Day: June 5, 2019

Color Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress Nose Art of the 490 Bomb Group Part 2

More color photographs of Boeing B-17G nose art from the 490th Bomb Group (Heavy).  The artist was Master Sergeant Jay D. Cowan and the photographer was Captain Arnold Delmonico, both of the 490th Bomb Group.  The photographs are preserved as part of the Roger Freeman Collection, Imperial War Museum.

BobbySox
B-17G Flying Fortress serial number 44-8158 “Bobby Sox”
BuggsBunny
B-17G Flying Fortress nicknamed “Buggs Bunny”, serial number unknown.
CarolinaMoon
An impressive scoreboard on B-17G Flying Fortress serial number 43-37907 nicknamed “Carolina Moon”.
Joyce
“Joyce”, 75 Ops. Dispersal beside fuel dump.  Serial number unknown.
LoveEmAll
B-17G Flying Fortress serial number 44-8698 “Love ‘Em All” on take off.
BadPenney
Not a 490 BG Fortress but another Arnold Delmonico photograph.  B-17F Flying Fortress serial number 42-6097 “THE BAD PENNEY ALWAYS COMESBACK” of the 96th Bomb Group.  Side letters are QJ – O.  Spellcheck hates this one.
Taxi
490 BG Fortresses taxiing at Eye.  Note the reg group ID stripes on the wings and tip of the vertical tail, the horizontal tail surfaces were also striped.  Some decal manufacturers miss these details.
Formation
490 Bomb Group combat box leaving contrails at altitude.  Contrails rendered camouflage attempts moot.
DonutDolly
A “Doughnut Dolly” serving coffee by the bucket.  Living conditions in England were certainly better than the Pacific.
zotz_32059 B-17G decals (S)
The 490 BG is well represented by the decal manufactures in all the major scales.  This is a shot of the offering by Zotz, available in 1/32 and 1/72 scales.  Other sheets are produced by Scale Master, MicroScale, Kits World, and Monokio.  “£5 With Breakfast” and “Carolina Moon” are particularly popular subjects.

B-17E color photos here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2020/12/02/b-17e-color-photographs-part-i/