1:72 Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress

Fortresses that fought with altitude

Version E meant a turning point for the Flying Fortress. It was given the massive vertical tail surface that defined the type until the end of the war, and it was the first guise able to hold its own in combat. The two machines on this sheet, however, never flew over the front. They served the manufacturer's test establishment at the Muroc airfield in California, where from 1941 onward it was investigated what a long flight at high altitude does to a crew.

It was precisely from that that the nose inscription came, which both examples carried alike. It mocked the sickness caused by a rapid drop in pressure, with which bomber crews contended at high altitudes and against which protection was sought in the form of better breathing apparatus and heated clothing. The aircraft 41-2407 carried the sequence number thirteen on the fuselage, the aircraft 41-2399 the figure seven. Trials with them ran roughly until 1943, after which both were put aside on storage areas, one still in the closing stage of the war, the other only a year after its end.

For the builder that is an offering ordinary sheets do not make: early Fortresses without combat wear, with unusual numbers on the fuselage and with an inscription you would not find in a combat unit. The motifs are released with water and laid onto a gloss base. The numerals on the fuselage are large and twist easily during application, so it suits them to be held with a brush and only then to have the remaining water pressed out of them. A final overcoat of the whole surface hides the edges of the printing and evens the sheen out with the rest of the airframe, which is especially noticeable on machines in bare metal.