1:72 Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress

Flying Fortresses of the Eighth Air Force with names of their own

Daylight bombing raids over Germany cost the Eighth Air Force thousands of crews and the Boeing B-17G was their main instrument. Against the F version it received a chin turret under the nose, which filled the most vulnerable place in the defense of a tight combat formation.

This sheet brings two machines. The first, serial number 43-38728, flew with the 851st Squadron of the 490th Bombardment Group and its nose lettering joked about a five pound breakfast; on the fuselage it carried the code letter U. The group operated from Suffolk in eastern England and moved to the Fortress in the second half of the war.

The second aircraft, named Naughty Nancy with the number 43-39116, belonged to the 423rd Squadron of the 306th Bombardment Group, that is a unit based at Thurleigh in Bedfordshire. Its machines carried the pair of letters RD and the individual marking T beside the fuselage roundels. The raid on Wilhelmshaven in the spring of 1943 was among the hardest tests for this very group.

The markings are printed as a waterslide decal. A lukewarm bath releases the backing within a moment, the motif is moved onto the surface and adjusted with a brush. With Fortresses it pays to use a decal softener, because the surface of the fuselage and wing is densely covered with rows of rivets and sheet metal joints; without it a decal bridges these irregularities and starts to come away.

What is supplied is the sheet of markings on its own. The package holds no kit, thinners or degreaser, because every modeler chooses a combination of his own.