The Pink Lady

Status of the Pink Lady

Ryan — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:09:00 +0100

There are many rumors running around the internet concerning the status of the pink lady, many of them untrue, and so I would like to dedicate this entry to clarifying certain points.

The excellent news is that the Pink Lady has found a sponsor to cover flight insurance costs for 2008, and so she will continue to fly this year. Next year is uncertain however. The problem is that (as I covered in an earlier post) the insurance costs in France for this aircraft have been multiplied by 8 in recent years, thus bringing her into the same category as the other, more modern Boeing, the 767 passenger jet...Indeed, it costs 7,000 euros per meeting.

Mr. Dominé has confirmed that there is no truth to the rumor being spread in German forums that the aircraft needs to be grounded because of a lack of pilots who are qualified to fly. Indeed, there are three pilots at present that can expertly fly the aircraft, and training is not a problem. Afterall, there are many B-17 still flying in the United States. Indeed, the most difficult part in France is finding mechanics that are qualified to perform maintenance on the piston engines.

Concerning the state of the aircraft, she is in absolute prime flying condition. Indeed, she even underwent a major overhaul a few years ago, and has never missed a meeting due to any mechanical problems.

Something bewildering to us Americans, is that she cannot be capitalized in order to cover insurance costs. In France, article 1 concerning historical aircraft states that the aircraft can only have on board people that perform a specific on-flight function. Consequently, it is impossible to pay for her flight costs by giving tours during air shows, something commonly done in the US for b-17s. As she receives no help from the French government, all her insurance costs must be paid for by sponsors.

Therefore, given that mechanically she is in pristine condition and that there is no shortage of qualified pilots, it is clear that it is only the French government (whether by inappropriate insurance costs, absence of funding, and idiotic laws) that is doing everything possible to assure she is grounded, for she will fly as long as the ATV can cover insurance costs.

Concerning airshow presence in 2008, it seems that there are 3 planned:

La Ferté: May 31st
Melun: July 20th
One in September (?)

“The Little Royan War”

Ryan — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:40:00 +0100

This entry contains a first-hand account of "the little Royan War" (see the Mission: Royan entry wirh tegards to the Pink Lady's involvement) as told by Bob, who has been kind enough to share his vivid recollections of the day.

I was on the ground when the short war was fought to clear the Germans from what we knew as the Royan Pocket. Besides The Free French forces that would do the ground fighting, support was being provided by the U. S. 8th Air Force, also there were American ground troops, three battalions of Field Artillery, 155 mm howitzers. I was the Battalion Survey and Instrument Sgt. in one of them, the 257th Field Artillery Battalion. I was also trained as a forward observer and this was what I worked at during this little war. Though now 83, I have a pretty good memory of what went on during this event. The accounts that I have read however, do not coincide well with what I saw happen.

Before I write further I should remind you that this little side bar war was planned to start (14 April, 1945) only about three weeks before the big war in Europe came to an end (7 May, 1945)and would involve, we were told, using almost the entire U.S 8th Air Force’s fleet of heavy bombers (over 1200of them) for 3 days of continuous bombing to open access to The Port of Bordeaux. Access to the port via the Gironde Estuary was blocked by about one division of German forces which had been surrounded by Free French troops for about a year following D-day, but somehow had been able to be re-supplied. The Allies had gotten along quite well without being able to us this port so why the rush with the war in Europe almost ended? Who’s crazy idea was this? I would like to know, wouldn’t you?

One would think that an action so important as to warrant the use of virtually the entire U. S. 8th Air Force would be well documented, but I haven’t found this to be so.

We had our orders and on the first of April 1945 the Germans were informed that in two weeks, if they did not surrender, we would begin the action to remove them.

The ground forces that would be use would consist of about one division of Free French Moroccan troops. They called themselves Moroccans, but they did not look like the Moroccans I have met at Disney World. These were tall, very black and wore a red Fez and a very sharp scimitar as part of their fighting uniform. As good a target as that Red Fez made, we found that they would not wear a helmet. Their appearance did not jibe with what one would expect of those with Arabic or Berber ethnicity. They were not Islamists and enjoyed their wine, which during the fighting, was supplied to them by the French Red Cross. In talking to them, we found they did not think highly of French military men. One night, during the period prior to the start of fighting, while we were exploring the little city of Saintes and it’s Bistros, we observed the following incident which occurred late in the evening. One of the Moroccans and a uniformed French Caucasian soldier were arguing quite heatedly in the street. The Moroccan suddenly drew his scimitar and made a vicious downward swipe that laid that French soldier wide open, top to bottom. Within what seemed like seconds everyone on that street just seemed to evaporate. As quickly as possible, we did too.

