Rodders154 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 I am doing a liberator for the daughter of the pilot of this aircraft who is sending me information about her dad and the actual aircraft. I was wondering if anybody has come accross the aircraft decals for teddy bear for the 1/48 scale Monogram kit The aircraft crashed in 1944 killing all on board after returning from an anti sub mission over the atlantic at Porlock weir somerset (just below porlock hill). Details I have are The words, REDDY TEDDY are red and outlined in black The bear is brown and tan. His hat and coat are black. His bowtie is red. His hatband looks like it is medium blue with a white highlight. His cane is black with a brown head. His gloves, collar, cuffs and spats are white. His eyes, claws and nose are black. His tongue is red I dont know what shades the colours are??? If there are no decals available then I would pay for someone to do a drawing that would be the right size for me to print out on inkjet paper eg saved as a word doc so all I have to do is print on an A4 sheet. This is the man who piloted the Liberator that crashed. William Jonreau Williams II I need to have ot finished by remembrance day 2015 as the daughter is coming from the states to Dunster to the service and I am not sure if it is going home with her or staying at the school Many thanks in advance Rodders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Would this Liberator have been based at Dunkeswell? They may have some details on colours if it was , they have a nice little museum 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders154 Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 More info recieved today Reddy Teddy number: 23721, colour of body and wings "drab" no yellow bombs painted on this aircraft. Base: Holmsley South, which Mary says is in Cornwall. Rodders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawk Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Base: Holmsley South, which Mary says is in Cornwall. Not quite: Holmsley South is in Hampshire, 5 mi NE of Christchurch on the A35 (grid ref SZ 215988). According to Chris Ashworth's Action Stations 5, its only association with Liberators was between 25 October 1942 and sometime before March 1943 [edit:when it was home to the B-24Ds of 330 Sq of 93 Bomber Wing, VIII AF, seconded for anti-submarine work with 19 Group, RAF during Operation TORCH, the North African landings. Apart from a month or so's use by the Marauders of 394 Bomb Group of IX AF for a month or so in July-August 1944, it spent the rest of its time in RAF hands. Looks as if either the date of the crash or the base is wrong. The serial lacks the year prefix. However 41-23721 was a B-24D-1-CO. From US Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909 I can't see other candidates in Liberator allocations in subsebsequent years. 41-23721 would have been a very early B-24D, which fits with the Olive Drab colour description and the date of the deployment to Holmsley South. On the other hand it does not tally with the stated crash date. Moreover the photo of "Reddy Teddy" appears to show a highly polished natural metal Liberator with an anti-dazzle panel on the fuselage top, although this could conceivably have been taken prior to the adoption of camouflage (a B-24D-1-CO is a VERY early B-24). From The Mighty Eighth by Roger Freeman (p.33), describing 93 BG's time covering the TORCH landings, "While no loss was sustained through enemy action, one B-24 on a routine flight crashed at Porlock Bay, Somerset, on October 30th (1942), killing the crew." So, there seems a documentary trail suggesting that a 93BG Liberator crashed at Porlock Bay on 30 October 1942. It is plausible (but no positive evidence) that a B-24D-1-CO Liberator with the serial provided (41-)23721 was serving with that unit at that time. However I would have thought that, if a memorial service is planned, local knowledge would have been fairly clear on whether the crash occurred in 1942 or 1944! Unless a 2nd one crashed in 1944, in which case the USAAF might be excused for giving the place a wide berth! Hope these ramblings are of more help than hindrance. By the way there are no photos of 330 BS B-24s of that early period in any of the collected oeuvres of Roger Freeman on the Eighth Air Force. I have a photo of another early B-24D, 41-23788, which might be a useful guide for standard colours and markings, serial positions and size, etc: drop me a PM with your e-mail address and I'll send you a scan. Regards. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawk Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Moreover the photo of "Reddy Teddy" appears to show a highly polished natural metal Liberator with an anti-dazzle panel on the fuselage top, although this could conceivably have been taken prior to the adoption of camouflage (a B-24D-1-CO is a VERY early B-24). Trouble with that is that from Detail & Scale 64 it appears that the transition to OD/NG camouflage had already occurred before B-24D production began. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellzy Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 In Schiffer`s Battle Colors it has the 93rd as antisubmarine unit with a circle B on the tail , know as the Traveling Circus had time deployed with the Twelfth and Ninth in North Africa and came back to the UK in February 1943 Les 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders154 Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 I havce had this passed to me I had the date wrong it was 1942 This is from the daughter of the pilot INFORMATION on the B-24D Liberator Bomber that Crashed Near Porlock on October 29, 1942 The pilot was Captain William Jonreau Williams, II, who was my father. He was a member of the 93rd Group, 330th Squadron, US Army Air Corps. The planes were new, so there wasn’t much wear & tear on them. The men got their planes in New Hampshire USA in August 1942, and they flew them across the Atlantic, landing in Greenock, Scotland first on September 4, 1942. The 93rd were stationed at Alconbury, England from September 8th through mid-December 1942. The 93rd’s first mission was on October 8, 1942, but the REDDY TEDDY did not fly that one. The Group commander only flew out half his strength at a time. The Group’s second mission was against the Nazi sub-pens at Lorient, France on October 21, 1942. Bad weather caused this mission to abort mid-way there. Bad weather had kept down the frequency of the missions. My records show that the REDDY TEDDY did not fly this mission. My father flew the EL LOBO. In mid-October 1942, two squadrons of the 93rd Group were sent to the RAF base at Holmsley South in Cornwall.