Project S68 – The Manned Turret B-29 Superfortress

Project S68 was an effort to evaluate the operation of manned turrets on the Boeing B-29 Superfortress in the event of difficulties with the General Electric remote turret system.

A single airframe, B-29-25-BW serial number 42-2441, was modified in October 1944. Nose armament was a unique pair of Emerson Model 136 barbettes, each mounting a single .50 caliber gun.

Upper remote turrets were replaced with Martin manned turrets, while the lowers were fitted with a Sperry Model A-2 ball turret forward and a semi-retractable A-13 aft.

The sighting blisters on the fuselage sides were replaced with single .50 caliber guns on flexible mounts, similar to other USAAF heavy bombers. Tail armament remained unchanged.

The General Electric remote system proved to be excellent in operational service and there was no need for the manned turret installation to proceed beyond the evaluation phase. Still, this is an interesting variation and the model would make for a unique conversion project.

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 301st Bomb Group Color Photographs

A series of beautiful color shots of B-17s of the 301^st Bomb Group taken by famed photographer Robert Capa. These were taken at RAF Westover, many of these aircraft arrived in England in August 1942.

A peaceful scene as cows graze near B-17F-1-BO serial 41-24359 “Turd Burd” was assigned to the 325th BS. The aircraft survived the war, fate of the cows is unknown.

Nose of B-17F-1-BO serial 41-24361 “Wabash Cannon Ball”, a common name for aircraft due to a song popular at the time. Assigned to the 348th BS, survived the war. Note the canvas cover over the Norton bomb sight and .30 caliber nose gun.

Crew gathers under the nose of B-17F-1-BO serial 41-24363 “Bad Penny” of the 32nd BS. She went Missing in Action 28NOV42 over Bizerte, Tunisia.

Another photo of “Bad Penny” undergoing maintenance.

A fine view of B-17F-1-BO serial 41-24366 “The Puffin’ Hussy II”. She crash landed on 19AUG44 and was salvaged.

Additional photos of “The Puffin’ Hussy II”.

B-17F-5-BO serial 41-24407 “The Goon”, which was another common aircraft name. She was assigned to the 346th BS and survived the war.

B-17F-5-BO serial 41-24422 “Dickie Doodle II” of the 352nd BS. She survived the war.

An unidentified Fortress on the taxiway.

More B-17 color photographs here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2019/05/29/color-b-17g-flying-fortress-nose-art-of-the-490-bomb-group/

Bell P-39 Airacobra Walk Around Part V

Photographed by Don Gilman at Lewis Air Legends

Part I here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2020/08/23/bell-p-39q-airacobra-walk-around/

Bell P-39 Airacobra Walk Around Part IV

Photographed by Don Gilman at Lewis Air Legends

Part V here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2024/02/26/bell-p-39-airacobra-walk-around-part-v/

Boeing B-38 Conversion Build in 1/72 Scale Part IV

Painting began with the Neutral Gray undersides. The panel lines were pre-shaded with Neutral Gray straight out of the bottle, then lighter mixes were built up in the centers. I usually wash the panel lines but they are pretty prominent as is so I won’t bother on this build. This view shows the various intakes cut into the underside of the wings as well as the gondola added under the nose for the bombardier.

Here is the pre-shading on the uppersurfaces before the main color was laid down. This takes awhile but yields a nice effect. Masking was done with poster putty along the OD/NG color separation and Tamiya Tape at the panels. I painted the fuel fill accesses red and masked them off with circles punched out of masking tape.

Fifty shades of Olive Drab. There were many variations of Olive Drab and they all seemed to fade. The outer wing panels and vertical tail assemblies were provided to the assembly lines as pre-painted subassemblies and photographs show these retained their colors much differently than the main bodies of Fortresses, which often faded to a light brown or tan shade. The fabric -covered control surfaces also faded to a pale green or almost a light gray, and I have picked up “replacement” panels in other OD shades. The deicer boots didn’t hold up well, and some aircraft received fresh OD paint to cover the exposed Aluminum when they were removed.

Decals are all from the spares folders, much of this set is from an Airfix B-17G boxing. The fuselage codes are colored Neutral Grey which would have been fine if I didn’t fade the Olive Drab so much, but there was little contrast with the lighter shade once they were on. I tried to think what the ground crew might do when that happened to an operational aircraft, and decided they might re-paint the codes in black. Here is the beginning of that process with black decal strips.

The nose art pin-up and name are also spares. I hadn’t thought about it much when modifying the model, but the Allison engines make it a little more difficult to see the nose art. Maybe the difficulty in seeing the nose art is why the XB-38 was never ordered into production!

