Warbird Information Exchange

Scott,

I contacted the Museum some time ago pertaining to the paint scheme for the B-29. The letter I received thanked me for my idea and explained the process will depend somewhat on the wishes of sponsors, donors, etc. My suggestion was a 315th Bomb Wing B-29B, as this airplane was produced at the same time as the Marietta B models. This would also make the lack of turrets more palatable as the B's were stripped of all but tail guns. In addition, all B-29B Bomb Groups trained in Nebraska at Fairmont, Harvard, Grand Island, and McCook thus giving a local flavor to the display. We'll see what is decided, either way it appears that the staff is doing a thorough job of stripping and cleaning the aircraft.

B-29B 42-63717, 501st Bombardment Group (VH), 41st Squadron. Guam, fall of 1945.

Scott

That is a great suggestion Scott!
Thanks for the info

Eric

Looks like a great place. I think that the B-29 will look great. They did an awsome job on the other projects there. I like the B-17 and don't mind the paint. Aluminum Overcast and Liberty Belle are finished the same way.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Just my opinion, but if you are going to paint a static display B-17, why not paint it OD green? Painting it grey just doesn't look right...

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Peraonally I like the O.D. green on the B-17 myself.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

I can not speak to pre 1980 practices, but; a common task for all military maintenance types is to use zinc-chromate primer as a corrosion prevention compound (cpc). Depending on tint, it can indeed look yellow.

It could be that the yellow is the color it should be, or it is also possible that they are using zinc-chromate primer as a cpc, and will paint the correct color over that.

I agree

I think they are after the bare skin look.

While I like the bare look, I am not the one polishing it...... over and over and over...... so the aluminum paint makes sense.

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One day I looked up and he's pushing 80...
He's got brown tobacco stains all down his chin.
To me he's one of the hero's of this country, so why is he all dressed up like them ole men....

Once polished, a plane on indoor static display should not need to be re-polished unless the museum wants to keep it at a high shine. Look at Bockscar at the NMUSAF. I don't think it's been polished in years (maybe decades) and it still looks pretty good (correct me if I'm wrong mustangdriver)...

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Well, it is cleaned weekly with a light duster, but that is not what you meant. I am not sure that last time that it has actually been polished, but you are right as if it is indoors, the polish lasts along time. This B-17 was on outdoor display thought, and moved to their new building not that long ago. A few years I woulld guess.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager