Wulfe Hound - captured B 17 - 1:72 scale by Popeye the Sailor - finished

[tomwilberg]

While you mention the "MEMPHIS BELLE"...

 

Once upon a time, about 2005 or so, some B-1 where visiting NORDHOLZ AFB (near Cuxhaven). One of them was named after that famous B-17 that nearly got chewn up by the personal Focke-Force while attacking the Focke-Wulf factory north of Bremen.  The Bone was complete with the correct nose art and so on.

 

Back then, parts of the factory were still in place and could be easily identified. It came that I got the Belle's driver to talk to. I asked him, if he is aware of the very special place to his bird, nextby. No. He knew a bit about the B-17 Belle, but not much. OK, I told him, what nearly killed the crew and the bird on her last operational flight. The movie about that was impressive enough (btw: I knew EVERY B-17 on show there...  :-) ). So I provided the right vectors to have a glance at this very special place. In the evening, the B-1 departed back to Britain and then back home to Georgia. Going out on Burners, one Bone diverted 110° left en route no the north of Bremen...

 

Now in 2020, most of the old factory buildings and space are gone and it is not easy to tell, where that factory was located. 

 

Regards

Thomas

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

did you watch the Memphis Bell start her engines and run for a bit?  it was shown after I looked at the two videos.......thanks for them Lou    impressive to see them start up.  seeing as I have the other two birds on their perches,  I think the Memphis Belle will be standing on her own three wheels.  I got home this afternoon to see this in the dining room.

the top opening has a mirror in it.....not sure if I will leave it in there,  but there is a light in there.  the shelves are wood,  but I might have some glass made instead,  and put a second light in the lower part.  I have to fix one of the drawers

 

interesting wall art Kevin......if I were to do that,  I think it would be a copy of some of the nose art........more Andy Warhol,  don'tcha thing    

 

interesting story Thomas   

[Old Collingwood]

Thats a great looking piece of furniture denis.

 

OC.

[popeye the sailor]

thanks OC.....yea,  I need to do a couple of things to it..........wish the other pieces were with it.  if I'm correct,  this is part of a three piece set..........when put together it must have been huge.  I was browsing the old model site this evening and I saw this

this would be perfect for one to really do some detail work to.   the availability is in question though........someone is interested in it     I'll keep tabs on it...........I showed the admiral and even she thought it was neat   

 

thanks again everyone for all the likes  

[mtaylor]

I didn't know they still made that one or that it was even available, Denis.  I remember doing it way back when I was young.

[popeye the sailor]

I'm not sure of the production date of this model Mark....I haven't looked into it.  it is an interesting kit though...........I'm usually not drawn to a kit like this.  where one wants to add  a lot on interior detail,  this kit would be perfect.   at least you'd get to see it    as for the cabinet........I fixed the latch on the glass door,  fixed the bottom drawer,  and cleaned it up some.  the admiral said she dust the inside for me.

I removed the light........it only had a foot or so long light cord and I checked to see if I could put a longer one on it...........the way that it's made makes it hard to do,  so I'll look into a pair of matching lights.  I didn't need to do a lot to remove it either,  as it was held in place by silicone.

[Richard L. Rydant]

Hello everyone, All crew members were not captured. My Uncle Norman Therrien #11030761 was the belly gunner on B-17 Bomber 41-24585 and he and another crew member worked there way to the Spanish border and managed to escape without ever being captured.  Check out book "Their Deeds of Valor" by Don Lasseter. The debriefing files are now online and you can read my Uncle Norman's file. File EE-14! He was the fourteenth person to hit a "Home Run", that is he made it back to England. Our family in Massachusetts was of French-Canadian decent and Norman spoke fluent French and that assisted him in making his escape over the mountains from France to Spain and back to England. Have lots of info about Norman Therrien. Norman was married to my mother's sister, Loretta Dancause, and was my father's  (Joseph Rydant) best friend. Hope this info will assist, RiK Rydant High Falls, New York's 

[popeye the sailor]

glad he made it home      simple case of information not being updated.   good of you to clarify it.

[Cliff W]

Quote

they broke the nose glass to get at the Norden bomb sight.........unknown why Flickinger didn't destroy it.

 

The author was wrong regarding this assumption. My grandfather (on my mom's side) was the top turret gunner on this B-17, and he told me that they grenaded the bomb sight which is why the nose glass was busted, and that they shoved a parachute in a gas tank and tried to set the plane on fire before evading capture...  I wish he was still alive so I could ask him more questions!

[Canute]

There is a longish article on builds of assembly ships over on Hyperscale: https://www.hyperscale.com/2022/features/assemblyships48jm_1.htm

[popeye the sailor]

really good article Ken.......the gent did a lot more than I did with mine    there were a few good ideas I'd like to try out though   

[Canute]

Glad you liked it Dennis. There are some good sites around for getting ideas.

[popeye the sailor]

I'm planning on doing another one in the future.......a B 17 this time {more surface area}    

[Canute]

Dennis, here's a site for some nice decals: https://fineartofdecals.com/goodiess/

[popeye the sailor]

thanks for the head's up Ken.......there is some nice history that goes along with the decals    I book marked it !