B-17 F Hires updated # 2 version for European Air War.

This skin represents "Knock-out Dropper", a B-17 F-27-BO, S/N 4124605, from the 303rd BG "Hell's Angels", 359th BS, based at Molesworth, 1943.  

This aircraft was one of the 303rd's most distinguished B-17's, being the first US 8th AF bomber to complete 50 missions on Nov. 16, 1943, and also the first to complete 75 missions, on March 27, 1944.  Such was the attrition rate at this stage of the bombing offensive, that on completion of its 75th mission it was one of the only two original Fortresses that the 303rd had brought with it in Sept. 1942.  It lead a charmed life, dropping 150 tons of bombs and clocking 675 combat hours, without any of its crew ever being killed or wounded.  After it's 75th mission it was retired in the US.

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Now updated to cure the engine shutdown problems!

This is the latest update for the High Resolution B-17 F.  The last HR B-17G mod I made had non mirror patches, which always pissed me off because inevitably the NM patches never covered the area I wanted, which meant doing most authentic B-17 skins was impossible, and some of my B-17 skins were thus abandoned.  +mia enquired about the possiblity of some 3dz changes for on of his projects, and things got back on track again.  Changes to the model include :-
- Fully non mirrored fuselage
- "Illu" type radio wires
- Transparent shadow.

In order to free up a 3dz to allow total non mirroring, I had to shift the Ball turret's textures from the B.3dz on the F.3dz.  This has worked out OK but there are still some minor rendering problems with the ball turret.  Hopefully you can put up with them.  Look for a fully non mirrored B-17 G sometime in the future!  

Instalation.
Extract all the .tpc and .3dz files to your EAW folder with winzip's "use folder path" option UNCHECKED.  If using a skin/file manager, refer to it's instructions.  For OAW users ensure winzip's "use folder path" option is CHECKED, and then extract to your OAW folder.  This will automatically install the files into an "A-06 HR F 303rdBG Knockout" folder inside your Skinfolder, ready to go.

Extras included but not needed for instalation -
I've included both the batchfiles for PCX to TPC, and TPC to PCX for any prospective skinners out there.  Also a screenie, and a jpg of the original "Knockout Dropper"

Credits -
Thanks to Col. Gibbon for the original HR-B-17, some of it's textures are used.
+mia for the use of some textures, and the BUMP I needed to finish this.
Mosi for another timely BUMP,
Illu for the radio wire idea,
Charles, Andy + Pobs for the transparent shadow idea.
Sandbagger (in advance!) for hosting the skin.
Migge and Redeyes for the MEX file which is mostly their work.
3dz mods and skin done by myself.
Mr. Johnson for discovering how to fix the prop shutdown problems.

References-
"The Mighty Eighty" by Roger A. Freeman.

If you have any problems, questions, comments or hatemail don't hesitate to contact me, either at the SimHQ EAW message board, or by Email.
Enjoy!

John "Chompy" Masters,
3rd July 2005.
jdmasters@ozemail.com.au
http://www.sandbaggeruk.com/chompy.html
