nazempar Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 (edited) I am looking for information about painting and labeling of training aircraft BT_13, Pt-17, TEXAN. on the net I no found a lot of useful information Tusagee Airmen. Nz Edited September 19, 2014 by nazempar Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 I've looked, and I've never found anything concrete either. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CF104 Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 I am looking for information about painting and labeling of training aircraft BT_13, Pt-17, TEXAN. on the net I no found a lot of useful information Tusagee Airmen. Nz Just for correctness and respect for what they accomplished, the correct spelling is Tuskegee Airmen. I would think the trainers that the Tuskegee Airmen used wouldn't have had any different markings than what was standard for the day in the USAAF. Click Here Cheers, John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 I'm sure they had normal markings as well, but I've never been able to find any photos specifically of airplanes the Tuskegee gang trained on. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bonanza27 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 speaking of PT-13/17's in different markings I have not been too impressed with any of the aftermarket decals as of yet. I read that when the USS Ranger delivered P-40's to Iceland for the defense of Iceland they also delivered 3 PT-13's. Wonder if those were marked any differently? Also one of the N2S's used as recall aircraft with the stripes painted on the aircraft would be interesting. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 The vast majority of Stearmans (both AAF and USN) were about as boring as can be. I've got a bunch of N2S crash pics, and every single one of them is either yellow or painted silver with minimal markings. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jinxter13 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 (edited) I've looked, and I've never found anything concrete either. I'm quite surprised at this J..you're really very good at stuff like this....what about the Tuskegee archives...surely they exist; can they be accessed online..which is about the only way I'll ever get to see them. Added: FWIW I've contacted (left a freakin message ) the UC Riverside University and Political Papers Archivist asking for his/her help in obtaining some piccies/images of the Tuskegee Airmen trainers of all types, explaining that I'm a modeler and would like to do a special project; fingers, eyes, legs, arms and everything else that can be crossed is (including the eyes) hope this works? Edited September 19, 2014 by #1 Greywolf Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nerdling Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 (edited) You might also try and get some accident reports from the US Air Force for training planes based at Tuskegee. I've ordered stuff from them in the past. The accident reports are free and they will sometimes have a few decent photos. Although it will take a few months to get them in the mail. Their contact info is here http://www.afhra.af.mil/main/contactus.asp What I do is use this database here http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbaloc.asp?Loc=Tuskegee%2C+AL&Submit8=Go THe US Air Force will want the date, location, pilot name, and serial number of the plane. Usually they will let you get 3 reports at a time Go for the reports that have a lower damage level. Usually those will be planes that just belly landed or something like that. Been researching local accidents here in Oregon that way for several years and have gotten some great information. You can also order stuff from the guy that has that database. He sends them out within a week but the costs is about 25 bucks each. Edited September 19, 2014 by nerdling Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 I haven't spent a ton of time looking in-depth, mainly because there are almost no stateside WWII trainers that are all that interesting markings-wise, and I have no reason to think the Tuskegee airplanes would be any different. Plus the fact that (bizarrely) there is no 1/48 kit of the BT-13 after all these years. And it's taken until this year to get a decent 1/48 Stearman. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 There are contemporaneous photos of PT-17s and BT-13s training the Tuskegee Airmen. But, the photos don't show any particularly distinguishing characteristics. There are quite a lot of photos of a restored PT-17 at the Tuskegee Airmen National History Site at Moton Field. It is a restored aircraft and they may have made the same mistakes we do. You could build a model of the restored aircraft--would likely be more appropriate markings for the Revell 1/48 Stearman PT-17. Hm, odd that Revell didn't do that... But, I've been thinking about that, while I wait for good markings for that model to become available. Yellow Wings has a USN set and Caracal has a set due RSN. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 Other than the odd man out here or there, there really just aren't a lot of interesting WWII era military markings for the Stearman. They were pretty much silver dope (USAAF) or yellow (Navy). A few of the pre-war ones were blue with yellow wings, but not so much during the war. My holy grail is a good clear photo of one that was used by Embry-Riddle at the #5 BFTS in Clewiston, Florida. They are reported to have had a US star on the left upper wing and an RAF roundel on the right upper wing. I've been looking for about 35 years now, and haven't come up with one. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rich in name only Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Hi! http://www.nps.gov/tuai/index.htm has a header photo of a Tuskeegee PT-17. Shows scheme but not fuselage markings (that is, no numbers/letters on the side) because it's a forward right view. But it is standard Army overall. The site has links that are mainly for the overall National Park Service options but the photo is worthwhile and identifies another research resource. One link, http://www.nps.gov/tuai/planyourvisit/hours.htm, has another photo that should be helpful, especially for a diorama. Definitely a source to contact. Note that this is the museum at the airfield and part of the US National Park Service. The Navy planes are off-topic but note that markings offered some interesting variations. Definitely in the category of "detailed", like variations between Mustangs in the same squadron, but what makes an otherwise monotonous subject more interesting. The Monogram/John Ellis books show this and research shows some variations, with explanations, that even he didn't have. Rich Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jinxter13 Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 (edited) Believe it or not, I got a reply from UCR, and was told that while he's new he (the NGIC - new guy in charge) and his associate will be going thru the collections that have and will pass on to me any pics they may have. Which is more than I expected. Edited September 23, 2014 by #1 Greywolf Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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