WARNING: This livery contains historical pin-up nose art
Note: some screenshots may depict the aircraft using roughmets to showcase the aluminium finish.
Livery is of aircraft depicted circa 1985
Delivered Burbank 19/6/45; Rome 13/7/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA) Altus 5/11/45; designated EB-17G, then ETB-17G and used for man-carrying wing tip pod tests 1949; sold IGN France as F-BGSR 31/10/54; sold to Ted White as N17TE in 1970; to UK as G-BEDF on airshow circuit at IWM Duxford, UK., as SALLY B (41-24485 more latterly as MEMPHIS BELLE).
Sally B is the name of an airworthy 1945-built Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress. At 76 years old, she is the only airworthy B-17 based in Europe, as well as one of three B-17s preserved in the United Kingdom. The aircraft is presently based at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, in eastern England. Sally B flies at airshows in the UK and across Europe as well as serving as an airborne memorial to the United States Army Air Forces airmen who lost their lives in the European theatre during World War II.
History
The aircraft was delivered to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) on 19 June 1945 as 44-85784, too late to see active service in the war. After being converted to both a TB-17G training variant and then an EB-17G, she was struck off charge in 1954. In 1954, the Institut Géographique National in France bought the plane for use as a survey aircraft. In 1975, she moved to England and was registered with the CAA as G-BEDF to be restored to wartime condition.
The Sally B was first fitted with accurate gun turrets and other much needed additions for her role as Ginger Rogers, a B-17 bomber of the fictitious bomber unit featured in the 1981 LWT series We'll Meet Again.
During the winter of 1983–84, Sally B was painted in an olive drab and neutral grey colour scheme, in place of the bare metal scheme she had worn since construction, in order to protect the airframe fr om the damp UK weather. At the same time, she received the markings of the 447th Bomb Group.
The Sally B was used in the 1990 film Memphis Belle as one of five flying B-17s needed for various film scenes, and it was used to replicate the real Memphis Belle in one scene. Half of the aircraft is still in the Memphis Belle livery, following restoration of the Sally B nose art and the black and yellow checkerboard pattern on the cowling of the starboard inner (no 3) engine, carried as a tribute to Elly Sallingboe's companion Ted White, whose Harvard aircraft had the same pattern on its cowling. Sally B was reworked to B-17F configuration for filming.
Since 1985, Sally B has been operated by Elly Sallingboe's B-17 Preservation Ltd and maintained by Chief Engineer Peter Brown and a team of volunteers. The aircraft is flown by volunteer experienced professional pilots. The B17 Charitable Trust exists to raise funds to keep the plane flying. In 2008, Elly Sallingboe was awarded the Transport Trust 'Lifetime Achievement Award' in recognition of over thirty years of dedication to the preservation and operation of Britain's only airworthy Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress as a flying memorial to the tens of thousands of American aircrew who lost their lives in her sister aircraft during the Second World War.
One of the key events in the flying calendar for Sally B is an annual tribute flypast following the Memorial Dayservice at the American Military Cemetery at Madingley, Cambridge. This takes place over the May Bank Holiday weekend. Flypasts over former Eighth Air Force bases are also carried out whenever possible during the summer months.
B-17 Flying Fortress G-BEDF Sally B is the last remaining airworthy B-17 in Europe. She is based in the UK fr om wh ere she flies regularly at air shows, memorial flypasts and commemorative events as a memorial to the USAAF in Europe. Since 1982, Sally Bhas been operated by Elly Sallingboe of B-17 Preservation with the help of a dedicated team. Sally Bis maintained by Chief Engineer Peter Brown and his team of volunteers, and flown by volunteer experienced professional pilots.
Sally B is permanently based at the Imperial War Museum Duxford wh ere she is on static display when not flying. However, the aircraft is not part of the Museum’s own collection and relies solely on charitable donations, sponsorship, sales of souvenirs, and the loyal support of her working team of volunteers and 8,000 Sally B Supporters Club Members, one of the largest clubs of its kind in the world. Bearing this in mind, it is incredible to think that this aircraft has now been flying in the UK for over 45 years.
Operating a large, four-engined aircraft is extremely expensive and the costs must be met if Sally B is to continue her mission. It would be a huge loss to our country if this unique, tangible piece of history could not continue because of a lack of funding. Sadly, in just a few years, even the men who survived the war will all be gone. It is up to us to keep their legacy alive – but Sally B needs more support to continue to do so.
To get the aluminium finish:
Livery comes with specular files. These files will also act as roughmets to give the aluminium finished planes a proper look of aluminium instead of dull grey.
If you want to change to roughmets either google the ED forum for instructions or follow the instructions included here. To do so will involve a basic understanding of editing the lua and knowing your way around windows explorer.
WARNING. I have only tested this with my liveries and cannot guarantee it will work with other livery creators work. Doing the following modification may make other liveries incorrect. If so & if they have provided a specular/roughmet file then following the procedure below may help.
I won’t go into where you place the livery folder you downloaded as you can search for that on ED Forums.
Step 1.
Open the lua for the livery
Change all SPECULAR entries to ROUGHNESS_METALLIC
BEFORE CONTINUING CHECK IN MODEL VIEWER AND IN-GAME TO SEE IF AN ALUMINIUM SHINE IS PRESENT. If not goto the next step.
Step 2.
Change all false entries associated with ROUGHNESS_METALLIC to true
Remove the green – (double dash) fr om the beginning of any line in the lua that has them (should be only 3 lines – ROTOR, RotorBlured & Whels)
Save the lua and close it.
Step 3.
Create a new empty folder called B-17G in your game section for DCS
The path should be as follows:
(Drive Letter wh ere you have DCS located) > Eagle Dynamics > DCS World > Mods > tech > WWII Units > Textures > B-17G
COPY (don’t move) the specular files (7 files in total) from the livery folder you downloaded to the B-17G folder.
Do not move (cut) them so you have copies for future use should DCS delete them.
The B-17G folder should not be removed when you do an update.
I take no responsibility for any mistakes you make. If required delete my liveries, re-download and start again.
