stirling bomber with us markings july 1943

[brewerjerry]

Hi All,
browsing a book I had not read for many years,bombing colours by bowyer.

On page 156 it states

off all the stirlings I recorded in 1943 the most unusual was surely that seen on the evening of july 24 in the usual british camouglage but with usaaf star and bar markings on the fuselage side, she wore only a white star with bars flanking it.

presumably he only saw the sides & undersurfaces of the aircraft,
I was wondering if any info existed on the a/c and if it had upper wing markings.
cheers
Jerry

[brewerjerry]

Hi
As there seems to be no info about.
the only suggestion I had on another board was film work, but surely there were enough B-17s around at this time.

Can anyone suggest what advantage a stirling may have had over a b-17.
i.e.
performance, bombload, type of bombload,
is there something a stirling could do, that the b-17 could not do.
cheers
Jerry

[Bill Walker]

The only thing that comes to mind is airborne delivery of troops or cargo. Many Stirlings were converted for airborne operations, inlcuding glider towing.

[brewerjerry]

Hi bill,
Thanks for the suggestion of cargo/troops, (I had been thinking about bombs only).
It makes me think it might even have been used for OSS,I think the RAF 'SOE' Sqn's had some stirlings.
I must do some net surfing.
cheers
Jerry

[wellss]

whereabouts did he report seeing this Stirling? It may have been at a conversion unit?
knowing the airfield, might give a clue.

[Empiricist]

Originally Posted by brewerjerry

Can anyone suggest what advantage a stirling may have had over a b-17.

Triple tow!

Remember please that the USAAF glider pilots were trained in triple tow, whereas their British colleagues from the GPR not. Remember also that since late 1920s the US military aviation VIPs hated gliders and nothing changed during WWII. The USAAF's decision-makers responsible for bombers have never agreed to detach them for gliders towing, although in the ZI all bombers were tested successfully as towing planes.

Most likely Stirling would be able to tow three such light gliders as the CG-4As. That's very interesting what you mentioned about the US-marked Stirling. Before D-Day various untypical tests were done as, for instance, parachute jumps from the gliders in double tow.

Regards

[Buckeye30]

Bearing in mind the date ( late July) this MAY have reference to Operation STARKEY ( Aug. 16--9 Sept.) a combined exercise involving US-British-Canadian forces as a prelude to the actual invasion in 1944.
As mentioned above possibly a glider-tug attached to Ninth TCC with temporary US insignia ( as on British Horsa gliders used by AAF ).
Special markings were authorised for other types involved eg. white noses on Whirlwinds and Bostons, and white-black wing bands .
Just a thought.................Nick