jankees Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 B-17G 44-6596 LG-P "Sweet Dish" of the 322nd BS/ 91st BG based in Bassingbourne UK. She arrived in Bassingbourne on the 4th of November 1944 and flew her first mission 5 days later, after which she was assigned to Lt Bob Roach and his crew. He suggested naming her Sweet Dish, after his wife, who was known to the crew. Tony Starcer painted her portrait, based on a pocket photograph. By war's end, she had completed 46 missions , including 24 flown by BoB Roach. Her hairiest mission was to Berlin on 5 December. Flak knocked out no.1 engine and set fire to no.2. During the dive to eliminate the fire, the engineer bailed out, and the navigator and bomb aimer followed him. The fire was extinguished however, and 'Sweet Dish' flew home on two engines. They counted 365 holes in the ship next day, and it took until the end of december to get her in the air again. At the end of the war, she took groups of ground crew on two flights over the damaged cities of Germany, so that they too could see the effect of their work, and in May she helped repatriate released PoW's. In june 1945, she flew back to the States, where she was scrapped at Kingman, Arizona in December 1945. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Banks Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Another beauty! Did you see my topic about Photobucket? BEWARE!! Adam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosariomanzo Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Nice shots and interesting story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taph Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Very nice shots and story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micjn66 Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Awesome shots Jankees love #5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dolf8857 Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradB Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Nice shots and interesting story. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Great paint and story Jan Kees, Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgreenwo Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Good work on the paint and some cracking shots too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Fine piece of work indeed. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric C Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 Great paint and story Jan Kees, Thank you +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jankees Posted February 11, 2013 Author Share Posted February 11, 2013 thank you! in the mean time, I've painted a few more: LG-Q "Chief Sly" (in reality a B-17F). It was one of the original aircraft of the group, assigned to it in Bangfor, Maine in september 1942. No photos exist of the aircraft, my paint was based on pics of crew photos and their jacket emblems. The names on the nose of the aircraft refer to sweethearts of the crew. Mary Ellen was the girl friend of the bombardier, Steve Lindney, and Loraine was the fiancee of the navigator, Paul Burnett. The end of Çhief Sly' came on 20 december 1942. It was returning from a mission to bomb an airfield in Romilly-sur-Seine, when the lead aircraft, 'Rose o'day' had to slow down due to flak damage. Chief Sly dropped back to protect the struggling bomber, and soon they came under attack from german aircraft. On board Chief Sly, the navigator was wounded, engines 3 and 4 were disabled and a large hole was ripped out of the tail. Struggling to control the aircraft, pilots Bruce Barton and Arthur Reynolds managed to hide in thick clouds, and although the ailerons were no longer working, tried to nurture the crippled aircraft back to England. All unnecessary equipment was jettisoned, and they made it, although sometimes at an height of just 50 ft. On reaching England, they made a wheels up landing in one of the first fields available, killing two sheep. Miraculously, apart from the navigator, no crew members were hurt, and they were soon assigned a new B-17, 42-5139, naming it "Chief Sly II". and OR-L "Blue Dreams". It was assigned to Captain Ken McFarland and his crew, and was painted by Corporal Tony Starcer, with the december pin-up by Alberto varga. When the crew found out that their captain's wife was pregnant, they had Starcer paint a stork and baby below the pilots window (without McFarlane knowing), adding the name 'Mona Gail'after the birth of his daughter. The aircraft would go on to complete 29 missions with the group, before being written off due to an unfortunate oversight by another crew. Shortly after taking off for a flight to Berlin, on the 6th of March 1944, the pilot, Lt Walter Wilkinson, noticed fuel streaming from the starboard wing. He decided to land immediately, in the hope of quickly solving the problem and rejoining the mission. The nearest airfield was the 355th FG's base at Steeple Morden, close to bassingbourne, and he decided to land there. He lined up with the runway and slowly descended the heavily laden bomber, going for a smooth as possible landing. What came was different, since the crew had forgotten to lower the landing gear, and "Blue Dreams" screeched of the runway and into the grass. The crew evacuated the wrecked aircraft as quickly as they could, but fortunately, the bombs in the bomb-bay did not explode. "Blue Dreams" would not fly again, and was salvaged the following day. The subsequent accident report revealed that the pilot had flown 8 exhaustive missions in the previous two weeks. This time nobody was hurt, but it would be a different story 10 months later, when another 91st B-17 forcelanded at Steeple Morden... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 Them paints are getting better and better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adambar Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 You must paint around the clock Jankees, and they are always perfect, great job !! Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Temple Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Thank you, Jan Kees, for painting the B-17 Sweet Dish! My father, John Temple, was the co-pilot of this plane in World War 2 - Bob Roach was the pilot. I googled for the plane and found your re-painted pictures today on Monday, for Memorial Day. Thinking of Dad and the brave soldiers who fought Nazi evil and tyranny. thanks again for painting these. I linked to some of them on my Facebook page, and if you look you can see a old photo of the Sweet Dish with the crew in front. (with Bob Roach, the pilot mentioned in your article, and my dad, John Temple) Sincerely, Ken Temple 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Temple Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Photo of crew in front of the B-17 "Sweet Dish" - thanks again for repainting her in all her glory! Ken Temple - my dad (John Temple) was co-pilot of Sweet Dish, 2nd from right, front row, hands crossed. Bob Roach (pilot) is next, 3rd from right, front row. