Gary ~ What's The Plan For Diamond Lil ? 2006 and Beyond!

[Former Member]

I'm sure many of you can come up with good captions for this one...

Cute picture!

Too bad the kid wasn't dropping hot brass on da-da's head and down the back of his shirt for a realistic affect!

John

[rwdfresno]

I have seen some WWII waist gunners that didn't look much older back in the day lol.

[Junkyard36]

Gary -

I don't post often on this thread, preferring to watch the amazing story of OL' 927. You and you team have done an incredible job with her. The nose art is a good fit for her; I can't wait to see her in person as well as getting some souveniers for my little girl.

Again, great job!

[Second Air Force]

Gary,

Sorry, but I think the camera in your photo was marked "B-29/B-24 Squadron". Here's the real thing though--

And now, back to big, mean airplanes!!!!!

Scott

[Second Air Force]

Here's a nice photo of Ol' 927 taken in mid '43 that I intended to post sooner. Sorry about the quality--the serial is indeed AM927. It's cool to see the bulged pilot sliding window on her!


Scott

[retroaviation]

Here's a little of what it took for Chad Hill, Gary Hill (Chad's father), Sean Cowger, and Mike Hede to paint the noseart on Ol' 927.......

The first thing that was done is that they put the transparency that they'd made of the noseart on the overhead projector and we all decided on the exact size and location of the artwork.......




Once we all agreed on the exact position and size of the noseart, Chad and his crew started tracing the outline onto the airplane with some fancy-pants, high dollar, drawin' sticks (basically a white crayon coated in wood). The two pieces of blue tape you see in these photos were index marks so that both sides of the airplane had the artwork located in the same place...........






And naturally, secrecy was of the utmost while this work was being done. If you recall, we had an event in the hangar when this was taking place, so keeping the "lookie-loos" out was difficult.......






Since so many WIXers thought that the hangar cat would make nice noseart, Gary and Chad tried to let Mosquito get in on the fun, but he was in no mood for it, so Mike tried to pitch in and help. He didn't have any luck either, so when Skeeter started to get the big eyes and puffy tail, we just decided to forego the cat noseart and move forward with what Chad had designed. ........






Let the painting begin........






Chad was all over the place with this project. While Sean was working one side, Mike was starting on the other. Gary would come in and assist when any of the others would need a break. It was neat to see them all work together as a team like that..........






Eventually, it started to really come together. I know they had a very difficult time with some of the paint covering as well as it should...particularly the yellow. But they never quit trying, knowing that they had a very short period of time to get this completed. I reckon we could've just airbrushed it on, but Chad and his team were very much in agreement with me that it MUST be painted on by brush, as they would've done it back in the day.........








It was kind of cool to see Father and Son working together on such a neat project........




Another coat, and another coat, and another coat.........










Starting to look pretty goooood....




...But there's still more detail work left to do..............










Every artist has to step back and check out their work every now and then. ..........




Poor ol' Sean was starting to stress a bit towards the end of the project. They only had about an hour or so before they had to leave for the airport, so when the delimma of how to paint the prop arcs on the artwork popped up, he took control and did an amazing job of pulling off the effect we were looking for, in a VERY short period of time.........




Here's Chad signing his name to his work of art.........








The exhausted crew with their finished work........




The exhausted crew with their finished work and a fat boy.........




I must say that I was completely impressed with what Chad, Gary, Sean, and Mike were able to accomplish in such a short period of time. They were great folks to work with and I think it's safe to say that we all came out of this little project wondering how the heck the guys in W.W. II had the time and patience to paint the amazing artwork on the airplanes of the day, many times, in horrendous conditions.

This was indeed a great learning experience for me.

Gary

[Former Member]

Awesome pics Gary ...thanks for sharing them!

John

[Bear]

I can't tell you how much I like the new nose art. I can already see a bunch of little kids running at airshows with it on their shirts.

[lmritger]

I still wish we could see the huge US flags on her, but I like what Chad and his crew have created. It's fun, it was created with an eye towards "period authenticity", and best of all it's infinitely marketable. It was a good decision, and it's very well done.

