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Paul Bellamy
3/23/2010 2:54:58 PM | I'm slowly working through the 401st-related photos from NARA available via Footnote, to see how many can be tied down to particular aircraft, places or people.
Although many are poorly captioned, if at all, by comparing them against confirmed information we can start to fill in the gaps.
I started with this photo, hoping to identify the B-17s visible:
65744AC
"401st Bomb Group Engineering personnel, England, 3 February 1945."
The original caption doesn't give much away, but there is a date.
All that can be read of the serial number of the NMF aircraft in the background is 3389.
Checking the Assigned Aircraft List HERE gives us two possibilities:
43-38941 IN-L
43-39125 IN-M "Der Grossarschvogel"
Luckily, another photo in the series was taken from a slightly different angle, and has a slightly more informative caption:
65748AC
"Personnel in Engineering Section of the 613th Bomb Squadron, 401st Bomb Group, at an 8th Air Force base in England, 3 February 1945."
Visible in the background is the code letter we needed to tie down the identity of the NMF aircraft: 43-38941 IN-L.
Moving on to the OD B-17 in the foreground of the photo, there are a number of mission and kill symbols visible, but no nose art.
Checking my spreadsheet of allocated aircraft, the 613th had only two OD B-17 still on hand in February 1945:
42-31072 IN-K "Betty J"
42-31591 IN-J "Homesick Angel"
Pulling the nose art photo for "Betty J" gives us a perfect match:
65747AC
So there we have it, two aircraft identified through a bit of cross-referencing.
More to follow when I finish uploading the images.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Paul Bellamy
3/23/2010 4:04:46 PM | Moving on to the pair of Mustang photos, all sorts of hidden nuggets here.....
65497AC
65554AC
"Men Of The 401St Bomb Group Look Over A North American P-51 "Mustang" At An 8Th Air Force Base In England, 27 December 1943."
The P-51B is sitting on (Frying Pan) Dispersal 33, the camera is looking north over (Spectacle) Dispersals 29-32 towards the bomb dump in the trees on the right.
A close-up of the B-17 in the background of 65497AC, parked on Dispersal 30, gives this:
42-30177 "Pakawalup II"
Checking her page HERE shows she was allocated to the 612th as SC-A and the 615th as IY-A.
But in which order, and when was she transferred?
Going from the above photo's she was IY-A first.
The next IY-A was 42-97869 "Hula Girl"/"Maid to Order", which arrived at Deenethorpe in June 1944.
Although '177's Mission Log has a large gap between March and September 1944, 615th crews were flying her up to almost her last mission in September 1944.
42-97869 was also allocated to the 614th as IW-H, and was flying with 614th crews up to September 1944 too.
My current hypothesis is that the code allocations on some of the aircraft pages are in reverse date order.
All the above makes sense if 42-97869 was IW-H up to September 1944, then was transfered to the 615th as IY-A.
At that point 42-30177 IY-A transfers to the 612th as SC-A.
44-6464 "Prop Wash"/"Hare's Breath" then became the new IW-H on her arrival with the 614th, which puts the date no earlier than the 23rd September.
42-30177's first and last mission with the 612th was the 30th September, so that seems to fit.
I'll have to re-jig the Allocated Aircraft Spreadsheet to take this theory into account and see if anything shakes out at the other end. 😉
In the meantime, here's a few more close-ups from 65554AC showing A-2 jacket art for a few known aircraft:
Duffy's Tavern:
Nasty Habit:
Dry Run:
All the best,
Paul.
Paul Bellamy
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MaryAlice
3/24/2010 9:20:37 AM | LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!!!!! Flat out amazing Paul! Not sure you have ever seen the movie "Batman", the one that starred Jack Nicholson as teh "Joker", and Michael Keaton as "Batman". Anyways, Batman shows up and use's all of his fancy gadgets and spoils the Joker's bid to kidnap the girl, and as Batman escapes with her, Joker says:
"Where does he get these wonderful toys...."
Which leads me to you...
"Where do you get these wonderful photo's...."
LOL!!!!
Seriously though, thanks for posting up these pics, truly outstanding!
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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win-win
3/24/2010 1:35:15 PM | Hi Paul:
Agree, great detective work...again.
