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US 487th Bomb Group B-24 Liberator


justin1985

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I’m new to this forum – I’m generally a rail modeller in N Gauge (1:148), but I’ve picked up one or two 1:144 aircraft kits over the last year or two, mainly out of nostalgia for building 1:72 kits as a kid, but in a more familiar scale. But now I have one particular project in mind …

 

My grandfather was a farmer in Suffolk, and in May 1944 a USAF B-24 Liberator based at nearby Lavenham crashed on his farm shortly after take-off. Although he never really discussed it with the family, he received a Commendation for his attempts to assist the crew. A local history society has written up the event pretty thoroughly here: http://www.foxearth.org.uk/ww2Crashes.html#kentwell

 

So, I’d love to be able to model this particular aircraft, so far as is possible in 1/144. As I’m new to aircraft modelling and research, I don’t really have much idea of how to work out details of colour schemes, details between sub-types, and especially names of WW2 aircraft? I’m perhaps naively assuming that all USAF WW2 bombers had names and nose art, and that I might be able to somehow reconstruct what this aircraft carried? Likewise, the code numbers on the tail etc., are they easy to work out?

 

The local history article identifies the crew, but not the particular plane. A bit of further research cross referencing the date identified it as 42-52743, a B24-H, of the 487th Bomb Group, 837 Squadron. http://www.487thbg.org/roster/487thAircraft.htm

 

I’ve dug around more online, and I’ve found a few images of other B24s of the same bomb group and squadron, but not the particular aircraft in question. They seem to be olive livery with grey undersides - did the bare metal schemes come later?

 

487th Bomb Group / 387th Squadron, 41-28837 “Trade Winds”:

https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/usa/aircrafts-2-3/b-24/b-24h-serial-41-28837-trade-winds/

 

487th Bomb Group / 387th Squadron, 41-28837 “Trade Winds” at Lavenham:

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/13632

 

487th Bomb Group / 387th Squadron, B-24H 42-52425 “The Tweachewous Wabbit” at Lavenham:

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/13633

 

Another page at the American Air Museum site about one of the crew members involved in the crash refers to a previous aircraft of his as well as 42-52743. The other aircraft is listed with a name, but this one doesn’t have a name. Is this likely to mean it wasn’t named? Or just that the person who wrote the entry didn’t have the information to hand? 

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/225276

 

In terms of building a 1/144 model, the kit I was able to find was a new-old stock Minicraft kit, ostensibly for a B24 J. Are there any changes I would have to make to model a B24 H?

I see that Kits-World have a decal sheet for some 486th bomb group Liberators. I imagine this might be the closest I can get, short of finding a clear image of the particular aircraft, and commissioning custom decals? https://www.kitsworld.co.uk/index.php?CATEGORY=8&SUB=8&THISPAGE=1&RADIOSORT=4&PICFILE=221&STKNR=221&STRH=3808&ORDN=2350&RNZ=580102

 

Many thanks for any help!

Justin

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Hello Justin

The aircraft in question was Ford build B-24 H. Willow Run built B-24 Hs had enlarged bombardier's transparencies, which has not been replicated on Minicraft kit. For me this would be a deal breaker, but I am an absolute purist as far as B-24 is concerned. A normal person would hardly notice a difference, especially in 1/144 scale.

I understand 42-52743 was part of the original deployment and as such she would be painted in Olive Drab and Neutral Gray. Wallace Forman does not mention this aircraft in his B-24 nose art name directory book, although that does not imply absence of the aircraft's name and the nose art. Also, apart from group markings (black P in white square) 487th BG aircraft had also been marked with individual letter in yellow on vertical tails, which had been repeated on fuselage in light gray. While 42-52743 may have been without the nose art, she certainly wore individual aircraft letter. Cheers

Jure

 

P.S.: This is a ˝generic˝ 837th BS B-24H look. Of course, individual aircraft letter (on vertical tail and forward of fuselage national markings) and nose art, if it existed at all, are missing.

7XgqBTT.jpg

Edited by Jure Miljevic
P.S. added
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What Jure has given you in 1/144 scale is probably as good as you will get. If you are back dating a J to an H, there are no windows in the lower nose just behind the bomb aimer's main glazing. The waist gun windows may also have been modified from a drop out panel as shown above.

Unfortunately the B-24 was modified both in production and in field to give a wide variation. There is a book called 'Consolidated Mess' that covers the miriad of variations. The title says it all.

The airframe would have been Olive Drab* over Neutral Grey. By the time NMF finishes appeared, all the B-24s were in Norfolk with the 2nd Air Division. The 1st and 3rd had all converted to B-17s.

I am not familiar with the Academy/Minicraft kit, but if you are modelling a 'wheels down' aircraft on the ground, the bomb doors were invariably left open. The kit may not offer this option. It should have external armour below the pilots and co pilot's windows, and they may be either flat or blown plexiglass

 

*Olive Drab is a moveable feast as it varied from dark green to brown depending on age, exposure to UV light at altitude, and the mix of paint at the factory or in the field. In essence they used what they had.

