Warbird Information Exchange

I'll just throw this in. Jack's picture shows "909" a lot earlier in her career and it's quite possible that later on towards the end her her career that the Colling Foundation's tribute paint scheme depicts, "909" was indeed painted as the Collings bird shows.

while were at it it also appears that the swastikas on the collings bird are not painted in the same way that the original appears to be. the plexi nose is different too. just my 2 cents

Yep ther there are a few things innaccurate...the swastikas on the original look yellow...the top Nine is much too big...the OD circles the bottom of the cowl...overall though it is one of the more accurate flying schemes. One other thing that makes it cool is the nose art is actually hand painted with a bruch...I know, unheard of these days

Jim

I don't know if it is the same art work still, but one of my best friends Rob painted that while it was under rebuild at Air Heritage after the crash. Rob is a very talented artist when it comes to aircraft. He rebuilt a good chunk of the flying Staggerwings that are out there now while working for a place that specialized in nothing but Staggerwings. They also did the first restoration on the Mystery ship that is now in the Kalamazoo Air Zoo. "909" Is a great looking B-17, just wish they didn't put the names all over the right side. It takes away from the paintscheme.

_________________
Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

I don't know if it is the same art work still, but one of my best friends Rob painted that while it was under rebuild at Air Heritage after the crash. Rob is a very talented artist when it comes to aircraft. He rebuilt a good chunk of the flying Staggerwings that are out there now while working for a place that specialized in nothing but Staggerwings. They also did the first restoration on the Mystery ship that is now in the Kalamazoo Air Zoo. "909" Is a great looking B-17, just wish they didn't put the names all over the right side. It takes away from the paintscheme.

_________________
Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

As it should be!

Many of those names are there as a tribute/memorial given in their name by the surviving loved ones.

They are fairly discrete from a distance and I saw people standing and reading those names this weekend. No one complained. These aircraft are, afterall, flying tributes to the vets.

_________________
"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

double post

_________________
"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

I think that the names are indeed presented in the best possible way. If you have to compromise on an authenticate scheme in order to provide space for names of donors and those being honored, this is a great way to do it.

_________________
“Words are never enough . . . words do not exist to make us see, or know, or feel what it is like, what actually happens."

Ok, so I'm not an expert on B-17 production so I'm going to ask. Why did the original 909 have what appears to be a standard F model plexiglass nose nose? Did the G models initially come with the F model nose and it was changed sometime within G production or was it just a replacement during service or something?

Ryan

That photo does look oddly familar

_________________
Don't touch my junk!!

I am not bashing you on that buddy, just saying that it is not my style. THat's all. For some reason it looks better on the B-24 than the B-17. Rick do you know if that is still Rob's art work on the nose?

_________________
Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

No, I don't know. Maybe Neon does.

_________________
"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

If it was done during the rebuild at Beaver Falls, its probably not the same as the airplane has been completely repainted once if not twice sense then IIRC.

Here's one of my pictures
Note the black highlights only on the first Swastika

_________________
http://catrachowings.com/foro/index.php