The ball turret is from the Academy kit, but the rest are from Eduard Liberator Overtrees. They were re-gunned with Master barrels. The turrets were the major changes inherited from Major Reed’s Dreamboat project, if they had been incorporated into a production design they would have vastly improved the fields of fire from the nose, radio, and tail positions and eliminated the waist guns. Density of fire would be increased while reducing the crew requirements by two men!

The superchargers were airbrushed with two shades of brown, then shot with Alclad Burnt Iron and washed with black. Raised areas were highlighted by (gasp!) drybrushing a light tan. I brushed on a thin brown wash for streaking effects and then misted on a very thin mixture of black and brown for exhaust staining. Lastly, the flat coat has a few drops of tan mixed in.

Here is the finished B-38 whiffer, it is either the best B-38 you’ll see today or the worst, depending on your opinions on modeling airplanes that never existed. I’m not sure what it would be called, I have been thinking of it as the “Frankenfortress” but chances are slim that would be the name the USAAF would have chosen. Everything you see here actually flew in some form on a Flying Fortress but not all on the same airframe, I have tried to represent what an operational aircraft might look like if the various modifications had actually gone into production and became operational. Markings are from the 305th Bomb Group, 364th Bomb Squadron, assuming the B-38 had been issued to them instead of the B-17.

More finished model photos here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2024/02/13/boeing-b-38-whiffer-in-1-72-scale/

North American B-25 Mitchell Color Photographs Part X

A beautiful photo of B-25H-10-NA, fresh off the production lines with no unit markings. The B-25H model was designed as a strafer, with a 75mm cannon and eight .50 caliber machine guns mounted in the nose.

Another new B-25H off the California coast. The B-25G was also a cannon-armed gunship, the easiest way to differentiate between the two is the B-25G carried the dorsal turret further back and did not have the raised streamlined glazing for the tail gunner. (LIFE)

A posed photo showing the re-arming of a B-25H. .50 caliber rounds are being transferred into the ammo boxes for the nose-mounted guns in the foreground while 75mm rounds are being passed up through the crew access door in front of the bomb bay.

A B-25A in flight sometime during 1941. There were 40 B-25As built but none were deployed overseas. The dorsal turret would eventually make an appearance with the B-25B, although early B-models initially came off the line without the planned turrets installed.

B-25B 40-2297 was flown from the USS Hornet (CV-8) on 18APR24 as ship #14 on the Doolittle Raid by Major John Hilger.

Another view of 40-2297. Major Hilger’s crew hit their targets in Nagoya Japan and bailed out over Shangrao China after running out of fuel. The crew successfully evaded the Japanese with the help of Chinese guerillas and returned to the U.S. Hilger eventually retired from the USAF as a Brigadier General.

In 1958 F-10 (photo recon B-25D) serial 43-3374 was taken out of storage and modified to represent B-25B serial 40-2344 which was Doolittle Raider #1, piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle. One inaccuracy is it retains the individual exhaust ports of the B-25D series. The modified aircraft was flown to the Doolittle Raiders’ annual reunion, where it was flown by several of the surviving Raiders. From there it was flown to the NMUSAF, where it remains on display today. Rather than correct the engine exhaust ports, the Museum has chosen to exhibit the aircraft with canvas engine covers to hide the exhausts. Credit to James Welch for spotting the discrepancy.

A fine study of B-25C 41-12823 over California in October 1942. 1,200 were produced.

870 Mitchells were produced for the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease. This is B-25J-30-NC serial 44-31162 in factory-applied Soviet camouflage and markings. A very attractive scheme!

Another view of 44-31162 from above. Note that the red stars have been placed in the American marking convention instead of the Soviet style.

B-25 color photographs Part I here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2022/09/28/north-american-b-25-mitchell-color-photographs-part-i-production/

Boeing B-38 Conversion Build in 1/72 Scale Part II

With the wings done work began on the fuselage. Depending on the particular aircraft the kit manufacturer is representing there is often need to adjust the window configuration on the nose of a B-17 model. My model will not need the cheek gun positions. The large opening is filled with layers of sheet styrene and a generous application of superglue. This is then filed and sanded smooth. The new window is made from a section of CD case and treated in the same manner. It looks like a dog’s dinner now but is not a problem to polish out.

I kept the cockpit details to a minimum, experience has shown me that the most prominent interior details visible on a Fortress model are the pilots’ seats and the bomb sight. The seatbelts here are from Kits World. The cockpits were covered in acoustical batting and should be painted Interior Green, the other compartments were left in Natural Aluminum, period photos show this is accurate despite what you might see on restored Warbirds. The radio compartment could be insulated but was usually bare Aluminum as well.

