Hi All,
On the back of Threedp's great work on the B17 skins, I have done some work on the ETO b17g Chow Hound. Threedp, graciously allowed me to use his new skin (with some minor changes to nose art) to reproduce Chow Hound as she looked in early 1944 and I have modified the existing ETO skin to represent the plane as it looked in late 1944.
the two planes in game have the following historical descriptions.
B-17G-80 Flying Fortress
=====================================
Unit: 322BS, 91BG 8th USAAF
Nose art: Chow Hound
Pilot: Lt. Jerry Newquist.
Serial: 42-31367
Code: LG-R
Bassingbourn,
England.
April 1944.
Chow Hounds original crew, (under Lt. Jerry Newquist) was assigned to the 9th Air Force and were stationed at Belfast, North Ireland in medium bombers, the B-26 Martin.
The 8th Air Force had suffered extensive losses over France and Germany and went to Ireland to asked for volunteers to transfer to the B-17 and the 8th USAAF. The original 5 man crew transferred to the 8th Air Force and were shipped to Bassingbourn, England for a brief training period on the B-17. Shortly, thereafter, they were assigned to the 9lst BG, 322 Squadron. the original B26 crew were joined by 5 more crewmen and was soon operational.
The Chowhound was ferried to the United Kingdom in December 1943, becoming operational in early 1944 sometime after its 15th mission, a flak splinter or machine gun bullet penetrated the nose, right where the dog's (Pluto) stomach had been painted. Starcer (Who chose Pluto riding the bomb motif) painted a Purple Heart medal beside the shiny new flak patch.
All of Jerry's crew finished their tour of duty and most were in a 26 ship convoy headed for home the morning of the invasion of Normandy.
B-17G-80 Flying Fortress
=====================================
Unit: 322BS, 91BG 8th USAAF
Nose art: Chow Hound.
Pilot: Lt. Jack Tompson
Serial: 42-31367
Code: LG-R
Bassingbourn,
England.
August 1944.
Originally crewed under Lt. Jerry Newquist and crew, they flew 30 missions completing their tour of duty in early 1944. Thereafter Lt. Jack Tompson and crew took over Chow Hound.
The aircraft took on several changes in markings during mid 1944, the 91BG using red tail splash's and wing tips as a unit designator. The new crew also made changes to the nose art, the bomb on which Pluto was sitting was changed from green to red. The small purple heart medal was removed as a sign of the old crew who finished their tour with minor flak damage moving on, and the new crew taking over with a fresh ship.
Lt. Tompson's crew were not to be so lucky as Chow Hounds original crew, on the 8th of August 1944, after flying over 50 missions the aircraft was blown in half by flak whilst bombing targets near Caen, France. All of Thompson's nine man crew were kIA.
German forces and French villagers recovered some of the remains of the crew and buried them nearby. Advancing U.S. forces found additional remains, and six of the nine men ultimately were identified, but three remained unaccounted for.
In August 2002, a team from the Joint POW, MIA Accounting Command, which is responsible for accounting for missing servicemen, was told that a French aircraft wreckage hunting group had found a crash site near the village where the B-17G went down. The U.S. team surveyed the site, excavated it in July 2004 and recovered human remains, personal effects and crew related materials in the wreckage. In August 2006 the last three crewman were identified and returned to their families for burial at Arlington National Cemetery, 62 years (almost to the day) after their deaths.
Threedp, has also allowed for his other b17 skins to be turned into standalones for ETO, which will give a very good cross section of liveries used on the G model through the later half of WWII.
New files to be uploaded soon'ish.
regards Rob.
