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Flight Replicas B-24 preview

461st BG 764th BS #9 Replacement

Here is a repaint of the aircraft that Col. Frederick Glantzberg the commanding officer flew off in when his tour of duty was over at the end of 1944 and he was relieved to go back to the states. I was able to find two original photos, one of a full left side view on the ground. In the 461st BG website 764th noseart I was able to get a closeup of "Iggy" with Col Glantzberg waving goodbye. I am a retired professional ship modeler and as such I like to have as many authentic details in a "model" which is what I consider my repaints to be, models of the real aircrafts. So...each of the aircraft's data plates on the left side have the correct information. I took of closeup of Iggy and if you look you can see that it is: B24J-5-FO denoting that it was manufactured by Ford under license from Consolidated. As a print production manager/estimator by trade for 40 years (along with shipmodeling) I spent countless hours matching type faces to a customer's project. I was blessed last night when I went on "safari" to find IGGY to match the photo and IMHO its awful close. We used to say "close enough for government work" LOL! So without further ado here are my efforts in tribute to Col. Frederick Glantzberg and the 461st Bomb Group Heavy. I also want to say a big thanks to mike_cyul for his paintkits that are so "painter-friendly" and make it a joy rather than a chore to repaint this beautiful aircraft.
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Iggy looks black in this photo I know, but in the full side view it looks like the tail color but little lighter (75 year old b/w photos) so I painted it a brighter red. Again sadly, Col. Glantzberg and so many others are no longer with us to ask if its correct or not. I hope he approves.

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In the inset in the lower right corner you can see the way that the horizontal stabilizer was painted in all red when USAAF issued the new directive to the 461st Bomb Group and other 15th Air Force Groups. I made a mention of this above. The tail is also correctly painted and the serial number in the correct location according to the full side view original photo I was fortunate to find though many aircraft had a rectangle with the serial number in it in the solid red. Tails were not identical on the aircraft of any groups if you check available photos, the directives being in text and interpreted by the aircraft painters in the field it seems. This is painted correctly that the upper half of the rudder is solid red on the outside surfaces and the lower quadrant has a horizontal rectangle for the 461st BG(H). The 451st BG(H) had a red circle and the 484th BG(H) had two opposing horizontal triangles they called "the bowtie". These were the three BG's of the 49th Bomb Wing.
 
Jeansy, your D model look just great, a favor, in your time could you paint Col. John Kane's B-24D Hail Columbia. Whenever a big thanks.


jim
 
Witchcraft? we'll see, I'm too busy with other schemes at the moment, like this one:
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I don't know, but modern warbirds have never had much of an attraction to me, I'm more interested in finding out about the more anonymous, unknown paintschemes. But the paintkit is very úser friendly, I'm sure that if I don't do it, someone else will
 
Hi Jankees,

What's the back story to that B-24? It's an interesting paint scheme, was it used over the Atlantic?

Thanks,
Ken
 
Hi Jankees,

What's the back story to that B-24? It's an interesting paint scheme, was it used over the Atlantic?

Thanks,
Ken


The aircraft was assigned to the 397th Bomb Squadron, 6th Bomb Group, based in the Panama Canal Zone, and was operated on anti-submarine patrol from Managau to Salinas, Ecuador and all over the Caribbean.
http://www.b24bestweb.com/nightmission-v2-2.htm

The original nose art from the starboard side still survives today, having been saved by a scrapyard foreman (along with over 30 other sections of nose art that were cut off of B-24's, B-17's and PB4Y's) prior to the aircraft being scrapped in the late 40's. These are now in the care of the Commemorative Air Force Museum, and more recently were displayed at the EAA Museum at Oshkosh. Not a repro, it's the real thing: https://flickr.com/photos/zaruka/28685259245/in/album-72157671736198166/
 
The aircraft was assigned to the 397th Bomb Squadron, 6th Bomb Group, based in the Panama Canal Zone, and was operated on anti-submarine patrol from Managau to Salinas, Ecuador and all over the Caribbean.
http://www.b24bestweb.com/nightmission-v2-2.htm

The original nose art from the starboard side still survives today, having been saved by a scrapyard foreman (along with over 30 other sections of nose art that were cut off of B-24's, B-17's and PB4Y's) prior to the aircraft being scrapped in the late 40's. These are now in the care of the Commemorative Air Force Museum, and more recently were displayed at the EAA Museum at Oshkosh. Not a repro, it's the real thing: https://flickr.com/photos/zaruka/28685259245/in/album-72157671736198166/

indeed, and the noseart I used was a photograph of that panel, you can't beat the real thing.
But I need to revisit that paint, I found out that the white also covered part of the top of the wings..
 
YES!! I LIKE IT!! I hope the Liberator goes similar to their Me-262 or DC-4/Carvair and they continue the series with a PB4Y-2.

Really nice 'pre-paints.' Wow. This is the first I see of some of them. :applause:

Yes, the PB4Y-2 is on the books - but I believe there'll be one other aircraft before that.