Question: About the 'Engineering' Units (and not the photos themselves - 613Sq. 65748AC and Group 65744AC):
- - Do you know if 613Sq. Engineering personnel are the same as 613Sq Ground Crewmen (or are they different units)?; and
- - Would the 'Group' Engineers (pictured) include all four Squadrons' Engineers (but not Sub-Depot personnel)?
thanks,
Win
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Paul Bellamy
3/24/2010 2:16:54 PM | I'm still awaiting the arrival of the relevant Bomb Group and Squadron (Heavy) TO&Es from the States, so I can't give you a "by the book" answer, but counting the number of guys in both photos, and assuming the 27 in the second photo are solely 613th personnel, then the 110ish in the first photo could well be from all four squadrons.
I'm guessing here, but that's almost the required number of personnel to represent a Crew Chief and assistant for each plane on hand at the time.
Will report back when the "gen" arrives.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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MaryAlice
3/25/2010 8:46:51 AM | "Paul Bellamy":
I'm still awaiting the arrival of the relevant Bomb Group and Squadron (Heavy) TO&Es from the States, so I can't give you a "by the book" answer, but counting the number of guys in both photos, and assuming the 27 in the second photo are solely 613th personnel, then the 110ish in the first photo could well be from all four squadrons.
I'm guessing here, but that's almost the required number of personnel to represent a Crew Chief and assistant for each plane on hand at the time.
Will report back when the "gen" arrives.
All the best,
Paul
Great detective work!
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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Paul Bellamy
3/27/2010 3:24:37 PM | I've been concentrating on "Snooper" again today.
Here's photo 65450AC, dated 1st March 1945:
Looking past "Snooper", a Nissen dispersal hut, latrine and two pyramid tents can be seen. Another B-17 sits on an adjacent dispersal to the right.
Consulting the wartime aerial photo, there was only one dispersal that matched up, Dispersal 20.
Here's a close-up showing the area:
Dispersal 20 is lower right, the two tents arrowed in red.
The Nissen hut is arrowed yellow and the latrine in blue.
That places "Snooper" in the 612th Bomb Squadron dispersal area, and assuming she was a PFF ship as the evidence seems to indicate, narrows her identity down to two possibilities:
B-17G-40-VE 42-97947
Ex-94CBW PFF aircraft.
Allocated 612BS SC-U 7th August 1944.
Presumably transferred to 615BS IY-? Spring 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in August (May?) 1945 for Project Casey Jones.
B-17G-50-VE 44-8153
Allocated 612BS SC-Q 18th August 1944.
Transferred to 615BS IY-O Spring 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in May 1945 for Project Casey Jones.
Looking at the photo of 44-8153 above, the anti-dazzle paint in front of the cockpit windshield extends around the astrodome, whereas that on "Snooper" cuts halfway through it.
Therefore 42-97947 is the more likely of the two to be "Snooper", especially when you start matching bolts visible on the outside to equipment fitted inside, like the ILS repeater in the upper right:
Two rows of three bolts are visible in the same location above the forward compartment window in the photo of "Snooper" at the start of the post.
I'll see if the 305BG Association have any images of these two aircraft on arrival at Chelveston, which may show any nose art, and report back.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Moriarty
3/27/2010 5:26:39 PM | Paul
Excellent detective work.
Are you able to work your magic on the aircraft in the background of NARA 65555AC? (sorry don't know how to put photos in a post).
I think it may be 42-31064 Hey Lou, but can't quite make out the serial number.
Cheers
Philip
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donaldbyers
3/27/2010 7:19:47 PM | To put an image into any thread you need to either have a website where you can host a picture and then use the Img button and put the path in it. If you don't have your own website then you use something like Photo Bucket or another free service and post the path to it.
Don Byers
Sgt. Donald C. Byers, 613th Bomb Squadron, Togglier, 42-97344 Carrie B II, KIA 08/24/1944.
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Paul Bellamy
3/27/2010 7:20:44 PM | Let's see what I can come up with Philip,
65555AC:
Pulling that photo from Footnote, and concentrating on the aircraft in the background:
Serial number: 42-3xxx4
Code letter M or H
Checking the assigned aircraft spreadsheet for the period (Note: Paris Mission was 5/12/43 according to the Mission Roster) gives the following:
SC-H 42-39826 "Stubborn Jean"
SC-M 42-31089 "Carolyne"
IW-H 42-31064 "Hey Lou"
IW-M 42-39846 "Widdle Twinkle"
IY-H 42-37843 "Dry Run"
Out of those, only IW-H 42-31064 "Hey Lou" fits what is visible in the photo.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Moriarty
3/28/2010 3:02:30 AM | Thanks for the quick reply!