Here is a 1/48th scale B-24H I made earlier. You should be able to zoom in and see the modified waist gun windows. The open bomb doors are also evident. You will need 75 grams or so of ballast in the nose to keep it on it's wheels.

224aa487-d989-4fcd-bf2a-ed619f04650d.JPG

 

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Many thanks, both! 

 

Is there any way of working out the correct individual letter (yellow/grey), if P is the group letter (black on white)? 

 

I've not decided whether to put it on its wheels or posed in flight on some kind of stand. I've been planning on doing the latter with the 1/144 fighters I've bought so far, but the Lib might take up a bit too much space for that. Storage/display space is a big concern for me - I remember having 1/72 bombers as a kid and they seemed pretty damn big - that 1/48 scale Liberator must be pretty difficult to store/display, no? 

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Having a quick rummage through Mighty Eighth Warpaint and Heraldry. 487th BG:

Quote

'B-24 H/J Liberators April-July 1944. Original aircraft in Dark Olive Drab and Neutral Gray factory finish. White Square P group markings, applied to fins, were 48 inch square with 36 inch high blue letter. The wing device, in the same colours was mostly 72 inch in the span and 57 inch with the chord.

A 24 inch high yellow individual aircraft call-letter (in this particular case 'M')* was painted under the tail number. Each squadron used letters from A in alphabetical order, excluding I.

The call letter was also carried on the fuselage 48 inch high in light grey forward of the national insignia on both sides of the fuselage. Squadron codes were painted on the rear fuselage, also 48 inch high and in light grey. These were 2G for the 836th BS, 4F for the 837th, 2C for the 838th, and R5 for the 839th.

A number of NMF B-24s were assigned to the group from early May 1944, and on these the squadron codes and call-letters were in black, with the Square P white on black' unquote.

 

There you have it from Roger Freeman himself.

 

So your aircraft is M * 4F portside and 4F * M starboard in light grey, plus the repeated 'M' in yellow on the tails

 

Yes the 1/48 model does take up some space. It lives in an underbed storage box with a B-26 and a P-51. I have nowhere to display it except when it goes to shows.

 

Something else I just noticed, looking at the photo of 'Trade Winds'. The wing leading edges have an NMF anti icing strip, (a yellow paste was smeared over the NMF panel) whereas later aircraft (NMF) and others were black rubber boots. These were both original deployment airframes, so the likelyhood is they both had NMF (yellow) leading edges.

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Hello Justin

Unfortunately it is not possible to deduct individual aircraft letter from BG or BS markings. One may try to find a photo of the actual aircraft and there is surprisingly high number of 487th BG aircraft photos on Bestweb. Just type 487 into their search engine. Bestweb is focused on B-24 names and nose art, but occasionally other aircraft can be seen in a background. Admittedly, chances for spotting 42-52743 are rather slim. Otherwise, you may try to contact 487th BG veteran association, if there is one, perhaps they can help you. Cheers

Jure

 

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Do you have more details of the crash? Was it a burned-out wreck or was it in one piece? If it was reasonably whole, maybe you could try:

www.AviationArchaeology.com they can search the USAAF Accident Report File for you. It will cost, but If you are very lucky, you might get in return a download including a photocopy of a photo with enough detail to infer markings. Then again, some of my requests have revealed nothing more than a crude location map, and sometimes not even that. It all depends if photographs taken at the time made it into the file. You'll never know without trying but it is probably the only avenue available to gain more info after this length of time.

I have found that any attempts by witnesses to aid crews etc. do tend to get recorded though. To me, this kind of historical information is beyond price: I just need to know. £20-30 for a few typewritten pages is still less than a visit to Maxwell Air Force Base.

Good luck,

Milan

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  • 1 month later...

Many thanks for all of the input on this - really appreciated. I'll see how close I can get to M * 4F using commercial decals, and definitely paint in olive drab. I have the kit now, but haven't had the chance to make a start.

 

Sorry for having left it so long to thank you all. 

 

Justin

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Here is a thread with a good basic difference between the Consolidated Company B-24J nose and the Ford Motor company B-24H nose. You'd have to modify the lower bombardier to the slanting version. The Ford nose had a small lip below the nose turret. Just add a very thin plastic card to the fuselage and sand it to shape. That means you'd have to slightly widen the new scratch built slanted bombardier's window compared with the kit window. Or you may chose to paint over the kit window black and live with everything else. 

https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/forum/new-b-24h-with-ford-nose-as-on-most-uk-based-b-24s-in-ww2/?p=1

 

Your kit is the old Crown 1/144 B-24J kit. You'd be shocked at how cheap it was in Japan in the 80s. 

Here is a lit build with the clear parts painted over. The ball turret for the kit should be a sphere rather than the provided dome. You can model the ball turret either raised so that it is almost flush with the lower fuselage or lowered which should look like a lowered ball.

This build has it lowered. 

http://modelismo.wehrmacht-info.com/consolidated-b24-j-liberator-1144-academy-modelismo/?lang=en

B-24 with raised or retracted turret. 

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/1361

 

Grant

 

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