B-17Es 43rd BG PTO
Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:03 pm
109 missions by 1943 take that 8th AF
Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:26 pm
Great Photos Jack!!!
And the B-17 The Mustang has 7 Purple Hearts too.
TonyM.
And the B-17 The Mustang has 7 Purple Hearts too.
TonyM.
Last edited by TonyM on Tue Jun 03, 2008 6:36 am, edited 2 times in total.
Re: B-17Es 43rd BG PTO
Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:05 pm
Jack Cook wrote:. . . 109 missions by 1943 take that 8th AF
How many of those 109 were to the likes of Berlin, Schweinfurt, Merseburg, or that must-see destination, Munich?
Thunderbirds! SmokeOnReadyNow!
Wade
Re: B-17Es 43rd BG PTO
Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:11 pm
Chicoartist wrote:Jack Cook wrote:. . . 109 missions by 1943 take that 8th AF
How many of those 109 were to the likes of Berlin, Schweinfurt, Merseburg, or that must-see destination, Munich?
Thunderbirds! SmokeOnReadyNow!
Wade
Geez...I dunno Wade. Maybe you should ask the guys who flew those missions. Probably a picnic for them, eh?
Re: B-17Es 43rd BG PTO
Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:20 pm
sdennison wrote:. . . Geez...I dunno Wade. Maybe you should ask the guys who flew those missions. Probably a picnic for them, eh?
Climb down, my friend. Jack and I are buds - we were funnin' - besides, if you notice, Jack started it, that bastid!
Wade, speaking for the publicity-mad Mighty Eighth!
The Mustang
Tue Jun 03, 2008 6:06 am
Great photos of my favorite group, Jack; Thanks!!
Now, if you could come up with a shot of 41-2666, I'd have to drive up to OR bearing gifts. 
The Mustang was actually a B-17F - 41-24554.
Not to take anything away from her - I'm sure she flew her share of missions; but it is thought that some of those nose art additions were not quite legit - just added on at some base for decoration before she returned to the U.S. in December of '43. I can't remember where I read that at the moment.
"Boomerang" 41-9059 was with the 5th BG.
Now, if you could come up with a shot of 41-2666
, I'd have to drive up to OR bearing gifts.
The Mustang was actually a B-17F - 41-24554.
Not to take anything away from her - I'm sure she flew her share of missions; but it is thought that some of those nose art additions were not quite legit - just added on at some base for decoration before she returned to the U.S. in December of '43. I can't remember where I read that at the moment
.
"Boomerang" 41-9059 was with the 5th BG.
Tue Jun 03, 2008 7:21 am
"Typhoon McGoon"...one of my favorite B-17's. I got a painting of it on my wall in my bedroom!
Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:17 am
Having read and enjoyed the book "Ton-Up Lancasters" (which details all the Lancasters that flew more than 100 Missions ) ......
I would like to think there is a ready market for a similar work on the B-17
I should mention that to produce an accurate list would be no easy task. Photographic "evidence" of bomb symbols may not reflect the real number of missions flown or credited to the crew(s)
In researching the Lancaster book, the author explains that sometimes the aircraft would go out, the raid would be scrubbed, bomb load jettisoned and the crew would not be credited for a mission. But the ground crew sometimes took the view that they had made the same effort as for an actual mission, so the man with the little tin of paint went to work regardless.
Equally there must have been occassions when missions were flown on successive days and the man with the tin of paint didn't keep up !
Maybe "someone" out there is already working on such a worthy draft Flying Fortress publication ????
Or at least building a web site dedicated to "B-17 Centurions" ?
I only wish I had the time !
Paging Aerovintage ~ Scott Thompson ......
I would like to think there is a ready market for a similar work on the B-17
I should mention that to produce an accurate list would be no easy task. Photographic "evidence" of bomb symbols may not reflect the real number of missions flown or credited to the crew(s)
In researching the Lancaster book, the author explains that sometimes the aircraft would go out, the raid would be scrubbed, bomb load jettisoned and the crew would not be credited for a mission. But the ground crew sometimes took the view that they had made the same effort as for an actual mission, so the man with the little tin of paint went to work regardless.
Equally there must have been occassions when missions were flown on successive days and the man with the tin of paint didn't keep up !
Maybe "someone" out there is already working on such a worthy draft Flying Fortress publication ????
Or at least building a web site dedicated to "B-17 Centurions" ?
I only wish I had the time !
Paging Aerovintage ~ Scott Thompson ......
Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:39 pm
bomberflight wrote:I would like to think there is a ready market for a similar work on the B-17
I should mention that to produce an accurate list would be no easy task. Photographic "evidence" of bomb symbols may not reflect the real number of missions flown or credited to the crew(s)
Good call, Peter.
One such work is "Claims to Fame - The B-17 Flying Fortress" by Steve Birdsall and Roger Freeman. This book is an excellent source of the kind of info on B-17s that you're talking about, including some pretty cool photos.
Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:04 pm
One PTO B-17 that I would like to see a picture of is 41-2616 Blue Goose. This was a B-17E that was painted blue as an experiment. It was assigned to the 98th BS, 11th BG. It was lost on 9/29/42 to a direct hit by AA fire.
It would be neat to see 41-2666 as well.
It would be neat to see 41-2666 as well.