That's great! I'm trying to find photographic reference to the 100 original B-17G's (B-17-1-BO), not just those in the 401BG. Been trawling Footnote, too. This is the only photograph of 42-31064 I've found so far.
Hadn't thought of cross-referncing mission rosters, doh!
And thanks for the info on posting images Don.
Cheers
Philip
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Paul Bellamy
3/28/2010 1:51:32 PM | Here's the other known photo of "Hey Lou", this time in flight (top right):
The photo was taken during Mission No.6 to Ludwigshaven on the 30th December 1943, the day before "Hey Lou" was lost in action.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Moriarty
3/28/2010 4:53:00 PM | Thanks again, Paul
Is this a NARA photograph, or does it come from another source?
Do you know of any photos of the following aircraft?
42-31036 Nobody's Baby
42-31089 Carolyne
42-31116 Cawn't Miss
Philip
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Paul Bellamy
3/28/2010 7:13:59 PM | Hi Philip,
Yes, it's a cleaned-up crop from another NARA photo, but I can't lay my hands on the index number right now.
I'll see what I have on the other aircraft while I look for it.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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MaryAlice
3/29/2010 7:55:03 AM | WOW again Paul...GREAT photo's/detective work. Man, when I "zoom in" on photo's with my software, I get blurry images, not crisp and clear shots like YOU get!!!! AWESOME!!!!!
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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Paul Bellamy
3/29/2010 12:49:53 PM | You need to download the hi-resolution versions from Footnote.com first.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Paul Bellamy
3/29/2010 1:17:49 PM | "Moriarty":
Is this a NARA photograph, or does it come from another source?
The NARA index reference is 27177AC.
Onto other matters, 65583AC:
In the hi-res version available on Footnote, the squadron code SC is visible on the fuselage, but as it's a cropped copy the tail section with the serial and aircraft letter is missing.
From the gallery copy above, the last four digits are 7487, which would make it 42-97487 "Hangover Haven", listed as SC-C. However, the photo appears to show the aircraft letter to be O, not C.
42-97487 "Hangover Haven" and 42-39993 "Hell's Angel Out of Chute 13" are both on the assigned aircraft list as SC-C at the same time, which cannot be correct.
There is no SC-O listed for any date.
If the photo is to believed over the listings, assuming a simple typo or poor-quality section of microfilm, things make more sense:
42-97487 "Hangover Haven" was SC-O, not SC-C, which fills out the Squadron Roster nicely, and resolves the clash of identities.
Does anyone have access to the NARA copy used for the gallery image to have a closer look at the letter on the fin to clear this one up?
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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donaldbyers
3/29/2010 1:39:12 PM | I have to get on my desktop where I have all of the NARA photos that were sent to me and see if I have it for sure. It makes sense to me I can plainly see the "O".
Don
Sgt. Donald C. Byers, 613th Bomb Squadron, Togglier, 42-97344 Carrie B II, KIA 08/24/1944.
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donaldbyers
3/29/2010 2:01:59 PM | Yep is is an "O" for sure.
Sgt. Donald C. Byers, 613th Bomb Squadron, Togglier, 42-97344 Carrie B II, KIA 08/24/1944.
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donaldbyers
3/29/2010 2:07:37 PM | Must have been a typo: Vic Maslen's listings of Code SC list the following:
42-31091 was SC-O
42-97487 was SC-O
Don
I'll change it.....
Sgt. Donald C. Byers, 613th Bomb Squadron, Togglier, 42-97344 Carrie B II, KIA 08/24/1944.
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Paul Bellamy
3/29/2010 2:18:34 PM | Ta Don.
I'll amend the spreadsheet to suit.
I notice there is a distinct shortage of aircraft coded SC-E, only the unnamed 42-102917 between May and July 1944.
"Moriarty":
Do you know of any photos of the following aircraft?
