B-17G 42-37788 S*ON "H*lls Messenger" 384th BG, 547th BS

[The Inspector]

Unless it's the angle of the sun or somesuch, it looks like the navigators astrodome has been removed and sheeted over. 'I'll just use my MICHELIN GUIDE'

[Alexandre Jay]

Great photo! Thanks for sharing!

It's hard to imagine that I've walked the station area (now mainly returned to agriculture), where this actual ship was once based at Grafton Underwood, and explored the area where Nissen huts that housed the crew once stood.

It's been said that some nights, even now, Wright Cyclones are sometimes heard being run-up. True? Who knows, but it's a nice thought anyway............

[Chris Brame]

So how did this one end up with the "J" upside down? Were the others in the squadron like that?

[Fouga23]

What's the name of the aircraft? My computer shows a "*" character in the name.
Do you mean HELLS messenger?

[RAMC181]

So how did this one end up with the "J" upside down? Were the others in the squadron like that?

It's a P for the 384th, whether the missing section has worn off or it's just a trick of the light I can't say.

All the best,
PB

Last edited by RAMC181 on Sat May 29, 2010 7:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Nathan]

The different shades of panels-is that an indication that parts of other B-17's were used on this aircraft? The panels where the insignia is and the "J" looks to be from another aircraft too.

[gregv]

The different shades of panels-is that an indication that parts of other B-17's were used on this aircraft? The panels where the insignia is and the "J" looks to be from another aircraft too.

I'm curious about this as well, as Ive seen pics of quite a few other B-17's that have outer wing panels that don't match the rest of the aircraft; A Bit O'Lace comes to mind. Is this the result of the outer wings with the so-called "Tokyo tanks" being retrofited, and thus having a different factory finish that maybe weathered differently?

http://bates-r-us.org/abitolace/BOLSanAntonioPoster.jpg

greg v.

[RAMC181]

I've been looking through photo's of other B-17s with the same radio room gun mount & chaff chute mod, and I've noticed that almost all of them show the same deterioration of paint on the outer wing sections.
Different Groups, different production blocks, different manufacturers, but all with the same radio room modifications.
I wonder if they were resprayed at wherever the modifications took place and there was a dodgy batch of paint at some point.

All the best,
PB

[Nathan]

I've been looking through photo's of other B-17s with the same radio room gun mount & chaff chute mod, and I've noticed that almost all of them show the same deterioration of paint on the outer wing sections.
Different Groups, different production blocks, different manufacturers, but all with the same radio room modifications.
I wonder if they were resprayed at wherever the modifications took place and there was a dodgy batch of paint at some point.

All the best,
PB

My thought was that the outer wing panels looked to have been burned. Perhaps off a B-17 that burned up on the ground and these were salvaged and put on this B-17. I've seen pics of war used B-17's and never seen anything so weathered as indicated on this B-17's wing panels. I could be wrong.

[RAMC181]

I've posted a few more photos of B-17s with both these mods and the flaky outer wing panels on the other thread HERE, to save clogging this one up.

All the best,
PB

[daclemen]

42-37788, SO*N, is H*ll's Messenger. My late uncle, Lt. Donald Ackerson flew in it as bombardier with the Maurice Booska crew out of station 106, Grafton-Underwood. If you know the paint schemes in use at various times, this photo can be dated to within a year, I think. I did so once and if I identified the colors correctly in black and white, there is a reasonably good chance that my uncle is on board in this photo. He flew 25 1/2 missions with the 384th bomb group. Flying with a pick up crew in Rumpot II, he was shot down on mission 89 to Schweinfurt in April of 1944. He survived and was a POW in Stalag Luft I for nearly a year to the day.