42-50861

[jankees]

42-50861 was a B-24J that was assigned to the 577th BS/ 392nd BG, based in Wendling. On 29 december 1944, it was part of a attack on Neuwied, near Koblenz, to destroy a bridge over the Rhine. On the way back, the 392nd overflew the Ardennes, where the Battle of the Bulge was raging. DC-S+, on its 16th mission, was hit by flak near St. Vith and realising they were not going to make it, pilot Lt Denver Walker ordered the crew to bail out. The copilot, Lt Dominic Nunziato was severely wounded on his legs, and stayed with the pilot. At 14.30, the aircraft crashed near Boterdael in Belgium, with both pilots surviving. Of the rest of the crew, two members were not so lucky. The parachutes of navigator Lt Cletus Bedore, and gunner Sgt Thomas Bradford failed to open, and both men were killed. The rest of the crew landed safely, and all made it back to Wendling.
A plaque commemorating the crash and the death of both crew members was placed in the square of Boterdael on 10 may 2003. For more information on this, please visit this site: http://users.telenet.be/herdenking_b24/.
I was not able to unearth any pictures of the aircraft in question, but based my repaint on pictures from the same period of other aircraft of the 577th BS, so this is what 42-50861 probably looked like. Should anybody know of pictures of this aircraft, please tell me so.

[jankees]

no takers? How about this one then?

[jankees]

Fed up with B-24's are you? OK, I'll stop bugging you with them.
How about a Swedish J-30 then? I know, it should be a Mk.XIX, but I don't have that one. Besides, that blunt nose is really ugly I think.

[IanP]

I know better than to bug you about doing one of the Halesworth B-24s for me... Reason being that this time I *REALLY* have no pictures of any of them to work with. Technically that's not true - there's one on Wonkypedia, but it doesn't show enough to do a repaint off. ;)

Ian P.

[Henry]

Fed up with B-24's are you? OK, I'll stop bugging you with them.
How about a Swedish J-30 then? I know, it should be a Mk.XIX, but I don't have that one. Besides, that blunt nose is really ugly I think.
Ugly?
Nah :banghead:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b327/henrybaker/Screen104.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b327/henrybaker/Screen100.jpg

Whos mossie is the J30 paint for?
H:ernae:

[jankees]

I know better than to bug you about doing one of the Halesworth B-24s for me... Reason being that this time I *REALLY* have no pictures of any of them to work with. Technically that's not true - there's one on Wonkypedia, but it doesn't show enough to do a repaint off. ;)

Ian P.

Well, I have a few, "Sharon D" shouldn't be too difficult...

the mossie is from just flight

[Henry]

the mossie is from just flight
that means maybe some more paints pretty please :ernae:
H

[jankees]

that means maybe some more paints pretty please :ernae:
H

I know you'd like that, but the lack of a proper layered paintkit is not helping, Henry.
This is just the normal paintjob with Swedish roundels replacing British ones, and a few more odds and ends. I came across a pic of a Swedish mossie and just couldn't resist, but it will be a one-off I'm afraid...
You may even apply it to the Mk XIX which you seem to have. I have no idea if the textures will fit though?
You may gve it try yourself, here are a few possibilities:
http://www.cbrnp.com/profiles/quarter2/mosquitos.htm

[Henry]

actually the mk xxx in the above is
one of my cheat paints :redf:
it does come in the Swiss colors
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b327/henrybaker/Screen--641.jpg

i have many schemes i would love
the paint kit is hard i know
and i cannot paint if my life depended on it:banghead:
cheers because you do some great repaints :applause:
i will just have to make do by myself
or get Baz to do a layered paint kit
H

[gera]

Those birds sure look pretty.....
Question:.....I guess you all fly them from base to base as "freighters" or similar since the Bomb dropping and straffing is a No No in FSX....?

Is that not boring?..........

I love them but having them and not being able to do their thing with them has kept me from down loading or buying any......:kilroy:

[Snuffy]

What B-24 is that? Did I miss one?

[Henry]

Those birds sure look pretty.....
Question:.....I guess you all fly them from base to base as "freighters" or similar since the Bomb dropping and straffing is a No No in FSX....?

Is that not boring?..........