I glued in plastic tabs to keep the bomb bay doors from pressing into the fuselage. The more models I build the more I find I am emphasizing solid, robust construction and this is one little trick which can prevent a lot of problems later.

Here is the fuselage all closed up. I have made adjustments to the nose compartment and also filled in the waist gunner’s position on the port side. On the Academy kits there are two waist positions on the starboard side represented as depressions on the interior. This allows the modeler to cut out the appropriate opening for the standard opposed or late-production staggered gun positions. On my build neither opening will be needed.

Combat experience against the Luftwaffe over Europe identified several potential improvements to the B-17 Flying Fortress. The job of evaluating those changes was given to Major Robert J. Reed. Reed was sent to Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio and given B-17E 41-9112 to experiment on, which he named “The Dreamboat”. Reed replaced much of the B-17E defensive armament with components already in production for the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. The most obvious changes were mounting powered turrets in the nose and tail positions. This is the inspiration for my B-38 fuselage.

The single gun in the radio compartment and both waist positions were replaced by a second dorsal turret in Major Reed’s Dreamboat. The YB-40 escort gunships also used a similar modification. Here I have roughed in the gun turret opening with plastic card. Notice that the card is proud of the opening. All the gaps will be filled with superglue and sanded smooth. I have also added a new window above the ball turret position from CD case plastic to provide natural light into the fuselage above the ball turret. Once you gain confidence with this kind of technique you become much less concerned about making a fatal mistake because you know you can fix it.

Here is the radio operator’s turret filled, filed, and sanded. Compared to a standard B-17, this modification improved the firing arcs and defensive firepower. It also shifted the center of gravity forward which helped as the Fortress had become tail-heavy from the E-series on. Last and most important, it reduced the crew requirements from ten men to eight by eliminating the waist gunners, fewer men to risk.

The tail position was built up to accept the larger Emmerson gun turret. This was bulky but provided a huge improvement to the firing arcs. The lower component is spare H2X “Mickey” radar dome from the Airfix Fortress, the rest is built up from plastic card. I have cut off the rudder in order to better represent the hinges, but it is also helpful to have it out of the way as the fuselage is re-shaped.

With another Emmerson gun turret in the nose the bombardier was provided with a gondola under the fuselage to aim the bombs. I cut out the bottom of the nose and fitted a gondola fabricated from a Ju 88 gun pack and plastic card. The transparency will be made from more CD case plastic.

Here is the fuselage with the major modifications in place. I’ve got the main components of the Dreamboat modifications fabricated, and the whiffer nature of the build allows for additional changes which might have made sense if the B-38 had ever gone into production. It’s fun to have a little artistic license on a build once in awhile!

Part III here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2024/02/02/boeing-b-38-conversion-build-in-1-72-scale-part-iii/

The Wild Blue Audio Book Review

The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany

Written by Stephen E. Ambrose, Narrated by Jeffrey DeMunn

Audiobook, 8 hours and 45 minutes

Published by Simon & Schuster, April 2011

Language: English

ASIN: B004X712PS

Most books about the U.S. heavy bomber offensive in WWII focus on the 8^th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress Groups operating from England. This at least partially reflects a reporting bias. The first American strategic bombing missions over occupied Europe were flown by B-17s out of England, and if you were a reporter you went where the story was. This established England as the place to get the story, and spending off duty hours there was preferable to almost any other location where the war could be covered. This reporting bias persists in histories to this day, but there were other bombers and other theaters. Compared to the B-17, the B-24 Liberator could carry a greater bomb load over a longer distance, and was produced in twice the numbers. Many Liberator Groups operated out of Italian bases, a “forgotten theater” with a struggling local economy.

The Wild Blue tells the story of one of the B-24 pilots flying bombing missions from Italy, a Lt. George McGovern. McGovern is better known as a U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate from 1972, although his campaign did not emphasize his wartime service. McGovern flew 35 missions with the 741^st Bomb Squadron / 455^th Bomb Group, and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. The book follows McGovern’s wartime career in the USAAF, from enlistment, training, combat, and final discharge.

Stephen Ambrose needs no introduction to readers of military history, and this work is everything one would expect from an author of his caliber. It is easy to overlook the accomplishments of the B-24, and this book is a reminder that the 15^th Air Force also contributed heavily to the strategic bombing offensive against Germany. This is a good read, recommended to anyone interested in aviation history.