1:48 B17G Flying Fortress

When a machine was named the same for the third time

The Roman numeral in a nickname was no decoration. It meant that the previous aircraft of the same name had not come back and the crew named the next in line. The marking Holy Terror III therefore tells the whole history of one unit in three words. Beside it the sheet also offers Queenie, Mount N Ride and a design referring to the historic boundary line between the north and the south of the United States, that is, the Mason and Dixon line.

The choice of names shows how varied crew culture was. Beside a joking pun stands a reference to a geographical boundary that made sense only to men from certain states, and beside them a plain female name. All four machines belonged to the B-17G type and flew in the formations of the Eighth Air Force. The printing is supplemented by small marks of combat activity. The units operated from grass and concrete airfields scattered across the counties of eastern England, from where they took off at dawn and came back in the afternoon.

What to watch out for

The designs are fairly large and some of them run across the vertical frame of the side window. In such a place it pays to let the drawing dry thoroughly once seated and only on the second day to press it into the recess with light pressure through a damp cloth. Anyone in a hurry risks a tear. If the machine is to have a faded finish, apply the design before the layer of weathered clear coat, so that the drawing does not look freshly stuck onto an aircraft with dozens of operations behind it. Patience pays off more here than any special preparation.