My question is what were the Colors? O.D. Brown and what? Do we know how any 17's were painted in the scheme? Any documentation available on how many aircraft were painted in the scheme?
Thanks.
Tim
Sorry Steve...nothing in hi res. That's the biggest the picture gets without getting fuzzy. Would love to see the picture of it during the belly landing.
Credible Sport wrote:My question is what were the Colors? O.D. Brown and what? Do we know how any 17's were painted in the scheme? Any documentation available on how many aircraft were painted in the scheme?
Thanks.
Tim
Thanks Duane, I don't recall ever seeing that clip before.
It certainly bears out Colonel Walter Sweeney's comment that the application of the rudder stripes "destroys any camouflage effect which may have been obtained by the multi-colored painting of the airplane".
Steve Birdsall wrote:The problem with most of these photos is the lack of a date. The well-known photo below and the much later one above tend to make me think that 41-2403 never wore the HAD scheme. It left the Boeing factory 20 October 1941 but I don't know exactly when it arrived in Hawaii.
The presentation of the radio call number is the way I think 41-2408 would have looked, and I'd assumed it was applied at the Boeing factory or at least to Army specifications, but I don't really know for sure. Scott's comments about 40-2047 make me a bit more confident, but it would really help to find photos of a few more of these aircraft.
Just an update . . . the B-17E furthest from the camera in this March 1942 Hawaiian Air Force photo is usually identified as 41-2434 . . . it's actually 41-2404, one of the 50th Recon Squadron planes that arrived in Hawaii on 12 December 1941.
Any idea what bird this might be? I cannot read the name on the nose. Looks as if the last word starts with a "P". Photo caption stated that the location is Guadalcanal.
It's 41-2445 So Solly Plees, one of the originals when the 42nd Bomb Squadron left Hawaii for SOPAC on 18 July 1942. It went to the boneyard after the rear turret was knocked off when Maj. Ernest Manierre was “parking it in the bunker” on 9 December 1942.
aerovin2 wrote:I thought the same thing. Interesting in that I think the guys doing the actual painting sometimes did not have the guidance at hand. You see other such examples on occasion.
Here’s another variation on the theme – two digit tail numbers, presumably white, seen here on 41-2406 and 41-2419 on their way to Java.
Still looking for any photos of 41-2396, 41-2413, 41-2415, 41-2420, 41-2431 and 41-2433.
Sorry for the large “watermark” but I’m sick of seeing photos I post here turn up uncredited on other websites.
Here's another one but I need help to positively identify . . . It appeared in Lou Drendel's B-17 "Walk Around" book a few years ago. It's an official Marine Corps photo.
I contacted Lou but he no longer has the photo. I'm hoping that somebody here does have it and will provide a good scan of it. Happy to trade.
Of course the five-digit USMC photo number would also be appreciated if you know it.
Steve Birdsall wrote:Here's what I'm talking about . . . both photos were taken at Townsville, Australia.
None of these aircraft had exactly the same paint job, and that's proved to be both a blessing and a curse. In this particular case, a blessing.
A bit more information . . . that's Lt Frank Bostrom's crew posing with 41-2416 in February 1942.
Visible as you look at the photo are navigator Rob Roy Carruthers first on the left, unknown, Frank Bostrom, unknown, co-pilot Wilson L. Cook then four more unknown.
I can only positively identify those three at this time, but hopefully someone can identify some of the others.
OldBillB17F wrote:From my collection...
Unidentified B-17E on blocks. Would love to know what bird this is.
Thanks to some input from Jack Fellows I think we can be reasonably sure that it's the remains of 41-2409, Old Maid, on Guadalcanal.
Still like to see a better version though.
A bit more research revealed that the plane is actually 41-2397, and it's on Espiritu Santo late 1942 or early 1943. Records are sketchy but It was repaired and flew combat missions with the 5th Bomb Group in March 1943.
Whatever happened to it happened while it was in the 431st Bomb Squadron of the 11th Bomb Group, and their records are incomplete, non-existent or yet to be found.
