might have a zero-timed R-1820-97 by now.

Steve Birdsall wrote: ↑Fri Feb 22, 2019 11:57 pm I don't remember his exact words, but the monied man's meaning was clear - if we try to paint them in wartime colors a bunch of nitpickers like you two make our lives miserable.

terveurn wrote: ↑Sat Feb 23, 2019 5:40 am
I still believe Memphis Belle should have been painted as a TB-17F from MacDill.

There is a vid out there with an NMUSAF guy talking about restoring the belle, and he said there were many phases that the plane could have been restored back too. IIRC, they chose the phase "as she finished the 25th mission" because there was a substantial amount of color footage available to ensure they got it (almost) right.

So what happened to the Cheyenne tail? Where did the stinger tail come from?