I don’t usually do planes, but this is one I would consider. Has this plane been done as a kit? The mission in the video was the single most decorated mission by any aircraft in WWII, including 2 Medals of Honor. If no one has done a kit yet, it is about time someone did.
I’m not aware of a kit with those markings. I believe the B-17 was an “E” model, which I think Academy may have in 1/72. It wouldn’t be too difficult to cobble up the decals from different sources. I remember reading about Zeamer’s mission in Edward Jablonski’s “Flying Fortress”; rough mission doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Glenn
“Old 666” was a B-17E, as Glenn said, flying with the 43rd Bomb Group. Academy produced an “E” model, but it was in RAF Coastal Command markings; not sure if it is still easily available. I don’t think anyone ever took up the cause of aftermarket decals for the “E” model–except for the “Peggy D” which was in the 8th AAF in England. “Peggy D” was the only “E” that appeared on a SuperScale and/or Micro Scale sheet for (mostly) “F” models, and that sheet probably dates back 20 years or more.
It’s too bad, since decals for the “E” are kind of an underserved market, and there were quite a few significant “E’s” out there in the early days of the war, not only in Europe but in the Pacific too.
Check Wikipedia on old 666. It states that 666 carried no special markings except for the serial of 41-2666 which would be in yellow (correctly 12666 as the 4 is deleted on the tail). It would carry most likely white stars as the red surround and bars wouldn’t probably be in use yet. I can’'t remember when it was phased in 43 as I don’t have my AF Colors reference handy. You can get generic stars and serial numbers from most decal companies and hobby suppliers. The color would be a very faded AF OD which is the AF color, not the Army OD used on armor.
In the video the stars are white on a blue circle, no red. Just the number 12666 is on the tail in yellow. The crew had enhanced the armament with six more .50 cal MGs, for a total of 19, including twin .50s in the waist on both sides… The battle lasted 45 minutes, and ended when the remaining fighters started running low on fuel. The battle started with 17 fighters against Old 666. Out of 9 crew, one died, the pilot, Zeamer, was seriously wounded, and four others were wounded. Two Medals of Honor, and seven DSCs were awarded. The Navigator, with a fatal belly wound, returned to his guns and continued fighting until he died. He and Zeamer were given the MOHs. They accomplished their reconnaissance mission to map Bougainville and Buka Islands and landed safely on New Guinea. Zeamer and his crew salvaged the plane from a junk pile because they were at the bottom of the “plane replacement list”. It seems they were a bit of a discipline problem! They rebuilt the plane themselves because no one else wanted to fly it because it always got shot to pieces. And since they planned to volunteer for missions no one else wanted, they decided to beef it up a bit. Maybe Trumpeter, or someone, will do a 1/72 of this someday. I am surprised this mission hasn’t been made into a movie. Or has it?
Wow…I’d like more info on this mission…
Use this also :
http://www.homeofheroes.com/wings/part2/07_zeamer_sarnoski.html
You can use 1/72 Academy E with a ball turret, or in 1/48 using an F with the Bill Koster E conversion.
Wow! [:O] Fantastic story, 150+ bulletS & 5 canon shell… amazing there was a plane or man left.
Another modification was a fixed forward firing gun mounted on top of the nose fired by Zeamer. During the battle he actually hit a plane with it, when it dove in front of the B-17
Excellent article! Thank you for finding it. This article fills in a lot of background info on both MOH winners. And it seems the crew was quite well decorated prior to this last mission because of their ability to finish missions in this plane that other crews would not even try. At least the plane was returned to the States before it was salvaged in Albuquerque, and not just dumped into the ocean, or otherwise destroyed, when the war ended.
I do believe that Revell or was it Monogram released a B-17E in 1/72 scale years ago.
The red surround was ordered to be applied 28 June 43, along with the white bars, and the red ordered removed 14 September 43, as reports from the field stated that many gunners were still firing on friendlies because the they were “seeing red” in a fight… Some aircraft continued to wear the red surround past the removal date due to operational demands, but by the end of '43, it was pretty much gone, with the Insignia Blue surround in it’s place…
Now this is the FWIW Department… The caption read that this was “Old 666” prior to the application of her squadron markings and the rest…
But even if it’s NOT 666, it’s a good color ref of the B-17E…
!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Aircraft Profiles/B-17E-OLD 666/B17OLD666.jpg)