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During the
week of August 23, 2005, the "Hells Angles" held a reunion in Dayton. As you
can see, above, it's not the infamous motorcycle gang. This Hells
Angeles is the 303rd Bomb group, made famous during WWII flying B-17s
against the Nazis over Europe.
A B-17 Model Presentation
for the 303rd Bombardment Group Reunion was conducted on August 26th
at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Dayton, Ohio by Dayton Area Plastic Modelers
Society members Steve McColaugh and Mark Young. Thirteen 1/72nd scale B-17
models representing actual 303rd planes were displayed during a talk that
was attended by over one hundred members of the "Hell's Angels" Bomb Group
Association. Some of the attendees present flew in several of the planes
depicted. Nine B-17F and two B-17G models on display were built by Steve McColaugh and
marked as they appeared on March 18th, 1943. One B-17G was built and marked
as "Thunderbird" by fellow club member Charley Payne and a B-17F was built
by fellow club member Bob Ellis as "Two Beauts". The two B-17G kits made
by Steve represented "The Duchess' Daughter" and "Miss Lace". Miss Lace was
presented to the event coordinator Walt Ferrari at the Banquet Dinner the
following evening. Walt flew most of his thirty- five missions as co-pilot
aboard Miss Lace between 1944 and 1945.
 Steve
modified the Academy B-17E kit 2141into early B-17F's. For the later F
models kit 2142 and 2143 for the G kits. The Academy kits all required some
reworking to bring them up to snuff. Steve opened all of the air intake
scoops on the wings. The scoops are only scribed in on the kits. He also
scratchbuilt radio compartments for all.
Various
other modifications were done to reflect the gun placements on individual
ships.
The group
markings and nose art came from various sources, but quite a few were
homemade. The original nose art photos were used to create color drawings.
These were then scanned and redrawn in the computer by Mark Young. Mark
spent countless hours working the nose art on the computer and the effort
was most appreciated by the folks at the reunion. After much testing and
tweaking they were printed on white laser paper with a surround of the
appropriate color, such as olive drab. This made for much more vibrant
colors. Attempts at using clear paper resulted in decals being too
transparent. Steve used the Black Magic masks on all of his planes with
fantastic results.
 Bill used
the Hasegawa B-17F kit to model "Two Beauts" The decals came from the
Albatros Heavenly Bodies release 72017. Steve also used several sets from
this sheet to make "Knock-out Dropper", "Warbride" and "Hell's Angels".
These are great decals!
Charley
made Thunderbird using the Hasegawa B-17G kit and the recently released
Thunderbird decal sheet from Mike Grant. Both Charley and Bill employed the
Black Magic masks.
 Steve has
been working most nights on his 303rd Bomb Group Mission for the past
several years. It all started back in 1969, when author Steve Birdsall gave
Steve a copy of Mission List 24, March 18th, 1943 detailing the twenty
aircraft flown by the 303rd on that date. Steve was fifteen at the time and
had the chance to meet Steve Birdsall when he came to the Air Force Museum
from Australia. With the advances in modeling technology as well as
computers, Steve finally saw his chance at making models to represent the
aircraft that flew this raid on Vegasack, Germany. Lt Jack Mathis was
posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions as the
lead bombardier for the 359th Bomb Squadron on this mission.
 Steve is
currently working with members of the Eighth Air Force Museum to secure a
display space for the twenty B-17's. At present he has nine of the twenty
aircraft completed and all of the nose art is ready. The other eleven are
coming along.
Steve
is also planning on making four or five more 303rd aircraft to bring to the
association's final reunion in 2007 in Washington, DC. He plans to enlist
more of his club members in making various models to take to the reunion.
Not just B-17's, but other aircraft that they flew with and fought against.
Vehicles and support equipment.
The 303rd Bomb Group has a very good web page at
www.303rdBGA.com
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