Sally B's Paint Scheme

Sally B

The chin turret removal is a few hours work, remember it is just a fibreglass moulding around an aly framework with a few bolts holding it in. I should know as I fitted it.

They might still have the blanking plate that fitted over the hole.

My opinion, for what it is worth, is to keep to the basic olive drab, keep the chin turret, put the old top turret back on so it looks like a G model, even go the next step and reinstate the cheyanne tail turret.
Turn the stars into star n bar and get some different stick on group codes ( as per roobarbs suggestion) to depict any other plane or even as the Sally B but have it assigned to a different bomb group(s).

Chances of it happening….zero.

missed opportunities i think.
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LIVE SEX

It would be interesting to hear from the “Sally B” group what their views of a change of colour scheme might be. I’ve just worked out that if “Sally B” uses 200 gallons per hour and does 60 hours per year then the EXTRA fuel costs for 2011 will be approx £18,000 due to VAT and fuel price increases. Not a lot left over for bits of sticky plastic or resprays I would think.

As she is the only flying B17 in Europe i wouldn’t have thought she would have needed to be painted as Memphis Belle anymore.She can always be associated with Memphis Belle but could now move away if a cheap way could be found.

Loved her when i first saw her as N17TE,also thought the yellow tail was a good scheme,as long as she flies they could paint her whatever colour they like .

She did look rather nice in the Belle scheme without the chin turret, I must admit. Thanks for the pic Steve, and I really like the one with G-FIRE passing overhead too. It’s interesting to see how she’s changed over the years.

I’m sorry if I end up sounding like a stuck record, but I would still say that the slight repaint would be the best option. With running costs ever increasing, any change in her appearance would surely have to be as quick and as cheap as possible in order that as much cash as possible can go toward keeping her flying. The ‘Latest Rumour’ scheme is colourful and striking without being too big a job, it fits perfectly with her current configuration and it would be like no other Fortress currently flying. If the chin turret were removed, she’d end up looking much like the ex-Tallichet example, and if she went back to metal she’d look like alot of the other Forts still flying in the States (she’d also need her top turret changed.)

So a slight change seems to make sense in all sorts of ways, her current paint and current config are just a relatively short step away from being both attractive and historically accurate.

and don’t forget the “We’ll Meet Again” scheme.

Don’t forget this one worn from ’84 to ’89.

Here’s the rest of the old Sally B photos – definitely prefer the silver. Sorry for the quality – my dad didn’t have the best of cameras.

Since the turret was removed and faired over for the film in 1989, it can’t be too big a job. I recall they flew a couple of seasons without the turret before it was refitted.

RAF Finningly around 1990/91

I’d be happy to see the Belle scheme stay as long as the chin turret was removed…

I suppose that’s one way of looking at it, although you have to wonder what the cost of modifying the aircraft to match the paint would be, compared to modifying the paintwork to match the aircraft.

I still think the best solution from a financial/practical point of view would be the retention of the olive/grey scheme, but with different group markings, nose art etc. Aside from the stepped waist windows, Sally B matches perfectly a late Douglas-built F model. Chin turret, Sperry top turret (as opposed to the Bendix on G’s), the pre-Cheyenne tail turret and no cheek guns.

So aside from that stepped waist window, something like the ‘Latest Rumour’ scheme would be a perfect match for Sally B’s current configuration.

I perfer to see her in a polished metal finish, i’m getting tired of Sally B being in the same scheme for the past twenty odd years.
Even putting her back into her 1988 colours would be nice.

I’d be happy to see the Belle scheme stay as long as the chin turret was removed, but I really don’t see the point of the Belle scheme on a G. However, a change would be nice and is long overdue, as the Belle scheme lost my interest a few years after the film.

I believe the 100th Bomb Group Foundation or museum offered to cover the costs of a markings change some time ago, and they were also turned down.