42-31036 Nobody's Baby
42-31089 Carolyne
42-31116 Cawn't Miss
These are from recent ebay auctions, rather than NARA:
42-31089 SC-M "Carolyne"
An unidentified early B-17G with F-type sliding waist windows:
From the IW- code and the date of the image, this is one of the following:
B-17G-1-BO 42-31036 IW-X "Nobody's Baby"
B-17G-1-BO 42-31064 IW-H "Hey Lou"
B-17G-1-BO 42-31116 IW-O "Cawn't Miss"
B-17G-1-VE 42-39820 IW-J "Also Ran - Still Running"
B-17G-1-VE 42-39846 IW-M "Widdle Twinkle"
B-17G-1-VE 42-39847 IW-G "Battlin' Betty"
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Paul Bellamy
3/29/2010 2:22:32 PM | "donaldbyers":
Must have been a typo: Vic Maslen's listings of Code SC list the following:
42-31091 was SC-O
42-97487 was SC-O
I have 42-31091 "Maggie" listed as IY-O, 42-107113 "Mrs Aldaflak" as initially SC-O, then IY-J from August 1944.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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donaldbyers
3/29/2010 3:15:29 PM |
Do you know of any photos of the following aircraft?
42-31036 Nobody's Baby
42-31089 Carolyne
42-31116 Cawn't Miss
I don't know of any pictures at this time. I will look at the SC-E code in Vic Maslen works.
Vic's works shows only the one aircraft you mentioned!!
Don
Sgt. Donald C. Byers, 613th Bomb Squadron, Togglier, 42-97344 Carrie B II, KIA 08/24/1944.
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MaryAlice
3/30/2010 7:10:56 AM | OK Paul will see if that works for me (downloading from footnote), thanks!
In teh meantime, I am following this thread closely...love the detective work you guys put into this...unbelievable!
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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donaldbyers
3/30/2010 3:25:11 PM | Remember when you download from Footnotes you have to put the .jpg on the end of the file. I sent Paul a photo he couldn't open and neither could I until I found the error of my ways.
Don
Sgt. Donald C. Byers, 613th Bomb Squadron, Togglier, 42-97344 Carrie B II, KIA 08/24/1944.
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Paul Bellamy
3/30/2010 7:34:22 PM | When downloading from Footnote, make sure you select "Entire Image" to download, and save it as the default file name, "Page 1" or whatever.
DO NOT attempt to rename it, or the file format will corrupt itself for some reason.
Then open it from within your image editing programe, in my case PaintShop, and save it as a ".jpg" file, I usually use the existing index number.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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donaldbyers
3/30/2010 9:13:45 PM | Paul I know you know more in that area then I do. When I downloaded with only putting a name in it you couldn't open it at all and neither could I? When I add the .jpg everything is fine. So will have to try and down load another program like Paint to use it. I use Picasso 3 now.
Don
Sgt. Donald C. Byers, 613th Bomb Squadron, Togglier, 42-97344 Carrie B II, KIA 08/24/1944.
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MaryAlice
3/31/2010 12:22:31 PM | "donaldbyers":
Remember when you download from Footnotes you have to put the .jpg on the end of the file. I sent Paul a photo he couldn't open and neither could I until I found the error of my ways.
Don
Ahhh, ok....will try that then and see if it helps. Thanks
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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Paul Bellamy
4/22/2010 2:32:24 PM | One I've been puzzling over for some time now, 65477AC:
"Supply Personnel of the 615th Bomb Squadron, 401st Bomb Group, stationed at an 8th Air Force base in England, 9 October 1944."
But where on the station was the photo taken?
24' span Nissen hut on the left, blast shelter in the middle distance, another 24' Nissen hut in the background.
The brick water tower means the one in the background is likely to be joined to at least one more of the same size......
It's not on Communal Site 1 or 2..... hmmm, think, think, think........
Hang on, there's another Communal Site that I'd been missing, the one that would be the WAAF site if it was a RAF station!
Here's the relevant part of the RSP:
Ok, only one blast shelter to concentrate on, and two large Nissen hut complexes, buildings 242 and 260.
Looks like the right arrangement, but I better check if building 260 has a water tower attached.....
The aerial photo of the same area seems to show one in the right place, and there's even a vehicle parked in the same spot as the one in the photo:
So, the chaps are standing by a Dodge Command Car, which is parked on the spur road to building 242 (Dining Room and Mess for 370, AM Drawing Numbers 12658/41 & 4197/42).
The building with the water tower is building 260 (Institute and Recreation Room for 370, AM Dwg. No. 12062/41 & 5776/42).
