B-24 assemblyship "little gramper"

[Polar]

Hi ;

Currently building a scale R/C model of a B-24D - assemblyship

Currently looking for pics of the Little Gramper - 491st Bombgroup - 8th Airforce ( yellow with red dots )

Any other assemblyship also of intrest

Michael

[antoni]

You need a copy of the Kecay publication "Assembly Ships of the Mighty Eighth".

[Micdrow]

Here you go, A picture of the aircraft I think you are looking for from the book the Mighty Eighth Warpaint & Heraldry by Roger A Freeman. Roger calls the aircraft by the name Little Garmper though I believe this is a typo. This aircraft flew for the 491st bomb group with red and yellow polka dots. B-24D 42-40722

[Micdrow]

these from the book Aircam B-24D-M

[Wurger]

Nice finds here Paul.
Judging by the camo she looks like a pathfinder.

[Micdrow]

Originally Posted by Wurger

Nice finds here Paul.
Judging by the camo she looks like a pathfinder.

Thanks Wurger, the paint scheme was the first assembly ship of the 491st squadron. Prior to that it flew 52 missions including the low level raid at Ploesti on 1 August1943.

Couple of more from the book B-24 of the 8th by osprey.

[Wurger]

Colourful bombers.Excellent !!!!

[Airframes]

Great stuff, Micdrow! There's also 12 colour profiles of B24 assembly ships, including 'The Little Gramper', in Rog Freemans excellent book 'The Mighty Eighth'. For Polar's benefit, published by Cassell & Co., 1970, 1986, 2000 (and I think more recently), ISBN 1-85409-531-5. Indispensible for any 8th. U.S.A.A.F. fan! As are the other books in his series on 8th and 9th Air Forces.

[Wayne Little]

Good pics Paul, those assembly ships were real colourful with so many aircraft getting into the air for a mission, it sure made life easier for the aircraft to form up!

[Polar]

Hi ;

I really appreciate all help I got finding even more references than I had before.

According to my references Little Gramper was actually flying together with the formation ( up high left ) during a raid towards Hamburg - this inspit beeing unarmed and quite visible.

Some of the assy ships was equipped with ligths to be more visible - does anyone know if this was the case of Little Gramper ?

The tread also led me to the Aviation Museum at Norwich witch apparently have an excellent display of models and drawings of these aircraft.

Also got information about Aircam Aviation Series No 11, Consolidated B24D-M Liberator. Has some photos and colour side.

Michael

[Airframes]

Hi Polar. Re the lights on assy ships. As far as I know, most, if not all, carried a series of coloured lights, indicating which 'box' was to form up where, etc. Give me a day or so and I'll check it out and get back to you.

[Flyboy2]

Nice pics. I love interesting color schemes like that!

[Crunch]

Ah very good, this is on the cards for me to build soon, and I would have been asking the same question when it was due.

You guys rock.

[antoni]

Originally Posted by antoni

You need a copy of the Kecay publication "Assembly Ships of the Mighty Eighth".

The above publication will answer all your questions. There are photographs and profiles of all the B-24 and B-17 assembly ships including any changes made to the schemes during their careers. Also included are a number of the P-47 formation monitors.

A few of the assembly ships did have their fuselages festooned with lights, often in the shape of a letter. The Little Gramper was not one of them. Lil' Cookie had a modified tail to carry a set of signal lamps.

There was an article, or series articles, on building several of the assembly ships years ago (probably about ten) in Scale Aircraft Modelling. The author later gave his models to the Norwich Museum. I think they have a poster that features them.

[Airframes]

Good work, antoni! And it's saved me trawling through my reference library!