All-
Just wanted to share some thoughts I've had, and hopefully start some fun discussion! Certainly not meant to spurn anything Collings Foundation has planned, as they can paint their plane any way they want to as we often say around here.
The story as I understand it is that once Collings Foundation get's the Evergreen Flight Museum's B-17 up and running, they are going to bring '909' in for some significant maintenance. Once that is completed, the ex-Evergreen bird will go in for maintenance that I hear will involve a new pain scheme that will compliment 909. The rumors I have heard are that the Evergreen bird will be painted to represent 'Outhouse Mouse", which sometimes flew with 909 and was also in an olive drab/neutral grey scheme. Outhouse Mouse had unstaggered waist guns and the early stinger style tail gun, both of which the Evergreen bird does not have.
The thoughts I was having revolve around other options to pain the ex-Evergreen bird to take advantage of that beautiful natural metal already present on that B-17. I have recently been doing some research on B-17's that often flew in formation with '909', and have mused about a few birds that could be other marking options. Here's where I started:
I first started with this formation picture, taken during a training exercise during late 1944:
The lead B-17 in this formation in camo is '909'. She has unstaggered waists and stinger style tail gun. The restored '909' has staggered waists, so it's not 100% accurate to the wartime bird.
Off it's left wing is "Priority Gal", coded OR-C, which is in natural metal with the standard stinger tail gun and unstaggered waists.
Off the right wing is "Sweet 17, Spirit of St. Louis", coded OR-S, which has a Cheyenne tail turret and un-staggered waists.
The next aircraft behind, which is flying low left, is "Shirley Jean", coded OR-K, which has staggered waists and the standard stinger tail gun.
The next aircraft, flying low right, is "Cheri", coded OR-W, has staggered waists and a Cheyenne tail turret.
The last aircraft, which is in camo, is "Betty Lou's Buggy", coded OR-D, which has unstaggered waists and standard stinger tail gun.
There is one bird within this formation that would only involve a paint job for the Evergreen bird, and it's an interesting one. Cheri had its outer left wing replaced at some point, and it was replaced with an outer wing from a B-17F in camo and neutral grey. Additionally, the wing was left with the early style round insignia, and was not updated to the star with bars. She also had a bomb bay door replaced with a neutral grey one. Here are a few photos of her from wartime:
Another nice option is "Sweet 17, Spirit of St. Louis", which has a Cheyenne style tail gun but has unstaggered waist guns. I haven't found many wartime photos of this bird, but have built a scale model of her using custom made decals:
So, there you have it folks! Just some thoughts I have had lately while doing my research. All in all, I am overjoyed to have another B-17 back in the air in the near future, and in the not too distant future, Collings Foundation having two B-17's flying side by side, and presumably both wearing 91st BG markings. Always admire folks who have the passion to keep these old birds flying. I've been really impressed during my research into the aircraft of the 91st, and just how many of their birds were patched together with pieces of other aircraft (see Little Miss Mischief). I know many squadrons had to incorporate this practice, but the 91st seems to have perfected it to get as many aircraft in the air as possible. Being in the ETO since the early beginnings of the USAAF bombing campaign will teach you a thing or two about maintaining aircraft it would seem.
- Dennis S.
Westminster, CO USA
*All photos are either my own photos or were gathered from the internet for personal use. They are not intended for any profit, and were not borrowed from any sources that required purchase to acquire.*
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