Warbird Information Exchange

These photos are of the first B-29 to arrive in Australia via Darwin - location? See thread...

Can anyone add more?







(Via the RAAF Museum Archive, a personal album.)

I'm particularly interested in the nose marking.

Cheers,

_________________
James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Sorry James...try Parkes NSW ...not Darwin NT......

Parkes, NSW. October 1945. A Boeing B-29 Superfortress aircraft named 'Waltzing Matilda' dwarfs a Spitfire which is parked beside it. The aircraft have stopped at Parkes during a two week War Loan tour conducted between 17-31 October 1945. This B-29 had reportedly bomber Tokyo a number of times, and was released for the tour at the direction of General Macarthur. (Donor A. Miller)

Groovy photos...

I'm wondering if the emblem on the nose isn't a modified version of the 99th BS insignia...


From Web-Birds.com


There looks to be a 'V' (for 'victory'?) behind the bison, if it is indeed a bison. Could these photos have been taken post-war? (EDIT: I wrote this before west-front's post... but the forum wouldn't let me post 'til now... anyhoo, I guess these are indeed post war photos, so the 'V' for 'Victory' seems a bit more probable.)


Fade to Black...

Hi WestFront,
I think we've got a bit of confusion here - I assume you are quoting an AWM photo caption? (Link please?) and that may well be Parkes, while these photos may be another location, unless they are different copies of the same photos, or different photos of the same occasion...

Steve,
Thanks - could be - I wondered if it was a poor drawing of Australia, but the Bison 'fits' a bit better. I think we are looking at postwar either way.

Cheers,

_________________
James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Well, now that you've said that, it does look like it could be a rendition of Australia.


Fade to Black...

I'd suggest that they are the same location James.

Its been my experience in research that there are often many different perspectives of the same event recorded on the AWM database. I can imagine having a Super Fortress in Australia and apparently at "Doug Out" Doug's orders it would have made quite an impression.

www.awm.gov.au/database/collection.asp

Just type in B-29 and you'll find them.

BTW If its October 1945 its not wartime - sure rationing continued in Australia until the 1950's but hostilities had ceased.

Cheers

The insignia appears to be a V for Victory behind a map of Australia

The name 'Waltzing Matilda' is painted on the port side near the cockpit

AWM ID Number: P02666.011


Parkes, NSW. October 1945. A Boeing B-29 Superfortress aircraft named 'Waltzing Matilda' dwarfs a Spitfire which is parked beside it. The aircraft have stopped at Parkes during a two week War Loan tour conducted between 17-31 October 1945. This B-29 had reportedly bomber Tokyo a number of times, and was released for the tour at the direction of General Macarthur. (Donor A. Miller)

AWM ID Number: P02666.002

BTW another B-29 one month earlier:

SYDNEY, NSW. 1945-09-18. THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE BOEING SUPERFORTRESS BOMBER, NO 997, ON THE TARMAC AT MASCOT AERODROME. THE AIRCRAFT WAS FLOWN IN FROM NORTHERN OPERATIONAL AREAS TO USE IN A VICTORY LOAN APPEAL.

ID Number: 115903

I think we might have some crossed wires here, so trying to clarify...

I'm reasonably sure the Superfort flew in via Dawrin, and was obviously photographed a lot (postwar, new, big strange) as it toured.

I don't know where the photos I posted are. You can see (green?) Beaus and a single Vultee Vengeance in the background.

I don't think it's Parkes, like the AWM shot, because there's no Spitfire or grass in the above shot. Because the AWM has a shot at Parkes of an a/c that toured Aus doesn't mean these shots were there. They could be anywhere it landed!

(I'd forgotten the AWM database doesn't allow linking or links. Pain.)

Interested if we have any further thoughts on that marking. BTW, The unit marking on the tail is for?...

Thanks for the input folks.

Cheers

_________________
James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

And the fact that some close up shots may be the Washington the RAAF was "given" as well ?

The tail marking is the 20th Air Force lozenge. I'm digging around now, hopefully more later!

Scott

Here is a link to the excellent "B-24 Squadrons of Australia" Newsletter #64 that seems to muddy the waters somewhat. Go to page 7 for pics and a little story:
http://www.rnc.com.au/b-24/pdf/issue64sm.pdf
I'd guess that this aircraft was only in-country for a short stopover.

This link is to the obituary of Maynard W. Almeling, the radar bombardier on "Waltzing Matilda" during her tour.
http://www.klippelfamily.com/klippel/570.htm

I'd sure like to figure out the serial number of Matilda!

Scott

Anyone see a s/n anywhere on the airframe?

_________________
Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Hi All,

I have been helping the State Library of Western Australia with researching their aviation photos, with help from a number of others.

There are two more photos of B-29 "Waltzing Matilda" on the State Library of Western Australia website, taken at Perth Airport (then known as Guildford Aerodrome) sometime during the War Bonds tour in October 1945:

http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/search ... &p=&SORT=D

In this case, a Wirraway (probably of 25 Squadron, from nearby Pearce) sits next to it, in front of the ANA hangar. The ANA hangar was later taken over by Ansett Air Freight, then demolished in 1998 to make way for Hawker Pacific's new hangar.

In the larger scans sent to me by the librarian, the nose logo on the right side is definitely a V (for Victory) on a map of Australia, and it bears the 20th Air Force logo on the tail.
On the port side, it has 28 visible mission markings on the nose, and the name "Waltzing Matilda". No serial number is visible in either photo.

It was also mentioned on page 190 of "G-FOR-GEORGE”: A Memorial to RAAF Bomber Crews 1939-45 by Michael V. Nelmes and Ian Jenkins.

If anyone has any further info to add, (especially the particular squadron it belonged to and/or serial number), I would be very interested.

Thanks,

David Eyre.

_________________
My Airliners.Net photos

Welcome to posting on WIX, David. Your link to the State Library of Western Australia just may have solved the mystery of Waltzing Matilda's original name.

I blew up the photos you linked to, and found the "shadow" of ship number 54 on the right side of the fuselage (and after doing so, I see the evidence is also visible on the second photo James started this thread with). The tail has the same shadow where the "K" in a black square was stripped off before she went on tour. By going to this website;
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ny330bg/b29sn.htm
it appears that she is 44-69774, K-54 of the 330th Bombardment Group, 459th Squadron. She had two names, the official "City of Paterson" and the "real" name, "Keohane's Kulprits".

Here are a couple of photos that support my theory, this first one is from the State Library:


Here is my blown-up shot of the tail, notice the remnants of the black square and K on the vertical, the lead ship stripe on the dorsal fin, and the 54 at the crew entry door:


Here is a shot of K-54 from the 330th Bombardment Group website--notice the placement and font of the numerals at the entry door again:


And a shot of the Keohane crew and their mount, again from the 330th BG (VH) site. Notice that the 330th BG "official" nose art is in the same exact position as the V-and-Australia logo on the first photo above:


And as a form of reference for the actual Square K markings on the tail, here is a shot of a sister ship, "City of Miami Beach":


I think the evidence we've got now pretty well ties down the identity of the airplane, but I had a bit of trouble with the 330th BG serial number listing. The webpage shows her as a B-29-60-BW but the serial listed is 42-69774, which is a P-63. Dash 60 B-29s were 1944 fiscal year production, and Baugher shows 44-69774 as a -60. There are several other aircraft on the 330th listings that have the same error.

Thanks again for the posting, David!
Scott