Interior color in Gunners position.

[jmkendal]

I was always told that when I build my B-17 models, that the interior of the fusalage should be natural metal in the waist gunners section.

Over in Wix there were some pics of a 12th AF Fort that had been blown to . If you look, you can see that the interior of that Fort is painted. Looks to be a dark green.

Any comments?

Joe

[aerovin2]

In my research, B-17Fs and B-17Gs were built by three manufacturers over more than two years to a varying standard demanded by the AAF and their own requirements. I think late production airplanes had no interior finish, at least aft of the cockpit, but earlier airplanes, it is anyone's guess.

[DIK SHEPHERD]

Here's a model E or F



and here's a late model G.



You be the judge.

[jmkendal]

Dik,

Thanks for the pics. But; have you checked out Jack Cooks pics of that 12 AF bird that he posted a couple of days ago?

They clearly show a painted interior. It could be that some factories did things one way and others another way. Which I think is what Scott was saying.

Joe

[DIK SHEPHERD]

You have to remember one thing about that time period, all of those aircraft were considered expendable and not expected to last long in combat. So, it would have been a waste of time and money to add the weight of a few more gallons of paint to the inside.

What happened once they got into a theater of operations is a different matter.

[gary1954]

Greetings Dik, thanks for the fabulous photos.
I met a vet from the Big Two, and he was in ground maintenance on a B-17F and the G. on 2 January 08, I asked him the question about paint, no paint in the interior of the 17.
He said that his F model was painted in that what is it, bronze green, and the G model was NMF.