Pong
Staff Sergeant
A 
to the crew who flew the Wagon.
to the crew who flew the Wagon.
Coolest B-29 Nose Art Ever
- Thread starter Snautzer01
- Start date
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drgondog
Major
Jeff Ethell did one - great assembly. There have been others but I will have to complete my unpacking to get tmy Library.
Terry was right about assembly ships with a couple of points to emphasize.
The East Anglia airfield complex was the densest ATC challenge the world has ever seen with literally 2000-3000 8th and 9th AF ships assembling in same two hour window, in a vertical climbing cylinder until completely formed into combat boxes, from multiple locations, to form combat squadrons, then groups, then wings, then Divisions - and get them in the right position in weather fair and foul.
The 'cylinders' would become combat boxes of single and multiple combat wings - and the boxes then had to be placed in correct 'trail position' behind the Division commander in the lead airplane of the lead box.. The Assembly ship's job was done when 'his' group was formed up and headed to the assembly 'Splasher Beacon' to hook up with the other boxes of their division.
Hopefully the RAF BC was already on the ground when this glorious exhibition of controlled chaos was underway - particularly in bad weather.
The Assembly ships did a great job, making their specific colors available when even 'triangles, squares and circles' were not visible.
Target Escort Fighters took off a couple of hours later after the Penetration Escort fighters took off, and the Penetration Escort left 30-40 minutes after the Big Friends and met them over the Axis coastline - no 'Assembly' ships required.
The PTO and Korean War on the other hand never put up the numbers, were mostly assembled in the clear and had a much easier time assembling.
Interestingly enough one of the things my Luftwaffe friends marvelled at the most was the awesome requirements and execution of getting that mass of airlanes up and headed in the right direction, more or less in the right position and flying good formations.
My older Brit friends remember the daily thunder of up to 10,000 piston engines going through the circular climbing dance until the sound faded to the east - then return some 8-10 hours later during daylight hours -only to restart the process with RAF BC a coupe of hours later.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #24
Snautzer01
Honourably banned
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- Mar 26, 2007
Original WWII 497th Bomb Group "Waddy's Wagon" B-29 Nose Art Photograph | eBay
Original very good condition. See pictures for details.
www.ebay.com
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FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
Aircraft and crew lost in a mid air January 9, 1945
Greg Boeser
2nd Lieutenant
11 1/2 years! Is this a record for rsurrecting a zombie thread?
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
Nope - I think I seen some resurrected that were from 2006
- Thread starter
- #28
Snautzer01
Honourably banned
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- Mar 26, 2007
If i start a thread it never becomes zombie.
Greg Boeser
2nd Lieutenant
True. I love the photos you dig up.
- Thread starter
- #30
Snautzer01
Honourably banned
- 42,942
- Mar 26, 2007
Darn. Have to look harder then for the most obscure airframe i ever posted.
Now, where is that colour picture i have that someone asked for....
- Thread starter
- #31
Snautzer01
Honourably banned
- 42,942
- Mar 26, 2007
Thanks i posted this one to begin with. Found out that if one deletes picture while editing it is permanent. I was going to post the last and deleted without posting but it was gone.
syscom3
Pacific Historian
All KIA.Original WWII 497th Bomb Group "Waddy's Wagon" B-29 Nose Art Photograph | eBay
Original very good condition. See pictures for details.www.ebay.com
View attachment 655313
As an eBay Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
I have never noticed nose art on IJA or IJN planes. Do any photos exist?
I don't believe it was that common but there are examples (not on the nose though):
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
Cool! I wonder if any Flying Tigers ran into any Flying Tigers.
Thumpalumpacus
Major
Good shots!
