OFFICIAL B-17 Thread

Nice! I will be at Brackett airport in La Verne, Ca. this afternoon to welcome the Colling foundations B-17 AND 24. Pics to follow.

 

Small for a B-17, but BIG for a model!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9owlwlxJxPw]Giant Rc B-17 "Flying Fortress" (Aluminum Overcast) - YouTube[/ame]


Erstflug / Maiden 2013-04-20 Falcon Wings MFC St.Margarethen (Austria)
Pilot: Peter Pfeffer "Peda"
Maßstab - Scale: 1:5.6
Spw - Wingspan: 5,70m (19 feet)
Länge - Lenght: 4.15m (14 feet)
Höhe - Hight: 1,06m (41.7")
Plan - Sketch: cdscaledesigns (paperwork ca. 60m ca. 15kg)
Motore - Engine: Armin DeVries 4x Vt 42 4T
RC control: Weatronic
Heckfahrwerk - Rear Gear: Wabo
Hauptfahrwerk - Main Gear: Eigenbau - selfmade
Gewicht - Weight: 85 Kg (187 pounds)
Project start: End of 2010

 

While in Greenville, SC for the Euro Auto Festival, I found out that the Collings Foundation's "Wings of Freedom" tour was in town for the weekend. This morning I visited Greenville Downtown Airport and took these photos of "Nine O Nine" returning from a flight, and a walkaround that followed. Interesting that it is an early G-model with the tail gun setup inherited from the F-model and not the "Cheyenne" turret that came later.
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Jim, thanks for those excellent photos. You do get around and we hope that you make your way out here again next summer.The pictures of "909" show so many errors in the "restoration" that I have to comment. I will be classed as a spoiler but i will state my impressions. The topside O.D. is the wrong color and I suspect that they copied an old photo in National Geographic that showed the airplane with a weathered and bleached o.d. The underside grey is wrong also, way too light and much lighter than the medium grey that it should be. It is incorrectly applied, also. The O.D. on the nacelles should be dropped down below the exhaust pipe and then go forward to 6 inches aft of the lip of the cowling and then parallel it all the way around to the inboard side. I noticed also that the fuselage near the tail gun has been modified. The contours aft of the last frame to the opening for the guns were curved. The surface displayed was a straight conic with no curvature. I don't have the data at hand to figure out when the "Cheyenne Mod" was incorporated but there were a lot of B-17F's that didn't make it to the modification centers.

 

That must be the one I saw making flights over Charleston last Sunday.

 

Here is a painting I did of a B-17 95th BG Horham. The aircraft depicted is "Heavy Date" and it is in this aircraft that Governor Rick Perry's dad was a crew member. This is a sister painting to another I did for Governor Perry a few years back.
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Beautiful!!

 

Fabulous... what size is the original?

Is that the airbase in the background (Horham)?


Edit: Guess not, just looked up the Horham airfield... supposedly looks like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Horham.jpg

...or maybe it is...

 

I always amazed at the talent we have on this site. Beautiful painting, well done!!

 

That is a very well done painting and a lovely portrait of the airplane. Hats off to you.

 

Cool spotting opportunity!

 

Thank's for the video. Saw it in his hangar in Oshkosh, 1995.
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A short while ago Collins Foundation brought Witchcraft,Nine0Nine,the 51,and others to Hickory and I rumbled around all that I could. They were not taking riders on the 17 but the 24 was operational and so was the 'Stang. My first choice was the FF but no joy,so the Liberator it was,and what an experience. All those aspects Mr.Parks mentions are real to me because of that wonderful day,but he left out loud...you cannot hear yourself think,and I've been around some loud stuff,as in A6's on post-check engine run-up. That's loud but being inside that bomber was indescribable..you can't even hear hand signals loud. If you ever have the opportunity I'd recommend the experience...truly unforgettable.
But looking back on the day,it's one of my grandest mistakes. They had open times on going up in the P-51, and I passed..and it may,just may,have been the two grand versus four hundred. I'll promise I still have those funds stuffed under some pillow here somewhere growing moss,but what coulda/woulda/shoulda been,oh my. In the current vernacular,I haz a regret. The B-24 ride was fantastic,unforgettable..but being in a 51 zooming over the Catawba,thatta been something entirely something else. My father in law was still alive then and even tho he didn't have his faculties on that day,telling the old Mustang driver what I'd done,that woulda been fun too.
Hope these pics work...
Cheers,
RE
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Ok,one pic at a time with the iPad...here's Nine0Nine.
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And Witchcraft,carrying...
(Have many more of the day but this one at a time thing is already old...)
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Iv'e seen that view a couple of times.

 

We just gave Witchcraft a bath and a coat of wax. We would have done B-17 "9O9" and B-25 "Tondelayo" but the paint is too far gone and they will need to be repainted.

Revisiting "Witchcraft" - the only airworthy B24J Bomber in existence

 

I realize that your business is to shine airplanes but waxing an O.D. WW2 airplane does not show the airplane as it was suppose to look. Yes, they became worn, weathered, and dull. That's the way they looked. The finish was matt to begin with so that they didn't shine and over the short time that they were in action the finish did oxidize and they wore the patina of action. The nacelles were caked with carbon and streaked with cooked oil, the air frame was dull and full of chipped paint and patches. Some fighter pilots waxed their airplanes and gained 5 to 10 MPH but the bombers were the work horses and showed the wear and tear of tough duty.

 

I appreciate that but if left un-cared for they will need a repaint. The other two are too far gone to protect. Big $$$$$ to respray them.

We don't make it shiny, we just restore it how it looked when it was freshly painted.

And between you and me I have everybody convinced they will pick up 20knots with a fresh coat of wax on it!

 

Knowing how easily the true matte finish weathered, I support the idea of a slightly shiny overcoat; I've seen olive drab aircraft finished that way that look close to stock, but I've also seen some which were definitely too shiny.

I also support the painting in grey of aircraft that were originally natural metal, provided that the grey is the right shade and sheen. The B-29 on display in front of Dobbins ARB here in Marietta is definitely too light. Most of the aircraft of this sort that I've seen just don't look right.

 

I got a link to B-17 flight log from my friend and wanted to share it with you.
Intesting read how it really was day to day living in B-17 squadron, from Icelanders to mistakes on air and land that cost lifes. What a story.
http://www.94thinfdiv.com/pdf/b17f_flight_log.pdf

 

Fascinating read. Thanks for sharing it.

 

At this past weekend's U.S. national convention of the International Plastic Modelers Society, the Most Popular in Show winner, as voted on by all the participants, was a very large diorama featuring a B-17 built from a recently-released 1/32-scale kit, which means about a 40" wingspan!

Built by a fellow from Puerto Rico who recently retired from the USAF, the diorama features narration, lights, sound, and sequenced startup of all four engines. The airfield represented is Deenethorpe, and there is talk that the diorama might wind up at the Mighty 8th Air Force Museum in Savannah, which already has a 1/72 diorama of the same base, done some years back by members of my model club here in Atlanta.
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