DoraNineFan wrote:
Is there any chance of ever seeing her in bare metal and polished like "Doc" will be? I think this was discussed some time ago, so perhaps it is easier to keep her painted. Does bare metel make it harder to maintain the airframe (other than alot of elbow grease to keep it shiny?)
A few B-29s flew in OD, which is not an unattractive color for the plane either.
I was adamant about putting FIFI back to a natural metal finish when we were doing all of that airframe work on her recently. However, the original skins on the airplane are so beat up that a natural finish would simply look horrible. "Doc" will no doubt be beautiful if they ever finish it, but remember, many, if not all of the skins on that airplane have been replaced. It's much easier to make an airplane shine like a brand new nickel when you've got fresh metal to start with.
Personally, I very much like the O.D. green B-29's. But they were only painted that way early on in their production. You'd have to confirm this with Jack Cook, BDK, or some of the other more knowledgeable Warbird buffs here on WIX, but I don't think there were actually any of the O.D. green B-29's in service overseas.
This is certainly an interesting topic, but it's frustrating as well (at least for me). I want so badly to improve the overall appearance of both the B-29 and B-24 here I can't stand it. But my hands are tied to the resources that we currently have. We'll get 'em lookin' right eventually.
Gary