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunk Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Now that is awesome! And this just became one of my favorite threads on this forum, ever. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Banks Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Incredible, Ken ... they certainly were a brave bunch. I'd be very proud of your dad. Adam. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twsimfan Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Fascinating bit of history and some great paints, thank you. Also a big thanks to Ken Temple for personalizing it all for us. It really brings home this Memorial Day holiday for those of us in the US. Thanks again, Tom Wunder (Memorial Day is observed the last Monday of May in the US to memorialize our fallen heroes.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 +1 +2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stillwater Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Photo of crew in front of the B-17 "Sweet Dish" - thanks again for repainting her in all her glory! Ken Temple - my dad (John Temple) was co-pilot of Sweet Dish, 2nd from right, front row, hands crossed. Bob Roach (pilot) is next, 3rd from right, front row. Amazing coincidence here. I can feel how that makes you proud. Great. Fascinating bit of history and some great paints, thank you. Also a big thanks to Ken Temple for personalizing it all for us. It really brings home this Memorial Day holiday for those of us in the US. Thanks again, Tom Wunder (Memorial Day is observed the last Monday of May in the US to memorialize our fallen heroes.) After 69 years I begin to wonder why every country celebrates their soldiers or war´s ending - except us. Wasn´t it a good thing this ended? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orbxtreme Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Beautiful paintings and a touching story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twsimfan Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Amazing coincidence here. I can feel how that makes you proud. Great. After 69 years I begin to wonder why every country celebrates their soldiers or war´s ending - except us. Wasn´t it a good thing this ended? Hi Gerold, It is a very good thing that the war ended. I can only speculate that perhaps in Germany they didn't want to celebrate a loss. I can understand that sentiment but Memorial Day should be all about the brave men & women who fought for what they believed in and I would hope you have some way set aside to do that in your country as well. I spent 2 years living in Japan and I know they could be very spiritual about their fallen heroes. I did not understand their cerimonies but I respected them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farman Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Another beauty! Did you see my topic about Photobucket? BEWARE!! Adam. Which topic, Adam? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Temple Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 Thanks for your comments, Chunk and Adam and Tom! Ken Temple Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Banks Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 Which topic, Adam?It's going back a year or so now: http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/54556-photobucket-beta-madness-aaaaaarrrrrrgh/?hl=photobucket. I *think* that's the topic, but there may have been others since. It was when PB switch to a new GUI - that didn't allow full-size pics to be uploaded without rescaling them (and turning them into porridge). People left PB in droves. I haven't been back since, so don't know whether they improved things. Adam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Temple Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 Thanks Stillwater! I am reading a great book about a great German Christian at the time of World War 2 - the Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The book is called "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy" by Eric Metaxas - it is very good. He was part of one of the plots to assisinate Hitler. Others were with him - you should be proud of those good Germans! http://www.amazon.com/Bonhoeffer-Pastor-Martyr-Prophet-Spy/dp/1595552464 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Banks Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 I am reading a great book about a great German Christian at the time of World War 2 - the Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The book is called "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy" by Eric Metaxas - it is very good. He was part of one of the plots to assasinate Hitler. Others were with him - you should be proud of those good Germans!He was indeed a hero. Going into the heat of battle is one thing, but cool bravery like this - sustained over many months is something else altogether. There have been other books about him (though I haven't read this latest one). I did watch a DVD a while back that was good: http://www.amazon.com/Bonhoeffer-Agent-Grace-Ulrich-Tukur/dp/B002JALFIU/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1401246906&sr=1-1&keywords=Bonhoefferhttp://www.amazon.com/Bonhoeffer-Agent-Grace-Ulrich-Tukur/dp/B002JALFIU/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1401246906&sr=1-1&keywords=Bonhoeffer. Adam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Temple Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 Adam, Yes, that video is also very good. I have it also and just watched it again also a few days ago. The book I am reading is very big and a has lot more details. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roach Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 Col Roach was my grandfather and he recently passed on December 25th. After we spent time over the last many years he told me that being shot down in a wine factory was his most exciting. He got wine and some rest before help came. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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