I love them but having them and not being able to do their thing with them has kept me from down loading or buying any......:kilroy:
actually bombing is possible :d
H

[jankees]

actually the mk xxx in the above is
one of my cheat paints :redf:
it does come in the Swiss colors
i will just have to make do by myself
or get Baz to do a layered paint kit
H

It's Swedish, Henry, and I see you've got it already, saves me an upload. Mine is a 'cheat' paint too. The original was a Mk XIX though.


What B-24 is that? Did I miss one?

It's the Liberator by Alphasim, with layered paintkit and many more repaints to come.

[Henry]

It's Swedish, Henry, and I see you've got it already, saves me an upload. Mine is a 'cheat' paint too. The original was a Mk XIX though.




I meant Swedish :redf:
actually the mkVI paints work with the mk XXX
the body of the MK XIX is pretty close to the MK XXX
at least for me
H

[Nick C]

Great work on the repaints Jan, I still love the B-24 so if you're only posting them for me, I'm happy :wavey:

It's just a struggle keeping up with new threads now this forum seems to have a wealth of new occupants. I know I'm a party pooper, but I enjoyed it when we FSX users were the minority :costumes:

[jankees]

I know better than to bug you about doing one of the Halesworth B-24s for me... Reason being that this time I *REALLY* have no pictures of any of them to work with. Technically that's not true - there's one on Wonkypedia, but it doesn't show enough to do a repaint off. ;)

Ian P.

How's this then?

[glhorton]

Nick C

If I could be so bold as to tack on to this thread about Liberators, I will post a couple of screen shots of my upcoming B-24s yet to be uploaded. Jan Kees and I have been in contact for several months now as we continue to paint for the Alpha Sim B-24. With its faults, its still the best show currently in town and remains one of my all time favorites.

41-29368 "Tail Wind" from the 789th BG, 467th BG out of Rackheath, UK was lost on 11 July 1944 returning from a raid on Munich. Beat up by flak it got as far as Calais, France where a fighter caught them and finished them off. Pilot 1Lt James Underwood, Copilot 2Lt Thornton Gillett and Engineer SSgt Edward Zielinski died in the ensuing crash as they held the ship stable enough for the rest of the crew to bail out.

42-51572 was an un-named ship from the 790th BS, 467th BG which crashed on 29 Dec 1944 in a dense fog take-off attempt in support of allied ground troops during the Battle of the Bulge.

44-42214 "Queen of the Strip" 529th BS, 380th BG out of Mindoro, Philippines flew 8 missions prior to the end of WWII. It was the last work of master artist Sgt Ray Hafner of the 529th BS before hostilities were over. It survived the war and returned home to be smelted down at Kingman, AZ.

I will be posting these as soon as final details are completed.

My brother and I are the 380th Bomb Group's Historians and Honorary Life Members of this fine organization.

Gary Horton

[Nick C]

The more B-24' the merrier in my opinion Gary!

Ian, the good lady is going to love that repaint of Jans.

[IanP]

Ian, the good lady is going to love that repaint of Jans.

The Boss has been shown said repaint, laughed, and said "Very close!" - Just for the record, she's a Sharon E, or a Sharon P, these days. :d

Thank Jan Kees. I guess I now need to work out how much less fuel I need to carry to get out of Halesworth without dragging half the surrounding foliage with me. :redf:

Ian P.

[jankees]

The Boss has been shown said repaint, laughed, and said "Very close!" - Just for the record, she's a Sharon E, or a Sharon P, these days. :d

Thank Jan Kees. I guess I now need to work out how much less fuel I need to carry to get out of Halesworth without dragging half the surrounding foliage with me. :redf:

Ian P.

Glad you like it, Gary pointed out that, colorblind as I am, I painted the tail the wrong color, so here's the improved Sharon.

[IanP]

Thanks again. Like I said before, I have no usable photos at all, just a Squadron listing and dates, so I wouldn't have known about the paint. :redf:

I just had a look at what's left of Rackheath to give Gary's repaints a base, but there's not much left these days, just a couple of what might be runway lines and a small dispersal area. When I get back home, I'll take a look at the book and see whether there's enough to base a version on, but it'll be a lot of guesswork unless there are some more markers to position things using.

Ian P.

[glhorton]

Ian:

That would be great if you could come up with even a guess - timate of what Rackheath would look like. Some of the fields given in FS9 at those locations just aren't long enough any longer to get a heavy bomber off.

