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B17 Propeller Dome Color


Hawkgrove

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I'm in the process of modeling the Damn Yankee, I was inspired when I saw the documentary Above and Beyond (2014).  I've found some photos of the aircraft on 384thbombgroup.com site.  Only black and white but I swear the propeller domes look white which seems unusual for all the photos I've searched on B17's.  For any of you experts, do they look white in the photo?  They certainly don't shine like natural metal.  Suggestions for color?spacer.png

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LATER in the war, the 545th Bomb Squadron used yellow on their cowls [other Bomb Squadrons of the 384th: 544 (dark blue), 546 (red), and 547 (white)], but the hubs certainly are brighter than the yellow prop tips.  I'd vote for white.

 

B-17F-25-BO "Damn Yankee" was 41-24557, "JD*O" of 545BS/384BG/8AF, lost 1.Dec. 1943 to enemy aircraft on the mission to Leverkusen, crashing at Snellengem, S. of Bruges.  Five crew were KIA, four P.O.W.s, pilot Bruce Sundlun managed to evade capture.

 

For those that might not realize the difference between a 'Yankee' (resident of New England, or, more broadly, the U.S. side of the American Civil War 1861-1865) and a 'Damn(ed) Yankee' -- the latter are the ones that settled in the southern states after the Civil War.  😉

 

GRM

 

"Ich bin kein 'Experte' nur Historiker."

 

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There was a painting done by Domenic DeNardo called 'The Assault on the Damn Yankee". It shows the Damn Yankee in red with white outline and there is an odd looking yellow duck to the rear and just below the windows.  But the spinner caps just look silver, based on your suggestions and the photo I'm going with white. 

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I haven't seen the painting, but a duck silhouette was used to indicate a 'decoy' mission, usually over the North Sea, flown to distract the Luftwaffe fighter controllers.  Early in the war, a variety of symbols were used to display the airframe's activity:  bombs might vary in color, to indicate if the aircraft was 'Lead' on a mission.  A Berlin mission usually had a 'B' applied to the bomb symbol.  Some of the 1.August 1943 Ploesti survivors used a horizontal bomb to indicate their low-level attack.

 

The fighters (P-38, P-47, P-51) also used a variety -  a top hat and cane for an 'escort' mission, a broom for a 'fighter sweep', an umbrella for 'top cover.'  While this sort of decoration made for an interesting photograph, it tended to be discontinued as the war progressed.  The B-24H "Witchcraft", with 130 missions flown, shows only bomb symbols.  "Ol' Gappy", a B-17G with 157 missions flown, the same -- bombs in groups of ten.

 

GRM

 

"Ich bin kein 'Experte' -- nur Historiker."

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