My uncle Glenn Walker was about 6-foot, 7-inches or thereabouts (he struck his head on the door lintel of our house on a furlough home and was almost knocked out )

How he got into a B-17 as bombardier/navigator, I have no idea.
Having also seen inside the tight spaces of a "Flying Fortress", it seems impossible.
But he survived the war without serious injury (except for the head bump)

A sad note, my wifes's Uncle, Capt.Jack Price was a combat veteran 17 pilot who was killed training a replacement co-pilot in 1944. His machine crashed into an olive grove in Italy.

I remember reading a book written by a guy who finished his first B-17 tour in early 44, and went home being given the job of training up replacement pilots. After one particularly hair raising flight, he quit that job and went back to Europe to complete a second tour. He figured that he would have more chance of surviving Germans shooting at him, than he would trying to train American pilots!

Pretty sure it was - "Combat Crew" by John Comer. Would love to get hold of it again.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Combat-Crew-Story-Missions-Europe/dp/0751507962

BTW great job on the skins - just getting them now.

Chompy.

Thanks Chompy. It means a lot to hear from you. I had a good base model to start with and an excellent tool in the 'John "Chompy" Masters' skining tutorials. I recomend that anyone wanting to learn skinning should download it from Talley-Ho and study it.

IM, will be possible to get mixed formations? ( olive drab planes plus bare metal planes ). Or those formations never mixed in real life?

The pure "G" squadron will be a mix of green and aluminium skins since that is what happend in mid to late '44 till wars' end. That unit will be made of the 2 remaining squadrons from the 100th Bomb Group.

Great news! Can't wait to see some pics of the mixed formation!

The jpgs of the 349th and 350th Bomb Squadrons of the 100 Bomb Group (H) won't be viewable for a week or two. I'm finishing up RAF No.3 Squadron's Tempest V's. Ray is looking at the wing hardpoints for me.

I've started work on the pure "G" skins but will have to make a compromise on the skin's accuracy. That would be to move the position of the aircraft code letters. All the models I have found do not have the waist windows in the correct position or size. Perhaps if I put a skin together with the waist positions painted correctly Ray can change the models so the guns are in the new positions. We shall see. We shall see.

Doing more research, looks like some of the illustrations are off, so the changing models just may not be necessary

The 349th Bomb Squadron is being painted now. The first 4 are done.

XR-J "Mud In Yer Eye" 3 May - 11 October, 1944 FTR Fighters Schuieberg, Germany




XR-N "Once in a While" 26 Febuary - 9 November, 1944 FTR Saarbrucken, Germany




XR-H "Reluctant Dragon" 11 July - 30 November, 1944 formation accident




XR-G "Captain Crow" 20 January -7 May, 1944 Take off accident



I still need to adjust the following letter in the aluminum skins. It seems to be a bit low. More to come.