Aero Vintage Books

For the record, here's the Don Greer sideview from Ernie McDowell's FLYING FORTRESS The Boeing B-17 (Squadron/Signal, 1987).

Thanks Chris, and yes, looks like B-18 37-305 in the background. Squadron assignments chopped and changed around that time, but 37-305 was flown by 1/Lt Robert K. Freeman of the 4th Recon Squadron on a patrol mission on 11 January 1942.

The Pete Bowers photo I mentioned - from his Fortress in the Sky, published in 1976.

I knew you’d be pleased with that book, Scott. It’s a gem. I must stress that I have no evidence, photographic or otherwise, that 41-2616 was painted in the Temperate Land/Deep Sky scheme. However, it was right in the mix of B-17Es that did display that scheme. As you say, those were confusing month...

I still want to see the original documentation on this scheme with applicable paint chips. In the same vein, where’s the evidence to support the theory that 41-2616 was repainted in Hawaii? I’ve again looked at where that explanation was first offered, and it seems to be Ernie McDowell’s 1987 Squad...

No, according to Robert Stitt they were painted Temperate Land and Deep Sky "in anticipation of Fortresses being delivered to Bomber Command for the high-level bombing role". As we know, any plans to use them that way were abandoned.

I honestly don't know where Gene Salecker got that stuff from - he cites Martin Bowman and Ernie McDowell, so I presume their earlier books were his source. In his book, Ernie McDowell just ran with what we'd all been speculating about at the time. Trust me, the Guesstimator was running hot. Ernie e...

Well, we know of at least three B-17Es that were finished in the Temperate Land and Deep Sky scheme - 41-2615, 41-2622 and 41-9141. And, as we've made the case here, likely 41-2616. The only description from someone who actually saw the plane that I have comes from Col. LaVerne G. Saunders, commande...

Robert Stitt's research indicates that 41-2616 was one of the planes painted in RAF colors by Boeing in Seattle.

I think that model was never meant to be more than a fun project - the rudder stripes being the icing on the cake! But it does underline the problem that we have - just about everybody who has researched or written about 41-2616 never actually saw the plane, which arrived in Hawaii at the beginning ...

This is not the camouflage scheme used on 41-9234, which was Temperate Sea and Sky. The scheme used on 41-9141 (and I think was used on 41-2616, the fabled "Blue Goose"), is Temperate Land and Deep Sky. It certainly fits well with Saunders' description of Waskowitz's "big blue plane". By far the bes...

I’m pretty sure everyone here is familiar with the photo of 41-9141 that I mentioned in the previous post, but I’ll add it here for the sake of completeness. It’s a Boeing Company photo.

We’re all familiar with the tales about B-17E 41-2616, the “Blue Goose” from the 98th Bomb Squadron, 11th Bomb Group. They all seem to trace back to one original source - a 1942 interview with 11th Bomb Group commander Col. LaVerne G. "Blondy" Saunders. Saunders was describing a Tulagi mission which...

Years ago, a 5th Bomb Group veteran named Leon Rockwell shared extracts from his diary with me. There was a particularly interesting entry on 29 September 1943 . . . Lt Steer went up for a short flight in a B-17 with 4 passengers – he had to make a water landing 20 miles from the base – 4 men were i...

That’s the rear end of Galloping Gus , and that photo shows the aftermath of this accident. http://img-cdn.filefactory.com/embed/xl/tfdrv0fvg7i.jpg I’m unsure about exact details, but the forward section of 41-9215, wingless, was consigned to the Espiritu Santo boneyard. A plane carrying the radio c...