Anyone who has worked in the airline industry will know how things are done. Most airlners on lease are just plain white and the livery is made up of giant perforated stick on stripes, logo’s etc. The perforations prevent air bubbles when they are applied. It is quite sobering to see an airbus arrive in one airlines livery and a couple of days later it leaves in a completely new look and usually with very complex graphics in the logo etc. It really wouldn’t have taken too much to just have Sally B in a basic Olive Drab 41 scheme and then change the fin flash/markings and fuselage codes every other season. Sponsorship could have been sought from the Veteran Bomb Group Associations to sponsor such marking applications and the associated CAA exemption required. With these veterans becoming fewer by the week such an opportunity has probably passed its most potential, however it would be preferable to trading on a film remake from 22 years ago and the associated dodgy scheme and dual nose artwork. I’d rather see it in silver and back in its Glatton markings (just as I originally saw her at DX in the late 1970’s) in an ideal world, but that’s just not going to happen.

Just to give you an idea of what it might cost to repaint Sally B, a pal of mine has just spent £7000 to have his Commander 112 resprayed. Scale that up to B-17 proportions and you must be looking at the thick end of £30,000. I’m sure if you came up with a business plan and the cash Elly S would listen to you but probably not for long bearing in mind the recent respray.

I like her just as she is, does there need to be change for the sake of change?

To my mind atleast, it would be much more than just change for change’s sake. The fact is that there are currently three Memphis Belle’s, the real one belonging to USAFM, the ex-Tallichet G model that has been modified to closely resemble an F, and then Sally B. When there are so many other aircraft to represent, and so few left to represent them with, should we have three Belle’s? Ideally no, ideal being the important word. I understand that it has been useful to capitalise on the popularity of the movie and so on, and it would be interesting to know just how helpful the Sally B crew still see it as being. I would be against a respray if they really did think it would reduce revenue.

That said, something like the ‘Latest Rumour’ scheme on the link I posted above would certainly be ‘catchy’. It would use the same Olive Drab/Grey paint and it would be historically accurate to boot. So a major change could be done on a relatively small budget, as compared to the price of a full respray, and you would end up with a scheme that pleased enthusiasts and public alike. In addition, as we all know, kids are a big influence on how adults spend money, and I can well imagine that sharkteeth nose art would wow the kids and encourage pennies from adults’ pockets.

Taken from the Sally B website. (I believe the short notice is why there were no changes to the scheme.)

Total respray for Sally B

September 2006

The UK’s only remaining B-17 Flying Fortress, Sally B, has been given a new lease of life by Air Livery at Southend

The B-17 has been in need of a new paint job for some time, but with money always tight, and with the ongoing fight to change new EU insurance laws that grounded the aircraft in 2005, there have simply not been sufficient funds.

But now, at the end of another busy season – highlighted by Sally B’s special visit to Poland to commemorate the 62nd Anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising – a good friend, Adrian Tucker (Managing Director of Air Livery), rang B-17 Operator Elly Sallingboe, saying that, if the aircraft could be brought to Southend immediately, he would offer a very special price for a complete respray. Within four days the aircraft was flown to Southend.

On Sunday 17th September, Sally B arrived at Air Livery’s premises. There, she was stripped back to bare metal, primed and resprayed in the same colour scheme as before, complete with Sally B and ”Memphis Belle” nose art.

hi,
as long as she flies, but hand on heart Airfixs” Bit of Lace”,a always taken my fancy…

regards
dave…

My only comment about her paint is I don’t care for the chequered cowl.

Yes, I know why it’s there, it’s their plane and they can do what they like with it…it’s just that I don’t recall seeing a B-17 (or any other US multi-engine type) with that paint.

The bomber group that offered to stump up the money to put Sally B into their colours was the 398th BG based at Nuthampstead i believe.

The crew do a great job in keeping her flying no question, but like many i would love to see her in a silver scheme as there are so many cracking examples to choose from.

Dave

I have often wondered if they would get more sponsorship if they changed more often into correct paintschemes.

Never understood painting (and modifying) a G model like an F (apart from film work), but hey it is not my plane. To me it looks a bit like a MK19 spitfire in MK1 colours.

But, rather see her flying in Cadbury’s purple than not at all.

Yes id like that look too and drop her bomb load of chocolate over my garden would be nice.:D