Do you have access to After The Battle's book "Airfields of the Eighth, Then and Now?" That might be a good starting point. If it would help, I could scan those pages and send them to you.

So where in the middle of the UK do you live? During Desert Storm, I was medical flight crew and we flew out of Upper Heyford and lived at RAF Croughton for three plus months.

Gary

[IanP]

I'm living in the West Midlands - my nearest airfield is the old RAF navigation school at Halfpenny Green in South Staffordshire, so the opposite side of the middle than your bases, unfortunately.

There's very little on the ground of Rackheath - it's mainly fields in Google Earth. If you search for Rackheath, the airfield is just to the right of where the name marker points. There's a Wonkypedia link in the middle of what's left, which points at this picture:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rackheathairfield_9july1946.jpg

Between that and the books I have, I'm hoping to be able to put something together. Can't say when, or whether it will be close to accurate, but I'll try.

My primary source is Ken Delve's "Military Airfields of Britain" series, which I am slowly collecting - particularly the East Anglia one in this instance: http://www.amazon.co.uk/East-Anglia-Norfolk-Military-Airfields/dp/1861267282/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225048658&sr=1-10

I'm not at home at the moment (returning there tomorrow), however for the life of me I can't get the Alpha B-24 out of Halesworth, which is accurate in terms of runway length. Did they actually use full fuel? If so, they absolutely had to use fully open throttles even on the longest runway if the Alpha flight model is close to realistic and that's got to limit engine life... I wouldn't want to try it with Accusim enabled!

Someone bump this thread tomorrow evening UK time, when I'll be back on my own internet connection, please? :d

Ian P.

[Henry]

i have this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Rackheath
never heard of it
born and raised a Norfolk Dumpling
H

[Henry]

But of course my home
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Downham_Market
LOL
H

[IanP]

Right. Home now.

I have runway lengths and headings for Rackheath in the East Anglia book. No layout map, but that one on Wikipedia should allow me to do that. I'll try it. If the fields haven't encroached too far into the old airfield boundary, it shouldn't be too hard.

Downham Market, unfortunately, is a different matter. There's one faint runway outline left, a couple of remaining bits of taxiway/dispersals but not a lot at all I can use. And there appears to be a farm strip in the middle of a field, that any add-on for would cause a clash with. I can give that one a go, but it won't be as easy to place... However, I now understand Henry's fascination with balsa wood aircraft:

571Sqn - 7-22 Apr 1944 - Mosquito
608Sqn - 1 Aug 1944 - 28 Aug 1945 - Mosquito

The majority of the time it looks like it was Sterlings, with 635Sqn's Lancs from 20 Mar 1944 to 1 Sep 1945 to provide some more Merlin noises.


So. Henry. You convince someone to do us true FSX Mossies, Lancs and Sterlings and I'll do you Downham Market! :d

Ian P.

[Henry]

Downham Market, unfortunately, is a different matter. There's one faint runway outline left, a couple of remaining bits of taxiway/dispersals but not a lot at all I can use. And there appears to be a farm strip in the middle of a field, that any add-on for would cause a clash with. I can give that one a go, but it won't be as easy to place... However, I now understand Henry's fascination with balsa wood aircraft:

571Sqn - 7-22 Apr 1944 - Mosquito
608Sqn - 1 Aug 1944 - 28 Aug 1945 - Mosquito

The majority of the time it looks like it was Sterlings, with 635Sqn's Lancs from 20 Mar 1944 to 1 Sep 1945 to provide some more Merlin noises.


So. Henry. You convince someone to do us true FSX Mossies, Lancs and Sterlings and I'll do you Downham Market! :d

Ian P.
im working on it! :d
i also have the complete plans for Downham
thanks to Gary 20 :applause:
he did one for FS9
but sadly it does not work well in fsx:banghead:
H

[IanP]

Not finished yet. Need to move the tower and sort out the asphalt taxiway, but getting there... Note how close Norwich International Airport is!

What might be of more interest is that just before I took the last shot, an AI Alphasim B-24D actually took off without running out of runway. That's what happens when the runway closest to north is the long (2000yd) one, not a short (1400yd) one like at Station 365.

Ian P.