I'm new to these forums. I'm a model maker and general military enthusiast.
I wanted to ask some very specific questions & after often referring to this site for reference I decided to join - hopefully you guys can help me!
I am building a B-17 Fortress from scratch in 1/32. I am going to depict a crashed / recovered fuselage on a trailer, being pulled by a suitable vehicle.
Unfortunately no-one currently makes a kit of the Federal C2 / 606 wrecker and trailer that I needed - so I have decided to use the Accurate Armour Diamond T Wrecker instead.
I can quite easily make the 40 foot trailer from scratch. What I don't have is enough good quality reference photos of it.
I already know of the www.twinbeech.com website that has some nice photos, and the website's owner has sent me some pics of a trailer he's in the process of buying....but I'd really appreciate more!
So - the first part of my request is - please does anyone have photos of the 40 foot trailer, especially close ups, and especially of the converter dolly?
Can you tell me if the converter dolly was similar to those made by other companies - for example Fruehauf? There are plenty of images of Fruehauf dollys on the net but I've only been able to find two pictures (not close ups) of the Federal type dolly. Does the dolly have an official designation that would help me in my search (for example with google images)?
Second part of my request - assuming I also make the converter dolly for my model - would the Diamond T wrecker be capable of towing a load as heavy as a B-17 fuselage (minus wings, tailplanes etc) ? I seem to recall that the Diamond T wrecker could PULL (not drag with its booms but pull) loads of up to 25,000 pounds, which I make out as just over 11 tonnes.
Third part of my request....would it be realistic to even show a Diamond T in this scenario? I want to show the diorama scene on a USAAF airfield in the UK during WWII. Is it beyond the realms of possibility that the Air Force guys roped in local US Army units to help out? Did the US Army even have any Diamond T wreckers in the UK at that time? Failing that, did the British? I'm aware that the Brits used Queen Mary transporters for moving aircraft parts around - but there's no reason a Queen Mary would be on a US Airfield is there?? - hence my use of the Diamond T.
Finally - can you guys tell me what colour USAAF vehicles and trailers were finished in during the War, and specifically for vehicles based in the UK?
I really appreciate your assistance on this!
best wishes
Rich
**EDIT** - I've recently found out that the Diamond T wrecker was indeed used by USAAF units, and to back this up I found an image of one being used to load bombs at a B-24 Liberator unit's base
