B-17 Nine-O-Nine, 10x40 digital painting

[Ol' Scrapiron]

Another special project for me, depicting the Collings Foundation’s B‑17 Nine-O-Nine. I cleared my schedule and started work on this tribute just a day after the plane was destroyed in an emergency landing. I have a special place in my heart for this particular Flying Fortress, as it was the first B‑17 I had the opportunity to fly on, our hometown paper’s representative covering the historic plane’s visit to the Northwest in 1998. We flew from Olympia to Seattle, in formation with the Collings Foundation’s B‑24 (then in the markings of All American just before being painted as Dragon and Its Tail). I actually had the good fortune to fly on Nine‑O‑Nine once again several years later, but that first sortie still ranks high among my memories.

 

This artwork is based one of my own photos of Nine‑O‑Nine, that I took during the legendary Gathering of Fortresses air show at the historic Willow Run airfield over my birthday weekend in 2010 (I still smile when I think of that trip!!!)

 

 

The digital painting was created to fit a 10x40-inch frame when I had this beautiful giclee print made for my office.

 

 

 

Just a few of the special points of interest include the attention to detail in the subtle rivet work and the iconic Nine‑O‑Nine nose art and bomb markings. By using other photos from my personal archives I was able to bring out details that were not visible in the shadows of my original photo, such as up into the wheel wells and inside the nose through the plexi.

 

Here are a few cropped areas that show the level of detail a little better.

 

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Again, even though tragedy caused me to start this project, I was definitely inspired by my own experiences aboard Nine-O-Nine

 

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by Ol' Scrapiron