Hello there,

Now that our ehangar is back to it??™s normal pace, I can put here an unusal WIP for me. As you all know, I??™m more jet oriented and often mumble ???against??? the so used WWII subjects.
So I as far from imagine to, one day, paint a Fortress, more over if not commissioned.

So here is the story that change the course of this idea??¦

As many of us here, I??™m on facebook and among my ???friends??? is Muriel, my very first love, we were 15 years old??¦ The other day, she send me a link of a friend of her, (they have their kids at the same school) saying that I should be interested by his blog. He??™s indeed a private pilot, fan of aviation and, among various aviation activities, has decided that his leather jacket should wear a pinup. But rather than choosing any kind of pinup, he wanted to have one with an history. After a deep research he elected ???Qualified Quail??? the pinup of a B17G from the 91 Bomber Group based at Bassinbourn in UK, which flew 72 missions without losing any of her crew.
http://www.qualified-quail.com…..35472.html
Interested by the story, I do some search on my side, become friend with Patrick on faceBook and exchanged some info. Incidentally Patrick knew my paintings since long time and was a frequent visitor of my web site. Of course this sparkle some ideas in my poor mind and I do a quick sketch of the famous ???Qualifed Quail??? to see how it would look. I elected an angle that would allow to see the nose art and at the same time trying to show the ???Fort??? from an unusual angle. It proves to be very ??“ very – difficult to find this kind of view as she??™s been depicted from all angles that we can imagine.

Lots of errors, but basically, here it is??¦

In the meantime, the family name of Patrick is incidentally the same as my legal advisor in my real job. We work and fit together very well, her office is just few meters from mine and I know that she??™s married with a former US citizen (as is Patrick??¦ humhummm). I ask her if she know a ???Patrick??? and the answer is ??? Sure, he??™s my brother in law?????¦ Coincidences, small world, name it but enough to sparkle some good contacts.

Now inspiration is there, I decided that Qualified Quail should be a canvas. It??™s funny how this become a booster to good back on the easel while my Rafale painting is going back to the cupboard due to lost of energy to paint.

So here??™s a more elaborate pencil sketch, with a change on the view point.

and a detail on the nose

Since then, following Pete ???Pinky??? Wenman??™s advice, I twisted a little bit the fort on the vertical axis to see a bit more her right wingtip.
Then, that??™s the latest pencil drawing, now on the canvas thanks to my ???magic??? blue pencil, waiting for the first brush strokes.

Still some errors to fix such as the ellipses of the engine cowls and maybe their size as well…

I??™m holding a little bit because the Fort will be alone in the sky, and I wonder if showing her few moment before the final crash landing on a US forward located base in northern France would be an idea. But I just need to know what were the damages on the fort this famous 14th Jan 45??¦

What you think ?