National Archives US Military Aviation (Kodachrome) …

[Mark Allen M]

[quemerford]

And determine a location and rough date?

Date is going to be somewhere between 1950-54, as 'Sally-B' was converted to EB-17G spec in late '49 and served from 50-54 with the GE Test Flight Centre. The Sally-B team say that at some point as well as the man-pod on the wing tip, she also had an infra-red tracking device fitted in place of the perspex nose.

It's pre-USAF: no red bar on the star & bar. I'd guess early 1947, before the XS-1 had gone supersonic.

[quemerford]

44-85784 was assigned to Wright AAF from 5 November 1945 thru 1950, so the dates correspond with the photo above. Whilst at Wright AAFB it was designated TB-17G, EB-17G and ETB-17G though the designations don't relate to a specific configuration.

[Mark Allen M]

[Mark Allen M]

[Mark Allen M]

[Firebird]

And determine a location and rough date?

Date is going to be somewhere between 1950-54, as 'Sally-B' was converted to EB-17G spec in late '49 and served from 50-54 with the GE Test Flight Centre. The Sally-B team say that at some point as well as the man-pod on the wing tip, she also had an infra-red tracking device fitted in place of the perspex nose.

It's pre-USAF: no red bar on the star & bar. I'd guess early 1947, before the XS-1 had gone supersonic.

But the Army Air Force Flight Test Division didn't take over the X-1 program until around end of June '47, so it's not before then. I bet not every USAAF/USAF aircraft in the inventory had the red bars applied immediately, and likely many were still without them well beyond 1947 especially on the older soon to be retired WW2 stuff.

[quemerford]

Note that the XS-1 doesn't have any insignia: so I'd suggest that the date is pre-June 1947. And while it may be the case that some aircraft took a while to gain the red bar, I'd think that Wright Field would have been right on top of it. Also note that there are no "U.S.AIR FORCE" scripts visible, so a pre-October 1947 (and probably pre-June by the looks) date seems sensible. It's not just the B-17 in USAAF markings (rather than USAF) but the B-25 too.

For sure it's not mid-fifties as had been suggested.

[quemerford]

Looking at the XS-1 chronology, glide flights were made at Pinecastle AAF in the scheme shown (contractor's test phase) early in 1946, so the photo above might even be as early as that. So I'll say 1946/early 47, but definitely no later than June 1947. Unfortunately the other types shown (including the rare C-46E) were present at Wright AAF throughout this period, so it looks like a more precise date might be difficult to pin down.

[JohnB]

Any chance the X-1 was there on a stop enroute to Muroc/Edwards on a delivery flight from Buffalo?

[quemerford]

Any chance the X-1 was there on a stop enroute to Muroc/Edwards on a delivery flight from Buffalo?

I don't have my XS-1 book to hand, but Wiki indicates that would place the photo some prior to 11 October 1946 when Bell completed the first flight on #2 at Muroc; or April 1947 on #1. The transfer to Muroc would also coincide with the latest possible date the XS-1s were seen without stars and bars on the East Coast. So I think the photo can be pinned down by date even better; prior to October 1946 if it's #2 and prior to April 1947 and no later if it's #1.

Does anyone have a copy of the Aerograph XS-1 book handy? It has a log of each flight and might even show the dates of transfers from Pinecastle/Buffalo to Muroc.

[Mark Allen M]

[Mark Allen M]

[Mark Allen M]

[quemerford]

Thanks as ever for your awesome posts during 2023 Mark: I hope you and yours have a very enjoyable Christmas and New Year.