The set this week...
43-37665 puts it in the last block of B-17-Gs built by Boeing. 1,099 were built in that block, which makes it the single biggest production block of Gs, across all manufacturers.Oh, I got all that. *chuckle* Have had for ages. What I've never found anywhere are pictures of that aircraft.
43-37665 "Lassie Come Home" (one of several with that name -- G.I.s were not necessarily all original thinkers)
Manufactured by Boeing, rather than any of the subsidiaries. Delivered to the AAF May 1944. First assigned 551stBS/385thBG. Transferred to 510th/351st June 1944. Radio callsign TU-N. Assigned to 1st Lieutenant Jim Blaney (my granddad) 1st February 1945, formation leader and deputy squadron commander. He flew most of his thirty-odd missions in that plane, before the relief crew botched it in March. The engine fire spread to the bomb load, and the resulting explosion also damaged the aircraft to each side. He had no particular attachment to the several aircraft he flew for the remainder of his tour.
View attachment 1444209
That's him, squatting on the left, with his aircrew. I have pictures of him riding his bike on-base, hanging out with his bunkmate, etc. Just nothing of the actual aircraft, from him or anyone else that I've ever been able to find. It's infuriating.
... if you do the CGI correctly. I just hope they do the flight characteristics correctly and not have them zipping around like Star Wars spacecraft.
Agreed. 'Red Tails' forgot about physics and went WAY overboard with the CGI dogfights. I'm really looking forward to this show, though.
SB
Ain't that the truth. All that money and computing power, and the Redtails makers don't have the sense to show the props feathered on a stopped engine. Besides the interminable video game action, they totally missed the boat in terms of the opportunity to mine the drama and historical significance of the Tuskegee airmen.Yeah it's a shame that they haven't had a good movie based on the Tuskegee Airmen. Both movies were kind of bad. I do like that we get the correct planes now and we don't have T6 Texans dressed up as Zeroes like in the old 40s-70s movies. They need to have some aircraft advisors on these to get the physics right though.
That excellent bit of buzz job flying was from the Steve McQueen movie, "The War Lover," which isn't a bad movie. Lots of great B-17 action and I think they had 4 flyable B-17s at the time they filmed it in the UK.