So my decals for my B-17 were in the mail yesterday. I bought them from a wonderful gentleman at a very good price on eBay. He had notified me that he was mailing along some extras, at no charge, in a separate envelope. I couldn't have been more thrilled upon opening the two envelopes!
First the decals.
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These are by Print Scale. The "Y" in black diamond markings are missing, but I knew that when I bought them and planned to mask these anyways. He also included 3 different profiles, one of them from the decal sheet of course. Very nice.
Now for the big surprise. Remember in my earlier post how I said I could find next to no information on this aircraft? Well, just how lucky could I get?
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He sent me an original article from a 1973 R/C model magazine about second patches. The article was written by the pilot of the aircraft and has pictures from his personal collection of 2nd Patches and his crew! Wow! There is even a picture of the all OD tail with the sustained damage that necessitated replacemate with the all metal one. Also of note in his description of the plane is that in addition to the tail, rear fuselage door and right outer wing panel replaced with all unpainted parts, the flaps were replaced as well, something I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else. One final thing that was solved and was previously a mystery to me is why the name "2nd Patches". Was there ever a first Patches? Well, the answer is yes. When the 426th BS initially deployed to Africa, they were equipped with B-17Fs. One of these F models was named "Patches". She was a workhorse of the squadron and after a hard life was eventually retired, even though it was probably only a year or two at the most of her existence. Such is the toll on wartime aircraft.
After having flown a few missions in aircraft 42-38201, which was gaining a reputation of receiving at least some damage on each sortie, she was shot up badly on a mission to Wiener Neustdt, Austria. Upon returning to Italy, the yet unnamed aircraft was unanimously decided by pilot Lt. Walter Moody and his crew to have the name "2nd Patches" bestowed upon her. While undergoing repairs, the name was painted on both sides of the nose and a menacing red and white shark's mouth painted on the chin turret and fairing. Later Lt. Moody and his crew were assigned to a newer B-17 equipped with the "Mickey" radome upon returning to Torterella, Italy from the first codenamed Frantic shuttle mission to Poltava, Ukraine in June 1944. A new crew took over flying "2nd Patches" on more missions until the aircraft was finally written off in a crash on take off in August 1944.
A little history lesson there, hope you guys find it as interesting as I did. Any questions about the aircraft, I will try my best to answer them if you want to know more. Still researching, but this article is a huge leap forward in gained knowledge for me.
Chad[/