With that information the photo angle, and the spot it was taken from, can now be calculated:
It still doesn't tell us that the 401st used these buildings for, but that's a whole other thing to work on.....
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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rod
4/22/2010 3:28:45 PM | I wanted to say thanks for all the photos and research ... wow!! rod crossman
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Phoenix
4/22/2010 4:44:01 PM | Tell you what Paul as we are more or less certain where the sqaudron flying and ground personel put thier heads down, I have often wondered where support personel bunked down ‽ . I am reckoning that you are thinking out loud on my behalf by looking at the RAF WAAF sites. Too lazy to look myself 😛 so can't wait to see the results of your research 😃
Tally ho
Dale
improvise, adapt, overcome
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Paul Bellamy
5/19/2010 2:12:54 PM | While looking for any photos showing what may be the bomb dump perimeter fence identified on the April 1944 air photo, I got a little distracted when I spotted something else on the air photo.....
65548AC
"Two men of the 401st Bomb Group get in some target practice at the skeet range of an 8th Air Force base in England, 22 January 1944."
I think I've found the location of this skeet range, at the eastern end of Runway No.2:
Straight crop from the air photo on the left, highlighted version on the right.
Skeet range in yellow, post-and-wire fence in red.
If the location is correct, the camera angle in 65548AC would appear to be facing NNE, with the little valley running eastwards from the bomb dump visible in the background.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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VernsDaughter
5/19/2010 3:47:07 PM | Some great detective work on these photos! I am interested in the Footnote for photos; how do I get it and is it hard to use? Thanks for the help that is offered on this site. Jean
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Paul Bellamy
5/19/2010 3:51:11 PM | Go to www.footnote.com, and have a search.
The image viewer is now flash-based, so can be achingly slow at times.
To make things easier, here's the direct link to all the 953 photos tagged as being received from 401BG HQ: LINKY
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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VernsDaughter
5/19/2010 4:20:13 PM | Thanks for the info, Paul. My goodness, but you are fast! I have some photos of a 612 BS ground crew that I have shared with Don and that I hope to re-scan at a higher resolution so that I can share them with the association. They are not official photos and are less than two inches square but are still interesting. My dad was W. Vern Dawkins ground crew chief on two different B17s. Thanks again! Jean
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Paul Bellamy
5/29/2010 9:55:41 AM | A-65531AC
A Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" of 401st Bomb Group 'got stuck in the mud' while landing at an 8th Air Force base in England. 13 December 1943.
This one puzzled me for a while, before I managed to work out the location.
The building by the truck on the left, and the earth banks on the far right all pointed to somewhere around the bomb dump, but the spot I'd guesstimated meant there should be a dispersal visible in the midground. When I considered the B-17 might already be ON the "missing" dispersal it all clicked into place.
The hut by the truck is Building 140: Type A Pyrotechnics Store, Nissen, 12725/41, and the earth banks are the southernmost traverses of Building 143: Type D Bomb Store 3164/42.
The aircraft in the photo is clearly 42-39873 IY-Q Stormy Weather of the 615th Bomb Squadron, and the date is that of Mission 5 to Kiel.
42-39873 is not recorded as having flown that mission, however there is currently one unknown aircraft flown by a 615th crew that day.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Paul Bellamy
5/29/2010 10:09:19 AM | 65566AC
The day's work is done for combat crew members who are unloading their flying equipment from a Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" of the 401st Bomb Group, based in England.
The Group attacked enemy installations at Cologne, Germany, 5 March 1944.
The number of unique building arrangements in this image allowed the individual dispersal to be identified pretty quickly:
The crew are on Dispersal 11, the B-17 on the left is on Dispersal 10.
The date is one day out, as often happens with the original photo captions, but this is after Mission 31 to Cologne.
Sadly, other than narrowing it down to being a crew of a camouflage-painted B-17 from either the 612th or 614th squadrons, there's not much more to be gleaned at the moment I'm afraid.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Courtney
6/14/2010 10:21:43 AM | I am compelled to say that this is really first class research. Keep up the good work. In his honor and to honor Art Jetter's crew, a note about Bob Cain who flew as the co-pilot on the Snicklefritz. All quoted material is from the 401st Bomb Group (H) Association website mission list.
