Guam in Color

[Django]

Check out these pics taken by Harold E. Gronenthal and posted by his son, Edward on Airliners.net. Lots of spectacular color shots of mostly B-29s, but there is a B-17, P-51, P-47, P-61, PBJ, C-54, R5d, F-5, Avengers, Hellcats, Duck, and an Invader. Pretty awesome photos!

Here is the link. Click on More above the name Edward Gronenthal and you'll see 3 pages worth! Some of the thumbnails show up under the info box too.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Ai ... 0499350/M/

[Ztex]

The aircraft is not centered in the photo, its grainy, not sharp enough, subject motive is not clear...certainly not AL.net quality! (If it was submitted by me that is...)

Oh Sorry...a bit of sarcasm escaped
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Those are fantastic!

Anyone know anything about the B-17 "Jim's Dandy" ? Could this be Fuddy Duddy?

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Air/Boeing-B-17G-Flying/0477725/L/

And

How many B-29's were painted black on the bottom in 1945?

COOL!

[Scott Rose]

Very Cool, I spent time on Guam in the mid 70s and always enjoy seeing pics from there.

[Second Air Force]

Zane,

To partially answer your question about the black lower surfaces on B-29s, a lot of the photos that Mr. Gronenthal took on Guam were 315th Wing B-29Bs. They initially went overseas without the camouflage on most if not all of their aircraft. The camouflage was applied on Guam, and only a portion of the equipment in each Group got painted before the end of hostilities. A member of one crew remembered that they lost six to eight knots airspeed with identical power settings on the first mission with the black belly.

A number of other Groups applied black paint after beginning the practice of low-level attacks implemented by Gen. LeMay.

Renton built a fairly substantial number of aircraft with the black undersides factory applied. We had a lively discussion about that on a thread a year or so ago.

As to the actual number of black camo-ed Superforts, your guess is as good as mine, but the storage area photos from Davis Monthan, Pyote, and Tinker show a pretty good percentage got the treatment.

Scott

[Ztex]

Thanks Scott,

I think I remember that discussion a while back...centered around FIFI when she had black paint.

[Second Air Force]

Here's the link to the black belly thread, Zane:
http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... sc&start=0

I don't know why four of my pictures got deleted, maybe I'll try to repost them later.

Scott

[Django]

It's awesome to see such great color photos of the nose art.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Ai ... 0476498/M/

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Ai ... 0476499/M/

[Second Air Force]

Trivia time, Django--

"Salome" was B-29B 44-83893, Slicker 04, 355th Squadron, 331st Bombardment Group, 315th Wing.

My trivia question for you is: What is the name of the actress that was the subject for this particular bit of nose art?

Also, "Oh Brother" was from the 411th Squadron, 502nd Group, also 315th Wing. We have been researching her serial number without luck for some time now. The 315th stripped the serial numbers off their aircraft when the Group codes were painted on, and we don't have a full list of names to go with serial numbers.

Scott

[Django]

Hmm. That's a good one! My guess is Yyvonne DeCarlo.

[Second Air Force]

Lilly Munster is correct! I got to know a mechanic with the 331st who first told me that was Yvonne De Carlo on the side of "Salome". Pretty cool!

If I haven't done so before, here is a link to some more excellent 315th nose art: http://www.nose-art.net/315th/315th.htm There is one non-315th airplane in the collection, "Lucky Lady" on page III. The header information says these were taken by Dr. Eugene Gillum, who was an engine mechanic (MOS 747) with the 331st. The color photos were taken just after the end of hostilities, and the story is that two of the guys got a camera with some color film, jumped in a Jeep, and just started taking pictures until they ran out of film.

Scott

[Django]

Yay! Yep, she was smokin' hot. I have seen pics of her in that type of outfit, so that is why I guessed it was her.

I was just looking for the pic in google, and it turns out Salome was the name of the movie from 1945. Here's more info.

http://www.doctormacro1.info/Movie%20Su ... Danced.htm

Cool link with the other color nose art. I hadn't seen those yet.

[Second Air Force]

I neglected to mention that most all the color photos were taken on the 315th Wing's Consolidated Maintenance pads on Guam. Dr. Gillum and I have corresponded some, and he didn't comment too much when I asked him how he liked working on those 3350s!

Scott

[Django]

She rocks.



The PBJ shot is cool.
http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Ai ... 0477720/M/

So is the P-61.
http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Ai ... 0477721/M/

[Second Air Force]

Indeed. (Not the airplane pictures, though they are nice also.)

[Django]

speaking of Guam, won't this photo sink your stomach! From this site and says it's from Pacific War Eagles by Ethell and Bodie. And look at the size of those tree leaves!