757flyer

Paul, By my count, there have been 15 USAF/USAAF aircraft that have worn the Belle name. In addition, there was an RAF Tornado in Desert Storm (only a stick figure for the art, but with the name), two warbird B-17Gs (the "movie" Belle, and Sally B in the UK wearing the name on one side for a time) and a Canadair CRJ of Pinnacle Airlines (Northwest Airlink) which was named "Spirit of Memphis Belle" Below are the specific airframes, and some notes for them:

VERY late reply, but hope this helps. The Belle nose art was worn on the nose gear doors. There is a photo in the Bunrindo Famous Airplanes of the World (FAOW) issue on the F-111 that shows 69-6510 in the hangar at Pease with the Belle II nose art (also has a close up of the art). One thing to be alert to is that the nose art was slightly different (the lettering) between 69-6510 and 68-0267. The photos in the Don Logan book are of the art on 68-0267. Chris McWilliams, who was the 509th OMS commander in the 1980s has a page on the FB-111.net site devoted to the nose art on the

I'm not a Super Bug expert, but would a single-seater be able to carry a bit more gas since it isn't hauling around the extra crewmember and associated structural weight of the second cockpit? Mike

And as soon as I type that, I find another one: https://www.dvidshub.net/image/8395674/george-washington-conducts-f-18e-f-flight-operations This is AG212, but again, no reference to or ability to see the BuNo Based on this photo and the one of AG211 also carrying the centerline buddy pod, I am going to go out on a limb and surmise that the -Es are serving as the primary frames for the Refueling mission? Mike

Niels, Absolutely! Will be sure to post anything I find Mike

Unfortunately, no. Like you, I've been trying to figure out the Jolly Roger -E BuNos for a while. That Dvids image is the first one I have found of an -E other than AG210 (166649). The search continues 😉

There's a shot of AG 211 on the Dvids website that was taken this month (June): https://www.dvidshub.net/image/8472055/george-washington-conducts-flight-operations Mike

Looks like the Michigan ANG one that got the stripes had them painted on the full flap uppers. It was a full airframe repaint, but it would not be unreasonable to paint your flaps with full stripes too...

This photo would seem to indicate a later (as in after the original painting of the aircraft at the factory or depot) black overspray of the darker green, with the 436th AW lettering having been sprayed around: https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Air-Force/Lockheed-C-5B-Galaxy-L-500/1409479/L The cockpit area mask/refueling alignment stripes appear to be either a darker black, or a different sheen of gloss... The tail black lettering/numbers appear to have been oversprayed. This one seems to show a very dark green (or possibly faded black) overspray of part

Saw this image online and was reminded of an earlier ARC discussion about the Euro 1 scheme for C-5s: https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Air-Force/Lockheed-C-5B-Galaxy-L-500/7386235/L Here is the original thread: This Airliners.net image looks very much like black was painted over the areas that were originally the darker green (34092). Was the Galaxy unique in this use of black, or did any other MAC types get this variation (I assume applied in the field, NOT at PDM/Lockheed)? Thanks!

One thing I had not noticed before (and maybe it is not fleet-wide) is that the horizontal stabs actually overlap the NAVY titles on the fuselage - more so on some airframes than others it seems... As for the carrier silhouette on AG211, they just returned from deployment with CVW-7 aboard USS George HW Bush (CVN-77), so the silhouette is likely either CVN-77 or a generic Nimitz Class ship.

Most folks are familiar with the older Christmas markings on the Jolly Rogers CAG jets (F-14 and Super Hornet), but I recently found these newer (current?) versions for more than just Christmas - and they are on the low-viz frames... The new Christmas one: New Years: Valentine's Day: St. Patrick's Day: Easter: Thanksgiving: And then my favorite is this Heritage one: This photo from the same series would seem to indicate that the traditio

As far as markings go, the only difference between the white-top HMX-1 -53Ds and the "standard" ones is the white paint on the doghouse and tail rotor shaft cover? The rest of the markings are what is seen on the overall green ones, or am I missing some details?

Those photos are GREAT! Many thanks! In the first photo, it appears that the tank stripe on 203 is more vertical (like those in the original photo I referenced) than 210's tank stripe. Any guess as to what time frame the second photo would be from? Thanks again!

I recently started digging into VF-84 markings variations for the Tomcat Era, and came across this photo. I have seen it before, but had not noticed the stripes on the external tanks. They do not appear to have chevrons within the stripes, but I can't confirm that due to the resolution. The stripes appear more vertical than what was seen in the later VF-103 days: I haven't found any other photos yet of these tank markings in the 1980ish time frame for VF-84, or any other tank markings across the Tomcat Era for VF-84. Was this a very limited-time thing? Than