For the upcoming fight, the Moroccans had no modern equipment. Their Armor consisted mainly of a small contingent of World War One Tanks and a few large wheel mounted trench mortars. Their small arms, Rifles and machine guns, were also World War One vintage. The remaining ground forces, which I was a part of, were three Battalions of American Artillery (155 mm howitzers). We were pulled out of the front line as the Spring Offensive into Germany was about to start.

During those two weeks that we allowed the Germans to consider our offer, we ran a train into the pocket each day to remove what civilians wished to leave. Each day as the train entered the pocket, German troops would line up on one side of the tracks, American troops on the other. There was no hostility and we hollered back and forth good naturedly. During the last several days the train returned empty. Out along the pocket’s outer edge, North and East side, the new German built concrete bunkers were quite in evidence and we often saw soldiers stripped to the waist lying on the tops of them sun bathing. On the 14th of April this all ended. Our artillery opened up and began firing almost continuously at pre-designated targets for three days. At the same time wave after wave of heavy bombers came over.

As I recall this first day it was all H.E. bombs that they dropped. The bombs were landing along the heavily fortified areas along the south and east edges of the pocket. We could also see distant explosions to the south-west which would have been in the general area of the fortifications on either side of the estuary leading to the port of Bordeaux. Day 2 was much the same except that the bombs dropped this day seemed to be all Napalm.

Areas hit seemed to be the same, smoke obscured our vision, however. Day 3 was a repeat of 1 and 2 except that it seemed to be more a mix of H. E. and napalm. During these three days I had not much to do except to watch. At first it was a bit unnerving, looking almost straight up at the almost continuous flow of bombers and their bombs looking like they were falling straight at us. I have read that our navy and one French battle ship were also engaged in working over the Estuary fortifications. We had not been told this and I was quite surprised on the morning of the 14th to see a low flying plane headed straight for our Observation Post from the direction of Royan. It attempted to drop a torpedo, but it hung up and broke loose only when he plane pulled up sharply to clear the knoll we were on. The torpedo went over our heads and exploded harmlessly in the empty field behind us. The plane was not German, it was a U.S. Navy torpedo bomber. How it got through the rain of bombs being dropped and our shelling is a wonder.

In the 3 days of bombing, I counted 17 bombers get hit and drop out of formation. I did not actually see any of them crash and I did not see any explosions near where I would see them drop from sight. From what records I have found, the only loss reported was by the 389th bomb group. On the 14th they reported loosing two in the pocket, two more crash landed in France and one made it back to base. These 5 planes were not hit by A.A. fire. They were hit by frag bombs dropped from a flight flying above them. As best I can remember, there were 4 more days of ground fighting, maybe more, but I remember three particular days because on each of these days I was accompanying Moroccan forces to provide close artillery support.

I saw a lot of very tall and very black and very brave pseudo French Forces. All went into battle wearing their red tasseled Fezzes, they would not wear helmets. I remember the last day of fighting because I was at Battalion H.Q. in mid morning when word came down that the Germans were attempting to leave the mainland and retreat the coastal islands. Apparently our Navy got in their way and this soon stopped and they had surrendered. I Asked my Commanding Officer if he wanted to take a ride into the pocket. He declined, but gave me permission to do so. I took three of my section with me and in our jeep we headed out around the north end of the pocket to the coast and then headed south toward Royan. We saw no Germans until we entered what seemed to be the heart of Royan. I didn’t know then, but I know now that Royan had been heavily bombed by mistake by British bombers on January 5th, 1945.

There wasn’t much to see in the way of a city as I recall. There were not many buildings standing, but there did not seem to be any new fresh damage. What I most remember was what appeared to be a Monastery or possibly a hospital located in a park setting with many large trees and lawns. The lawns were covered with wounded on stretchers being tended by nurses or Nuns. They paid little attention to us as we drove through the park, though we obviously were not a sight they were familiar with. We were Americans and our Jeep was quite impressive looking with a long barreled 50 Cal. Machine Gun mounted on an anti aircraft pedestal. There was no evidence that this Immediate area had been bombed at all, in January or in April.

