1st lt. james t. mcrainey 36 missions
the following are just some of the pics from the personal jounal of one of the bravest men i have ever met. james t. mcrainey is my nieghbor, thats him in middle in the first pic. he flew 36 missions from april 20 1944 (hitlers birthday) to august 44. when he completed his tour he came home signed a waiver to return to action and began training a new crew in the 17 to return to europe. before they could ship out the war in europe ended. his co then recommended him for service in the b29. so once again he completeted all the required training as 1st pilot got his crew and started training for the invasion of japan, but before they could ship out, japan surrendered. you can tell from talkin to him he was highly upset about this but also gratefull that the war was over. after the war he never flew again. i lived next door to this man for 3 yrs before i learned of his exploits. needless to say i was quite surprised when one day we were standing in the yard talkin and he told me he was a pilot in ww2, as was he when i showed him my war room. that day i decided i was gonna build him a plane. this was early in my "modeling career" so i really didnt do the plane justice.
the kit is a 1/72 promodeler b-17 g, which is a very good, detailed kit. the markings are from squadron. he was in the 95th bg.. my goal now is to build him an even better one, now that i have a little more experience. i want to surprise him with it. if anyone out there has a 1/72 g model in thier stash that they would like to donate to this cause it would be greatly appreciated. thanx to all for the great support ive recieved in the short 2 days that ive been a member.
the plane represents the plane they flew the most, as alot of different planes were usually flown by the crews because of maint. ect. the name of the plane was irenes folly, named after the 1st pilots wife, though it was never painted on the nose. i did some research and found out that the plane survived the war only to be scrapped shortly after. so many beautifull planes suffered this fate shortly after the war. if they only knew how valuable they are now more wouldve been saved from the chopping block. just sad!
Where would all the aluminum pots and pans, not to mention all that aluminum siding the "tin men" sold in the 50s, have come from without all that smelting-down?
true, but still sad, i guess i can take comfort in the fact that there could possibly be a little bit of a b-17 in the can of beer that i just finished...cheers!
Wow, Jeff, that's very cool stuff! Thanks for sharing, and tell your neighbor "thanks for your service"!
(Nice model, too!)
thanx, ill tell him, when i told him i was gonna put it up on this site, he just kinda laughed and said let me know what they think about it.
An excellent model and project.
My maternal Uncle did 35 missions with the 95th BG in late 1944 - early 1945, and a friend/neighbor did 27 missions with the 379th BG in late 1943 - early 1944. I did Monogram models for both of them before their deaths, and they were appreciated by those gentlemen.
Thank you for honoring this Patriot.
thanx larry, i really enjoyed building it for him, it seemed like for about a month and half it was 44 and i was in england, goin over aircraft numbers and learning everything i could about em. he actually let my use the original flight manuals and servicing books for research, and just mainly outta curiosity. startup procedures, formation flying, the whole deal. im really lookin forward to doing another for him.
Jeff, my Uncle also served in the 336th Squadron of the 95th Bomb Group, though it was a little later than your neighbor.
small world huh, yeah they were stationed in horham england, about 90 miles north of london. the probably just missed each other.
One thing - one the next one, don't put exhaust out of the vents in the upper wing. It's one of the most common mistakes modelers make, but those were fuel vents, not exhaust vents.
you might not be able to tell it from the pictures but exhaust and oil stains go all the way across the wing. although i did make that mistake on 1/48 revell, i did a little research on the 1/72 i built for my 91 year old best bud.
Jeff, thanks for your article of great men and machines during that part of our greatest generation. BTW, I am real sure you built it like you wanted to as well, I see nothing wrong with your model or the so-called "mistakes" and if you just needed to ask someone on a "how to" on anythng (which you did not I presume) then surely it would never be from the source above giving consideration from what I see all the time.
Well...regardless of what some may think about your staining and/or weathering you choose to do (AFTER researching actual photos) - I think you did outstanding work on the build. And a darn nice presentation as well. A job well done all 'round!
thanx craig, while building it i asked him if he wanted it some what clean and new lookin or if he wanted it dirty and beat up. he said dirty and beat up thats the way they all were, unless it was a new one you were flyin over the north atlantic to drop off at a conversion depot.
I sent you a "private message, Jeff...regarding your B-17 - did you happen to notice it in your "stuff", yet?
Oh...and make sure you respond in a "private message" as well !
Very cool project!
thanx seth, i really felt a great sense of pride in doin sumthin for such a brave man. oh i should also mention that in thier 36 missions none of the crew ever suffered more than the occasional scratch, he said it was just dumb luck.