B-17F 91st BG Mottled Camo

[Jack Cook]

[bdk]

Not so much mottled I think but the standard green camo with the darker green around the edges to break up the shape.

[Warbird Kid]

Do my eyes decieve me, or is there no white in those stars?

[JBrawner]

early subdued maybe?

[Mr Widgeon]

Do my eyes decieve me, or is there no white in those stars?

The white in the national insignia was occasionally overpainted with the underside neutral gray to lessen the contrast.
Sometimes a light mist coat of the gray was sprayed over the blue at the same time to subdue it as well.

[Steve Nelson]

The blotching was done in medium green. Originally it was lighter than the Olive Drab, and helped break up the aircraft's outline. But OD tended to fade to a much lighter shade, causing the opposite effect.

Judging by that stain on the horizontal stab, #2 has been throwing some serious oil!

SN

[lmritger]

I never paid attention to this before, but look at the yellow dots on the wingtips and the nose... could those be gas detection patches?

Weird. Always loved this pic, though... one day I'll be able to track down a Revell B-17F and this is what I'll use as a guide when doing the Medium Green blotching.

Lynn

[Steve Nelson]

Never noticed them before myself either. Curious..never heard of gas detection patches on a Fort, but it's as good an explanation as ever.

Maybe their some sort of "flight leader" markings or something. I also once read that the 8th AF tried a temporary "marking of the day" to distinguish freindly aircraft from captured Forts in fake markings that might be shadowing the formations.

SN

[Django]

Why were they experimenting with subdued insignias? Just curious. Wouldn't a B-17 be pretty obviously the Allies?

[51fixer]

I never paid attention to this before, but look at the yellow dots on the wingtips and the nose... could those be gas detection patches?
Lynn

I believe the gas detection patches were placed where a crew member could see them. The wing tips don't fit into that. Wouldn't do much good to know you were gassed after you landed.
Rich

[Mr Widgeon]

Why were they experimenting with subdued insignias? Just curious. Wouldn't a B-17 be pretty obviously the Allies?

IIRC the Geneva convention on wartime conduct stated that military aircraft had to be clearly marked with a national insignia.
(And still do, which is why they are on there at all)
The subdued insignia were an attempt to get rid of the "Aiming Point" theory that some had regarding their placement on the fuselage
and to tone down the highly visable wing insignia when on the ground or against the background when seen from above.
These measures were dropped as the the war progressed and the Allies gained air superiority.
I don't think there was a 8th AF order but that it was done on a unit by unit basis. Some did, some didn't.

Also, the Germans had captured, repaired and test flown a number B-17s
(about a dozen I think), and used some of them on Flak tracking and coordination missions.

Otheres may know more.

[mustangdriver]

The blotches were not from the factory. The CO of each bomb group got to decide if they wanted to ad them or not.

[Shay]

Do my eyes decieve me, or is there no white in those stars?

Here you can see the same national insignia at 00:13 min/sec

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe36UMRkRbk


Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[Steve Nelson]

The Poles came up with a unique way to keep enemy fighters from using the wing insignias to center their fire. They painted them on in assymetric locations.

SN