(we know its in Hampshire) The two squadrons were the 330th & the 409th. Their mission was daily anti-submarine patrols over the Atlantic from Northern Ireland to Algeria. This was to deter German subs from attacking supply ships for England as well as keeping the sea lanes clear for “Operation TORCH” – the Allied invasion of Italy in the spring of 1943. The patrols were nine to ten hour flights along the sea lanes and coasts. On October 29, 1942, my father and his crew were returning from one of these patrols. They were returning early after only six hours in the air due to very bad weather. Returning to Holmsley base, they got lost in the fog and mist. According to the official report, “While at low altitude, in an effort to avoid a hill which suddenly appeared in its flight path, the air craft was stalled and crashed to the ground.” Apparently the tail section broke off which saved the life of the tail gunner. The other eleven men were killed on impact. This has been, and still is, some confusion as to the name and number of the plane that my father actually was flying. His assigned plane was AMBROSE, #41-23712, but on October 29th, this plane was under repair, so my father and his crew, plus two observers, were assigned to the REDDY TEDDY, serial number #41-23721. Please note that the last two numbers are reversed from each other. Hence the confusion. The official reports apparently relied on the assigned number of the plane, as the actual bomber was probably so badly damaged they couldn’t tell what number it was exactly. A member of the ground crew, MSgt. Perry W. Scott recalled that there had been a last minute switch between the AMBROSE and the REDDY TEDDY. Also, the Group Chaplain James Burris kept a personal log of the men and the planes of the 93rd Bomb Group, and he indicated that the plane that was lost was the REDDY TEDDY. Finally, among my father’s effects that were returned to my mother, was a set of keys with the key ring that has the numerals “41-23721” on it -- the REDDY TEDDY. Based on all this information, I suggest that the modeler use the numerals 23721 on his plane model, and use the REDDY TEDDY as the plane’s name and nose art. Colors of nose art: since the only photo I have is in black and white, I am guessing the color scheme. The words REDDY TEDDY are in red with a black out line. The teddy bear is in two shades of brown with black nose and claws. His top hat is black with w white highlight streak. The hatband is probably blue. His formal coat is also black. His dress shirt, gloves, and spats are white. His bowtie is probably red. His cane is black with a brown head. The body and wings of the Liberator were “drab” according to a book I have on the 93rd Bomb Group. There was the white star with a red ball in the center on a blue disc on the side of the bomber, next to the waist gunner’s hatches on both side of the plane. This was the US Army Air Corps insignia. The plane’s serial numerals were on the both tail fins, inside and out. In other words the numbers appear four times on the two fins. They were painted white or yellow usually. It was the custom that a yellow bomb was painted under the cockpit window to indicate how many missions the plane had flown. The REDDY TEDDY had not flown either the Oct. 8th or the Oct. 21st aborted mission. So there should be no yellow bombs on the plane. I am attaching a copy of the REDDY TEDDY’s nose art as well as a copy of a painting done of two sister planes of the REDDY TEDDY to give the modeler the correct colors and placement of names, artwork and numbers. I do hope all this information has been helpful. I look forward to seeing the model in November. Sincerely, Mary Williams Schaller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawk Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Roger Freeman's The Mighty Eighth has a photo (p.34) of a 93BG Liberator 41-23744 following a taxiing incident on 14 Dec 1942 in North Africa. In other words it is an aircraft just 23 aircraft further down the production line, serving with the same Bomb Group and recorded just 6 weeks after 21-23721 was lost in the Porlock crash. It's in clean plain Olive Drab/Neutral Gray camouflage with a straight and sharp demarcation. Medium Green splotches (sprayed demarcations) around the fin/rudder edge: your guess as good as mine as to whether they were also on the wings and horizontal tail. 65" fuselage insignia: white has been greyed out. NB no red centre spot (abolished 18 Aug 1942). Serial in yellow (8") on outside of fins: can't see either inside face. No other BG, BS or individual aircraft idenitication markings. In his Camouflage and Markings 17: Consolidated B-24 Liberator, Roger Freeman says(p 102) that aircraft of the 93BG's 329 Sq had insignia greyed out for "Moling" sorties (nuisance raids over Europe): maybe 41-23744 is from that squadron and 41-23721 would NOT have had them. Still worried about that photo of the nose art on a natural metal aircraft: maybe it was resurrected on a later aircraft or a preserved one? But in your shoes, I'd apply it, in the colours given, on the nose of the camouflaged aircraft. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders154 Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 Thank you chaps I have decided to go with the OD and grey.Thank you Seahawk and welzy for your help you guys are amazing Rodders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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