Debris on the floor

For the Lady Be Good, I need to add some debris on the waist gunning compartmen floor, Now I really have no idea what would have fallen onto the floor or what would have been left there by the crew, so would you guys be able help me out here, and give me some ideas as to what I could put on the floor.

Thanks

Vintage Aircaft[:D]

Hmmm Vintage, only helpo I can give ya is to look for some ref pic of the inside of a liberator and not what is placed there… then think in your mind what the bird went through when she hit the ground and what would hit the floor and all. As for what the crew left, didnt they parish in the accident??

woodbeck3

The crew of the Lady Be Good bailed out prior to her going in. From what I remember (it was a long time ago) they thought they were over the sea and running out of fuel (it was after dark) so they jumped. The B-24 continued on on autopilot until the engines began quitting and it came down to a survivable belly landing (apparently the #4 engine was still running when she hit the ground and was torn off). The bodies of all the crewmen except one were eventually found, some as far as 40 miles from the wreck (that’s the figure that sticks in my mind) From the diaries found on the bodies, they survived for quite a while before the desert got them.

A side note - several years after the discovery and investigation of the wreck, I read a news story about a couple of the aircraft involved in the investigation -seems that the crews of a C-47 and an H-21 removed some parts from the Lady Be Good and installed them on their own aircraft (If I remember correctly, an ADF in the C-47 and some arm rests from the pilots seats in the H-21). Within a year both had crashed, killing their crews. Weird huh?

that is a very spine-tingling thing to hear, qmeister.

Quincy, one of the stranger aspects of this story was the story of the “curse” associated with the LBG. The director(?)of the petroleum company that found the LBG was presented with one of the propellors from her. Six months later he died in a car accident. There were more aircraft involved, and I can’t rememberall of the stories involved. It seems like there was a book called the Lady Be Good that listed all of the strange occurences that are associated with her. Martin Caidan breifly mentions her in his book “Ghosts of the Sky”.

I’m sorry Vintage. I entirely forgot to mention that there would be insulation strewn about, along with seat cushions, oxygen bottles, spare parachutes, ammo boxes and whatever wasn’t bolted down.

I think one of the crewmembers even made it as far as 70 miles. A group of 5 perished about 40 or so miles from the wreck, and another crewmember was found about 30 miles beyond that.

As far as debris on the floor is concerned, you should keep the “laws of motion” in mind when considering what to do with your debris. Firstly, as previously mentioned, the LBG hit the ground with forward motion, so a lot of the things that may have resided in the back would have been thrown forward. Secondly, when she hit, she also twisted resulting in her tail severing from the rest of the airframe. So now you have to consider what things that were previously upfront, may have been “whipped” around from her turning.

Here is a link with a couple of pics, including an interior shot. Good luck with your project!
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/bombers/b2-39.htm

My one thought was is if they were running out of fuel how much weight did they dump?, I would have thought they’ld ditch the guns but those are still there though, so maybe they didn’t chuck everything out first.

Thanks for all of the replies, and a refreesher course on the curse of the LBG. Now for the cockpit floor, and nose section I did not need to add anything in there or put anything on th ground due to the fact that the sandstorms would have fogged up the plexiglass and you real cant see into the entire front section of the bomber. Th rear portion is the only part of the aircraft that calls for internal detailing. Now I know I am goin to put sand on the floor, and since roadkill_275 gave me some items to put down I decied to put the following on the floor and around the break of the feausalage.

Oxygen bottles
Flak Jackets?
Flak helmates?
Structure of the aircraft that would have broken off and fallen in and around the break point.
And of course sand.

So what do you think, think its acurate and would have been there. Note I am going to depict her before she was discovered so all this stuff would still be there.

And I would like to thank all of you for helping me.

Vintage Aircraft

P.S. Hooker06 I got most of my ref pics from that site.

I think you have everything well covered. The only other thing i could think of would be ammo boxes perhaps?

Well the kit came with extra ammo boxes moulded onto the floor so that wont be a problembut thanks for brining that up, but the problem I will have is representing the ammo that is fed to the 50’s. Now I know that Edward made them in 1/48, infatc I used them for my B-26B, my B-17G, my B-25J, and my PBY-5A Catilina. But my problem is that they have stopped making them, and I dont know If I have enough left for the waiste guns.