Chris, let me help you out. I've already been there.
The original designation of the unit was the 452nd, because of regulations regarding the active duty time for a reserve squadron the unit was redesignated 17BG (L ). The aircraft and personnel stayed the same, it was only a paper change.
The 17th BW (L) was assigned to Pusan ( K9 ) for all of their time in Korea. There was a short time that they relocated to Pusan West ( K1 ) because they were finally doing a full surfacing of the runway at K9. Most missions were flown at night and the planes returned around daylight. The 34th and 37th were based on one side of the field and the 95th by itself on the other. All of the aircraft had individual revetment made out of 55 gallon drums filled with dirt.
The 17th was formed during WWI as a pursuit squadron and continued as such until just before WWII, when they transitioned to the B-25. The 17th was made up of the 34th, 37th, and 95th. The 95ths Kicking Mule was sanctioned in 1917, making it one of the USAFs oldest squadron insignia. The 17th Bomb Group was selected as the core group of the Doolittle Raiders since they were the USAACs most experienced B-25 operators at the time. The Doolittle Raider insignia is made up of the Bengal Tiger, Thunderbird, Kicking mule, and the Wright Pat arrowhead. The group later was transferred to Barksdale where they became the seed unit for the B-26 Marauder. They call themselves "the Daddy of Them All ". The longest active USAF squadron was the 95th, they were still flying the U2 as a miniwing at Mildenhall into the late 90s. The U2 T38s out of Beall still carry the Maltese crosses that were awarded to the 17th as battle awards in WWI. Quentin Roosevelt, Teddy's facorite son was killed in France flying as a 95th pursuit pilot in WWI. His memorial carries the Kicking Mule.
In Korea the
37th Bengal Tigers carried red trim,
the 34th Thunderbirds carried a light green trim, and the
95th carried a bright blue trim. In 1952 the markings included colored scallops on the cowlings and a red/white prop warning stripe. In ealy 1953, prior to the cease fire the scallops and white stripes were removed. This left the wingtips,horizontal tips, and the vertical tip to carry the color and a single red prop warning stripe. The squadron insignia was carried on the right side of the nose while the nose art ( if any ) was carried on the left. The nose art was sized to fit either the C model or the B model, but they were carried in the same location. All carried the BC fuselage codes, B for Bomber and C for A-26. The three digits were the last three of the serial number. ( example BC-695, 44-35696 ) The overall color was gloss black, flat was tried but they felt that flat caused a black hole effect and that it actually made the aircraft easier to see in the dark.
The nose art was applied by a local Japanese artist at Miho, Japan. He was contracted by the crews and paid approximately 15.00 per plane. he would copy any thing you gave him and favored the Old English lettering that is found on the 17th aircraft. Inspections and heavy repairs were carried out at Miho. Looking at individual aircraft history cards it appears that inspections at Miho were carried out at 50 hr intervals.
I've seen pictures of Dream girl taken by Bob Mikesh while she was with the 34th in Korea and I walked around her at the Museum. Bob was with the Smithsonian until his retirement and actually was a 37th pilot. His aircraft was Monie, named after his wife. Most surviving color shots of 34th and 37th aircraft were taken by Bob. Unfortunately, he never really got over to the other side of the field to shoot the 95th aircraft. As far as the original artist repaintng the nose, I'm afraid that is impossible. I have first hand accounts from pilots and crews who contracted with the Japanese artist who painted all of the wing aircraft that carried the pinups and Old English lettering, none remembered his name, only that he was a local.
Here is the website for the 17th Reunion Association where more info can be found.
http://www.bombgroup17.com/homeChris, I did all of this research years ago because the Collings A-26 44-35696 , My Mary Lou, was a 95th BS aircraft.
If you look at the picture of the last mission board, second from the bottom you'll find "696 ".
Hope that fills in some gaps.
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