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[dufrasnes]

Hi,
I'm E. Dufrasnes from Belgium.
I'm looking for a skin of "Shack Rabbit III", a B-17 F,  96th BG, 413th BS, MZ-P,  42-30372.
This plane has been shot down, oct 20 1943, over my hometown, Harchies, in Belgium.
I'm writing a free article for a local history magazine and I would like to use a screenshot taken in IL2 DBW1.71 to illustrate what the plane look like.
I have no picture but a painting has been made for the granddaugher of the bomber, Charles carlson.
see:
http://www.cafepress.com.au/+b17_shack_rabbit_mousepad,46529494
If someone knows a skin or can make me one, I would be very happy.
Of course, your name would be given in the text.

Thank you very much.

Dufrasnes

[Jarink]

Let me see what I can do!

Edit: I just noticed the date, 20 October 1943. That's the same day my grandfather was shot down in "Shack Bunny" (385th BG, 550th BS, 42-5913, Q) over Echt in the Netherlands!   

There's a larger version of that painting on the USAF's web site:

[dufrasnes]

Thank you jarink.

The target was Duren. I know that 9 B-17 were lost this day. I only have informations about 2 of the 303th BG fallen in France  and 2 of the 96th BG fallen in Belgium and Netherland.
May I ask what happen to your grandfather ?

[The_Alaska_Man]

Didnt He end up in Stalagluft 1?

[Jarink]

Yep, Duren was the target on October 20th. They were not supposed to fly that day, but since Eighth Bomber Command wanted a "maximum effort", they got woken up (late) and told they were going anyhow. Their assigned plane, Mary Ellen III (I've never seen a photo) was a newer one and equipped with the Gee navigation aid, so it had already been assigned to another crew to fly. They got assigned to Shack Bunny, which was actually from the 551st squadron. It had engine problems on the way to the target and they dropped out before the initial point. On the way back, they got hit by flak in another engine which started a fire and the pilot, Lyle Fryer, ordered everyone to bail out. 9 of the crew were quickly picked up by German troops and Dutch collaborators. The last one, Chester Lisiewski, evaded capture for a few months until he was picked up in Paris. All of the crew members ended up in POW camps and survived the war. The four officers went to Stalag Luft I near Barth, Germany on the Baltic coast. I'm not sure in which camp(s) the enlisted men ended up.

I have some more info about Shack Bunny and grandpa's crew at my Google Site.

[Jarink]

Hopefully, this link will work. Since the Download section at A&A has not yet been opened up, I put a copy of the skin on my Skydrive account.
Download the 96BG B-17F Shack Rabbit III skin
There will be a Download link on the right side of the page.

[dufrasnes]

Downloaded.

Thank you very much Jarink.
I will add a few word about Shack Bunny and his crew in my text.

[The_Jester]

Can't help but notice Pips up there.