Warbird Information Exchange

As the Doolittle raid date is coming up, there was also an interesting raid that took place a few days earlier that received little attention. Maj. Gen. Ralph Royce was born in my neck of the woods in Upper Michigan. A "Yooper". The B-17's look to have an interesting camo scheme with the red and white strips on the tail as well. Photos of aircraft at that early time of the war always are interesting to see.

Some great reading below on this early and dangerous war effort in the Pacific.

http://www.ozatwar.com/people/royce.htm
http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stor ... l-mission/
http://forum.armyairforces.com/April-11 ... 70559.aspx

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Impeach, Remove, Convict, Imprison!!...

I had the honor of volunteering at the same museum as his son Scott Royce. The stories he had were amazing. Doolittle once called the museum to wish him a happy birthday.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

Anyone out there have any better photos or renderings of these early B-17's? And what am I seeing of those two 50 cal's sticking up? Are they a "field mod"? Can't tell from the angle. I'm thinking two shades of green camo for the scheme.


Edit: it now seems this two color scheme would be that of RAF origin?

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Impeach, Remove, Convict, Imprison!!...

[quote="Mark Allen M"]Anyone out there have any better photos or renderings of these early B-17's? And what am I seeing of those two 50 cal's sticking up? Are they a "field mod"? Can't tell from the angle. I'm thinking two shades of green camo for the scheme.


Edit: it now seems this two color scheme would be that of RAF origin?[/quote

The two .50s are radio room guns, the same installation as on the B-17D. Aparently these were fiited in Australia. A single gun was originally fitted. There's pics floating around of the single gun installation on the Swamp Ghost. The Camo finish was applied while the A/C was in Hawaii and utilized paint on hand,applied in conjunction with the OD. Shades od geen brrown and tan were used. The tail stripes also were applied in Hawaii wich ws the case for all Navy, Marine and Army A/C, under a Navy directive. They were eventually painted out in Australia.

Duane