Mike
 
The aircraft was assigned to the 397th Bomb Squadron, 6th Bomb Group, based in the Panama Canal Zone, and was operated on anti-submarine patrol from Managau to Salinas, Ecuador and all over the Caribbean.
http://www.b24bestweb.com/nightmission-v2-2.htm

The original nose art from the starboard side still survives today, having been saved by a scrapyard foreman (along with over 30 other sections of nose art that were cut off of B-24's, B-17's and PB4Y's) prior to the aircraft being scrapped in the late 40's. These are now in the care of the Commemorative Air Force Museum, and more recently were displayed at the EAA Museum at Oshkosh. Not a repro, it's the real thing: https://flickr.com/photos/zaruka/28685259245/in/album-72157671736198166/

Thanks, as I hadn't seen that paint scheme on a B-24 before. I always forget about the Panama Canal Zone during WW2.
 
...but I believe there'll be one other aircraft before that.

Mike

I’ll hope it’s an SP-2H Neptune...but I know that would be a stretch! Virtavia’s model is long in the tooth and the flight dynamics are....less than optimum.

Bottom line is that I’ll pretty much buy anything you do, Mike. The C-54/DC-4 package is particularly BRILLIANT...

Kent
 
Too Bad

Its too bad that a lot more of it wasn't saved. Its so difficult to paint nose art from b/w blurry photos when that is all that's left of our history of these gallatn crews and their aircraft. We ARE fortunate to have as much as we have thanks to men like them who cared enough to at least preserve those for following generations.:loyal:
 
I'll second that! I really enjoy the difficulty level of operating the Jumos on the 262. To be able to get it started, make a trip and then land without a flameout..... I feel like I accomplished something! Now it's no sweat to fly, just be a couple steps ahead of the plane so you can use slow throttle inputs! (Now I know why they flew long straight finals!) Now I want to see FHC's Stormbird in the air! (The Stuka too!)
 
I'll second that ColoKent! I really enjoy the difficulty level of operating the Jumos on the 262. To be able to get it started, make a trip and then land without a flameout..... I feel like I accomplished something! Now it's no sweat to fly, just be a couple steps ahead of the plane so you can use slow throttle inputs! (Now I know why they flew long straight finals!) Now I want to see FHC's Stormbird in the air! (The Stuka too!)
 
I've got a few 566th BS, 389th BG paint schemes nearly done, including "Pugnacious Princess Pat" (close to my heart) and "Delectable Dorris". I also hope to do the Collings B-24 in at least a couple of different schemes - both as I remember it when I was a young kid growing up as "The All American"/"Schlitz Golden Girl", and now as "Witchcraft" (my absolute favorite of the schemes it has worn is "The Dragon and His Tail", but I don't know if I'd ever be able to fully invest the time to recreate the artwork for that one).

Also, if no one else does them, I'm going to have to do a few of the Liberators that Jimmy Stewart flew on, as Squadron Commander of the 703rd BS, 445th BG (12 missions) and as Observations Officer of the 453rd BG (at least 8 missions). Those that are documented that Stewart flew missions on are:

B-24H "Lady Shamrock" (42-52348) - 703rd BS, 445th BG (4 of his missions)
B-24H "Nine Yanks and a Jerk" (41-29118) - 703rd BS, 445th BG (2 for his missions)
B-24H "Tenovus" (41-29132) - 703rd BS, 445th BG (2 of his missions, and the aircraft he flew on when taking the Southern Route to England from the US)
B-24H "Gremlin's Roost" (42-7512) - 703rd BS, 445th BG (1 of his missions (his first))
B-24H "Dixie Flyer" (42-95247) - 703rd BS, 445th BG (1 of his missions)
B-24H "Heavenly Body" (41-29210) - 733rd BS, 453rd BG (at least 1 or more of his missions)

Other than the five 703rd BS B-24's listed above, the other 2 missions he flew as Commander of the 703rd were on wing lead Pathfinder B-24's (Mickey radar/H2X equipped), identities of which I'm not aware of.

Unfortunately, other than "Heavenly Body", I'm not aware of any other B-24's being confirmed that Stewart flew missions on as the 453rd BG's Observations Officer, and I've read three different books detailing his service time in WWII. The 453rd BG B-24H "Male Call" is often credited as one that Jimmy Stewart flew missions on, and which may have been the case on a mission or two, but I've never seen documentation/proof of that. Corgi, the diecast model maker, has really gone out there and claimed it has being 'his' B-24, but Stewart never had an assigned B-24 or an assigned crew, due to him being one of the superior officers controlling everything. The easy connection to the B-24 "Male Call" is that there were a series of publicity photos taken of him talking to its crew in front of the aircraft (and it's a fantastic paint scheme).
 
Im slowly getting there, the hand is cramping up doing the dots

just the tail and bomb bay doors to finish

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