On June 14, 1944, 2nd Lieutenant Robert W. Cain, a B-17G Flying Fortress co-pilot, 613th Bomb Squadron, 401st Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, flew his first combat mission against the German occupied airfield at Le Bourget, France. The flight “briefing was conducted at 0115 hours. All 60 aircraft were airborne by 0517 hours. All but one of the operational aircraft had returned by 1110 hours.” Bob’s flight log for June 14th notes he flew for 6 hours and 45 minutes encompassing all of the hours logged of this bombing mission.
The official mission summary states: “For the 401st Bomb Group, this was the most important mission to date. The Group put up 60 aircraft -- by far the most for any one mission -- and the Group, led by Col. Bowman, led the entire 8th Air Force. Moreover, it was one of the Group's most successful missions from the standpoint of bombing accuracy. The Group flew in five boxes of 12 aircraft each, and each box, bombing individually, hit its MPI. The five lead bombardiers, Major Julius Pickoff, Captain Henry R. Briarton, Captain Harry W. Meadville, Captain William W. Dolan and Lt. Ralph R. Wolfe, received personal letters of commendation from the Commanding General of the 94th Combat Wing. Flak at the target was moderate and accurate, and the Group was also attacked by two German Me-109's just before reaching the target, resulting in the loss of Lt. Russell H. Schroeder and his crew, flying "Dry Run" (42-37843). The German fighters were immediately bounced and shot down by U.S. fighter aircraft.” Lt. Schroeder was killed, but his nine crewmen survived and evaded capture.
2nd Lieutenant Cain flew five more combat missions in June 1944 in addition to five non-combat missions. In July he flew eleven more combat missions including two in which he apparently served as the tail gunner on his aircraft. Eight more combat missions followed in August with six more in September and two in October. For his performance he received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with Three Oak Leaf Clusters. The citation for the Distinguished Flying Cross reads: "For extraordinary achievement while participating in sustained combat bombardment missions over Germany and German occupied countries from June 14, 1944, to September 19. The courage, coolness and skill displayed by Lt. Cain on all these occasions reflect the highest credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the U.S."
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Paul Bellamy
6/19/2010 9:11:16 AM | "Paul Bellamy":
Here's photo 65450AC, dated 1st March 1945:
Looking past "Snooper", a Nissen dispersal hut, latrine and two pyramid tents can be seen. Another B-17 sits on an adjacent dispersal to the right.
Consulting the wartime aerial photo, there was only one dispersal that matched up, Dispersal 20.
That places "Snooper" in the 612th Bomb Squadron's dispersal area, and assuming she was a PFF ship as the evidence seems to indicate, narrows her identity down to two possibilities:
B-17G-40-VE 42-97947
Ex-94CBW PFF aircraft.
Allocated 612BS SC-U 7th August 1944.
Presumably transferred to 615BS IY-? Spring 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in August (May?) 1945 for Project Casey Jones.
B-17G-50-VE 44-8153
Allocated 612BS SC-Q 18th August 1944.
Transferred to 615BS IY-O Spring 1945.
Transferred to 305BG in May 1945 for Project Casey Jones.
Looking at the photo of 44-8153 above, the anti-dazzle paint in front of the cockpit windshield extends around the astrodome, whereas that on "Snooper" cuts halfway through it.
Therefore 42-97947 is the more likely of the two to be "Snooper".
Small, but potentially significant, update on Snooper.
The nose anti-dazzle panel on bare-metal Vega-built B-17Gs had two distinct patterns, as illustrated above.
Looking at a great number of period photos the "short" panel that cuts through the astrodome, as seen on Snooper, was standard up to the end of block 40-VE.
The "long" panel, which goes all around the front of the astrodome as seen on 44-8153, first begins to appear during block 45-VE.
Again, it's not conclusive proof that Snooper was PFF B-17G-40-VE 42-97947, but added to the nose art, the cheek gun blanking plates and the fixings for internal instruments, it's another indication that it's possible.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Paul Bellamy
9/14/2010 10:04:23 AM | Harking back to a post a while ago about the AAF HILV "High Lighting" runway lights installed on the main runway at Deenethorpe in late summer 1944...
From the Control Tower Logs:
Wednesday 23rd August 1944
1415 hrs
Airfield inspected.
Concrete repairs in progress on Runway No. 10/28.
High Lighting being installed on Runway No. 05/23.
Saturday 26th August 1944
0930 hrs
Electricians working on High Lighting on Runway No.05/23.
