APG85 wrote:
JohnB wrote:
That doesn't make it correct.
Okay...say all the late model B-17s did have seat cushions with "Air Corps" on them.
WHY????
Because during war, people were slow to "update" things. I imagine it wasn't unusual to see old markings on "new equipment" that had been installed on a new plane. Still happens today. A unit changes its designation but the old designation is still found stenciled on equipment years later. Seat cushions could have been "New Old Stock" or come from a warehouse where they had been marked and sitting on a shelf awaiting installation...almost impossible to remove old marking from fabric...
And the stencil above the nose art is another good example of things not being updated in a timely manner. The G model had a ten man crew, but the stencils says crew weight 1200 pounds. We knew that didn't make sense before it was painted on, but that's what it they used, so that is what we used. There may have been a few guys who weighed 120 pounds, but its a safe bet that most guys on the crew weighed in above that. I have been told that the crew weight number came about when the early models only had a crew of six. That allowed 200 pounds for each guy on the crew and his equipment. It was never changed when they added extra gunners.