Warbird Information Exchange

Repost from the B-17 Mickey Radar Photothread for a wider audience:

PFF B-17 List: Current Status = 347 entries!

Going through yet more references while compiling the PFF B-17 list brought me back to this photo we discussed earlier in the thread:



This is of course the original 42-97542 City of Savannah, with that looks like an H2X radome underneath.
However, on the day she was lost in action, she was fitted with a normal ball turret.

According to Fortresses of the Big Triangle First it would appear that she was originally assigned to the 482nd Bomb Group at Alconbury and fitted with H2X.
In addition, it is believed that most of the batch of new H2X B-17s that arrived at the same time were in natural metal finish and were then camouflage painted shortly after their arrival at Alconbury.

So, could the photo show City of Savannah newly arrived at Alconbury, complete with radome?
The lack of unit markings would seem to suggest so.

Any thoughts on the matter are appreciated.

All the best,
PB

_________________
Paul Bellamy

401BG Association Historian & Honorary Life Member
401BG Historical Society (UK) Member
1st Air Division HQ Historical Society (UK) Founder Member
Director of Archives & Collections, Airfield Research Group Archive, Alconbury
RAF Alconbury Base Historian

Why would they have painted them if they arrived in NMF? Seems like they would have been painted from the Factory. Or were all the units not converting to NMF at the same time?

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Just thinking out loud, but do you suppose that someone in 8th AF wanted camouflaged H2X airplanes so they wouldn't stick out as much in the formation with so many older ships still in use? Vega had dropped camo before this batch was converted and a good many of the Mickey conversions were done to Vega airplanes.

Scott

That seems plausible.

_________________
.
.
Sure, Charles Lindbergh flew the plane... but Tom Rutledge built the engine!

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