References for B-52D nose art?

[KursadA]

Folks, can you recommend some reference material for the colorful B-52D/F nose art that seems to have been all the rage during the 1970s? The old Squadron in Action title has some good photos of a few examples, but they are all black & white, and do not show the rest of the airframe. Certainly some good color photos of this period must exist somewhere - but they probably were published well before my time. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

I am making a lot of progress in the design of my 1/72 B-52H sheet, and I think the B-52D deserves some attention, too.

Edited June 20, 2016 by KursadA

[Spruemeister]

I wonder if Squadron's "Planes, Names, and Dames Vol. III" would have some. Covers 1955-1975. I don't have a copy unfortunately.

Rick L.

[ikar]

The closest thing I saw on a B-52 in the to colorful nose art was at Ellsworth on the alert pad. The aircraft were silver and white and had the typical star band on their sides by the radomes with the S.A.C. shield on the left side and whatever unit they belonged to on the right band. It was common to have aircraft from more than one unit to sit on alert at the same time.

When deployed to South East Asia, the "D"s carried only minimal markings, a S.A.C. shield and aircraft number were all they carried on the nose.

Several years later I was TDY to Guam where they had a "D" on display with the shark mouth, but that was the only one I ever saw painted up like it.

[skyhawk174]

Kursad

I recently picked up a book on aircraft nose art from WWI to present. Lots of shots in colour. Let me have a look and see if any B-52s are in it.

[Spruemeister]

The two MiG killers wouldn't take much space on a sheet. 55-083 and 56-676. I don't know if either carried any artwork during the missions in 72. They both have some now that they are on display. Wolfpak did 676, but that sheet is long out of print.

Rick L.

Edited June 24, 2016 by Spruemeister