Get yer kits out.

I did one of those when I was in the fifth grade. "Been a while". B-52 IIRC. Landing gear looked like too much work.

 

Nope, no tank. But the New Ray snap together kit of a B-17 Flying Fortress from Hobby Lobby. Took about 20 minutes and the only painting I did was on the propeller tips. Like I said earlier, two cats named Callie and Muzzy run the house now. Kinda hard to have “tweezer work” type parts and glue and paints and a bottle of thinner on the table. And I’m surely not shutting myself away in a room somewhere, or the cats, for that matter.

 

Is there any kind of history behind this kit? Looks like it belongs to the 601st Bomb Squadron of the 398th Bomb Group of the 1st Air Division. Just out of interest.

 

Probably modeled after the one seen out of the window here, minus the letter and numbers on the side. I’m surprised that they even got the tail number the same. I don’t know the bomb squadrons like you do. the model even has the W on the wing.

 

That's a beautiful pic! I know little, but have recently been playing B-17 The Mighty Eighth : Redux, which peaked my interest. So I've been watching and reading a few things online to try and better understand the Bomb Groups, etc. It's very confusing, but the guy in this video breaks it down quite well -

 

I was a bit befuddled when I saw the bombers lined up on the flight deck centerline. Then I found a pix of them jammed up aft to give Jimmy as much room as possible for the run up. In the movie IIRC they had Doolittle's bird drop below the bow before clawing up for some altitude. Always wondered if that was Hollywood or it was actually the way it went.

 

Another bit of barely remembered trivia: The raiders only carried half a bomb load, fuel constraints. The Japanese reported "hundreds of bombs" all of which hit churches and schools.

 

Yes, and since then I only put five on deck, painted over the white lines which were wrong and tried to put new ones on the way they looked back then, approximately.

 

"And the truth shall get you not run over by an aircraft carrier."

Usually.

 

Another snap-tite but still needed some glue for certain parts. The only thing I painted was the propeller tips.

 

And a pirate ship, did in 2010, each side has a different name.

 

Some Very Big models, but not mine ! We saw these at Duxford Air Show Saturday 06-09-25.

 

W in a triangle is from the 398th Bomb Group based at Nuthampstead, Hertfordshire. A Superb Museum there next to the Woodman Pub. Also plenty of memorabilia inside the pub. Well-Worth a visit. Roughly 5 miles down the A10 from Royston, turn left towards Barkway / Nuthampstead.

 

This should explain what the Triangle, Circle and Square means for identifying 8th Air Force Bombers. All the other on the extreme right is for their Fighters which didn't apply. The ''Bloody Hundredth'' as they were well-known for the 100th BG are also known as the Square D Group as seen in the above. The book with this information is ; Airfields of the Eighth then and Now by Roger Freeman.
Hope this helps ?

 

This is the Superb Book by the Brilliant Roger Freeman, Author of Many WW2 Aviation books with a special interest in the 8th AF. It's a 1978 Publication which I bought in 1984. Sadly the Great cover has looong-since Blown Away It accompanied me on Dozens of my East Anglia trips while working around that area during the mid 1980s - 1993.

 

We have visited this Pub at Nuthampstead many times since 1985. The SUPERB MEMORIAL is on a bank of grass opposite the pub. Another Memorial just a few yards away. The Airfield Plan is within the pub, as is the Original 398th BG wooden board and large B-17 model W in a Triangle.

Nuthampstead Village and 398th Bombardment Group Memorial Routes for Walking and Hiking | Komoot

 

Apologies for the pictures, taken back in 2009. Metheringham airfield had a display of 59 model Lancaster bombers dedicated to 106 Sqn's WW2 losses. I don't know if they still have the display.

 

Nice-one John, I too have a similar photograph (Somewhere) of those 59 model Lancasters. Each one represents all those lost flying from Metheringham during the war. What a Terrible Loss of Men and Machines R.I.P.