Sunday 3rd September 1944
1730 hrs
Inspected airfield. One of the new incandescent lights smashed by IN-R landing from mission and swinging off runway due to flat tyre.
Tuesday 5th September 1944
1000 hrs
Airdrome inspected. Electricians working on Hi-Lights on Runway No.23 advise installations expected to be completed by the end of the week.
D-1 High Intensity Low Visibility (HILV) Runway and Approach Light:
I'd never managed to find a photo of these lights in place at Deenethorpe... until now!
Closeup showing what seem to be three of the HILV lamps illuminated in the distance:
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Paul Bellamy
11/10/2010 7:09:46 PM | I was lucky enough to find the remains of one of these HILV lamp units the other day.
Some quick snaps of the bowl assembly prior to cleaning:
Interior fittings:
Closeup showing the cooling fan:
Two of the surviving decals on the inside of the bowl:
Another decal, this time on the outside on one of the hinge arms:
Here's the dataplate (Serial number 44-13496) after it's first rinse. I'm still considering the best way to clean this up:
And what it originally looked like:
All the best,
PB
Paul Bellamy
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Paul Bellamy
3/2/2011 5:08:15 PM | A blindingly obvious photo of a HILV light at Deenethorpe that I'd missed previously, albeit one not yet fitted in position...
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Paul Bellamy
6/23/2011 12:02:24 PM | Another one from the archive.
65770AC. Lt Gibson and Crew 5 of the 612th Squadron, 31st October 1944:
Now, let's look at the code letters partially visible on either side of the photo.
C on the left, S on the right.
Due to the way the aircraft and squadron codes were arranged on the starboard side they would appear the wrong way around, so the identity of this particular aircraft is SC-C.
This is of course SC-C 42-39993 Hell's Angel Out of Chute 13, and the practice of having pin-up pictures pasted to her has continued from the nose right back to the fuselage star-and-bar.
All the best,
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Paul Bellamy
9/23/2011 5:30:58 AM | Here's a photo I'd previously posted in the "New NARA Photos" thread
2095 EFFP fire crew, July 1944 (65808AC)
Nice shot, which also shows the variety of vehicles and trailers in use. The Ex-RAF Fordson Tender is still soldiering on in the centre:
From the captioned date, we can put a couple of names to the faces...
The officer in the centre is most likely Lt. William E. Curtin, who took over as the 2095th's CO a few days before the photo was taken.
(His arrival could well be why the group photo was taken)
The S/Sgt in the darker uniform to the left of him therefore is probably S/Sgt James Black.
It would be great if we could put names to the other chaps in the picture too, the 2095th was a small unit so there aren't too many to choose from. 😉
Paul
Paul Bellamy
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Paul Bellamy
11/30/2011 4:07:41 PM | "Paul Bellamy":
A close-up of the B-17 in the background of 65497AC, parked on Dispersal 30, gives this:
42-30177 "Pakawalup II"
Checking her page HERE shows she was allocated to the 612th as SC-A and the 615th as IY-A.
But in which order, and when was she transferred?
Going from the above photo's she was IY-A first.
The next IY-A was 42-97869 "Hula Girl"/"Maid to Order", which arrived at Deenethorpe in June 1944.
Although '177's Mission Log has a large gap between March and September 1944, 615th crews were flying her up to almost her last mission in September 1944.
42-97869 was also allocated to the 614th as IW-H, and was flying with 614th crews up to September 1944 too.
My current hypothesis is that the code allocations on some of the aircraft pages are in reverse date order.
All the above makes sense if 42-97869 was IW-H up to September 1944, then was transfered to the 615th as IY-A.
At that point 42-30177 IY-A transfers to the 612th as SC-A.
44-6464 "Prop Wash"/"Hare's Breath" then became the new IW-H on her arrival with the 614th, which puts the date no earlier than the 23rd September.
42-30177's first and last mission with the 612th was the 30th September, so that seems to fit.
I'll have to re-jig the Allocated Aircraft Spreadsheet to take this theory into account and see if anything shakes out at the other end. :wink:
Well, the re-jigging came up with a result of sorts...
42-30177 Pakawalup II was never transferred from the 615th to the 612th, and retained her IY-A code until the day she was lost while being flown by a 612th crew.
Just sorting the rest of the IY-A sequence out now.
Paul Bellamy
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