I'm going to echo the statement of someone else... in transforming Lil into "Ol' 927", the aircraft has literally been reborn as an entirely new display which should draw crowds wherever it goes. You deserve every single accolade and positive word sent your way, Gary... she looks AMAZING.

Lynn

[Jimmy in Texas]

Amazing is not the correct word for what has been worked here. This is now the New Queen Of The Fleet. Can't wait for her to get to Houston in October for the Airshow, the camera is waiting.
Jimmy

[Django]

Wow, I sure do have my Dad's hairline!



Great pics and commentary Gary. Thanks so much for all your efforts, and helping us help you.

[retroaviation]

I reckon I don't say it enough, but there have certainly been some extremely hard working folks that have helped me with this project, which is far from finished. I'd say that the most unrecognized person that's been of the most help to me is the Squadron's Maintenance Officer, Don Obreiter. He's been putting in countless hours of labor into this project, whether it be fabricating the bombardier's seat and waist gun holder-upper-thingy, to bomb sight mounts. Along with that, he's been doing untold amounts of paperwork for the Squadron to help keep us in good with the FAA. All of this while having his own share of personal issues and not once whining about it (like I do ).

Another group of folks that don't get a whole bunch of attention is Lance Sommers, Eric Van Hoff, and Bill Coombes. Sure, I mention them from time to time, but the occasional blurb about them in no way indicates the amount of work they put into recovering those control surfaces for us that two other groups backed out on. They worked "Gary's hours" for several days last week to insure that the rudders and elevators would be ready for the unveiling. The controls are of excellent quality and I'm very glad that they chose to help me with that project.

Naturally, I can't name everyone that comes to help (since I'm occasionally as dumb as a box of rocks and would never be able to remember everyone), but each one of them is equally important in their own way. From laying out the National insignias for me to paint, to doing complicated sheet metal work. It's ALL been important to this project.

All of the volunteers for this project are the ones who've made me look good.

Thanks for the comments,
Gary

[retroaviation]

After the unveiling of Ol' 927 on Saturday, Bill Coombes hosted one of his seminars. This time it featured a couple of B-24 vetrans who described some of their experiences during the War. One of the speakers was Bob Johnson. He flew as a crew member on a B-24 (top turret gunner) that was shot down in Bulgaria. He also just wrote a book called "Giddy Giddy Boom Boom."

Anyway, during his talk, he described how he made a trip back to Bulgaria years ago and found that one of the museums there had recovered portions of his downed airplane. He was able to purchase a piece of the airplane from them and is trying to purchase the rest of it's remains as well. So after the seminar was over, I was called to the stage and Mr. Johnson graciously passed along the piece of his airplane to me. I immediately recognized it as one of the bomb door control handles. He asked if I could use it on Ol' 927 and I told him that I could and would be honored to have it as part of our airplane.

The current bomb door control mechanism in our airplane is a well made replica that someone had made in the past (I believe when the airplane was maintained in Tulsa), so some slight modifications needed to be made to make the original handle work in it. However, Don Obreiter made quick work of it and was able to get the handle from the B-24 shot down in Bulgaria installed and working in Ol' 927. Plus, it operates as if it were new.

I still need to repaint and restencil the top of the mechanism (but I'll leave the original handle untouched), and will do that before it flies. I will also have a plaque made that briefly explains the significance of that one particular handle in the airplane.........








Gary

[Eric Friedebach]

It's fun, it was created with an eye towards "period authenticity", and best of all it's infinitely marketable. It was a good decision, and it's very well done.

I had the honor to tour with the Squadron about a million years ago, so I guess I’m as sentimental about “Diamond Lil” as the next guy, but every time I see the new nose art I like it even more. I hope the PX Officer has cut some fat Purchase Orders!

I immediately recognized it as one of the bomb door control handles. He asked if I could use it on Ol' 927 and I told him that I could and would be honored to have it as part of our airplane.

Wow, now that is a great tribute.

[TimAPNY]

I hope the PX Officer has cut some fat Purchase Orders!
.

That makes two of us that hope there are some good shirts made with the new nose art on it.

Tim