We spent maybe two hours wandering through the pocket’s central area looking for some of the bombers we had seen hit. Bomb damage in this central area of the pocket was very minimal. We found 5 planes, four B-24s and one B-17. The B-17 had made a belly landing in an open field and was intact except that the mid part of the Fuselage, where the waist guns were located, was completely melted away.

The two waist guns were lying on the ground. The gunners were still gripping the burned away handles and were themselves burned to a crisp. Why the gunners were still on their guns when the plane landed puzzled us at first, but we surmised that what must have happened was that the plane had been hit, lost it’s fuel and after landing had come under attack and the oxygen bottles had been hit, causing a very hot fire at this one spot. The B-24’s damage was common in one respect. What we noticed most was that the fuselages seemed to have broken in half at the trailing edge of the wing. This is contrary to what I have read which said that the wings tended to fold up like a butterfly’s when hit.

"When we tried to leave the pocket heading east, we passed many Germans standing or sitting along side of the road. They looked tired-- exhausted, but waved back as we passed. We finally came under fire though.

It seems the Moroccans hadn’t yet received word that the war was over. They finally recognized that we were hollering at them in English and let us come through. This little war had ended but the Moroccans had no telephones or radios and hadn’t yet received the news.

I have been able to find almost no good factual information on this battle, except from individuals who flew on the three days of missions over Royan, April 14, 15. and 16. One of those sent me an excerpt from a book written by Howard Zinn who was a bombardier and flew one mission on 15 April. Of the mission He writes:

We were told our job was to bomb German troops in and around Royan, and that in our bomb bays were thirty 100-pound bombs containing “jellied gasoline”, a new substance (now known as napalm). Our bombs were not precisely directed at German installations, but were dropped by toggle switch over the Royan area. I remember distinctly seeing from our great height (25,000 feet) the bombs explode in the town flaring like matches struck in a fog. I was totally unaware of the human chaos below. In 1966 I spent some time in Royan, and found in the town library most of the material on which this essay is based

I have found that Mr. Zinn’s next bombing run was on 25 April to Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. I think Mr. Zinn was confusing his bombing of the Royan area with the Bombing of Pilsen. Most other descriptions of Royan flights speak of the flight elevations as being 15,000 feet or lower and bomb loads as being about twice that which Mr. Zinn reports dropping on Royan. It would seem logical that to bomb the more distant Pilsen and where anti aircraft fire might be expected, they would fly at a higher elevation to avoid this fire and a lighter bomb load would be carried because of the greater distance.

Mr. Zinn’s book also contains many ridiculous newspaper stories such as the following. New York Times report from Paris:

Two days of shattering aerial bombardment and savage ground attacks in the drive to open the port of Bordeaux. More than 1300 Flying Fortressed and Liberators of the United States Eighth Air Force prepared the way for today’s successful assault by drenching the enemy’s positions on both sides of the Gironde controlling the route to Bordeaux with about 460,000 gallons of liquid fire that bathed in flames the German positions and strong points…….

There was no assault successful of otherwise on this second day. No French troops entered the pocket while the three days of bombing and the three days and nights of constant Artillery fire was underway.

Here is more New York Times reporting on the second and third days of bombing.

The liquid fire was napalm, used for the first time in warfare. The following day, there was another bombing, with high explosive bombs, and further ground assaults, Altogether, it took three days of bombing and land attacks to bring the Germans in the area to surrender.

There were no attacks until the 4th day and it was several more days before they surrendered.

Here is another one, again from the New York Times:

French troops mopped up most of Royan, on the north side of the river’s mouth-------Royan, a town of 20,000, once was a vacation spot. About 350 civilians, dazed or bruised by two terrific air bombings in 48 hours, crawled from the ruins and said the air attacks had been “such hell as we never believed possible.”

I saw three terrific air bombings. Being buried in the ruins, as the New York Times reported, those 350 civilians must have slept through the third one. Also there were no French Troops in Royan “mopping up” Between the second and third days. I entered Royan at least four days after the bombings and no French troops were there ahead of me.

Here is yet another one. This one from Zinn’s Book. It is not credited to any particular news paper, It just says-----

A press correspondent on the scene described the very heavy artillery bombardment which prepared the attack on the Royan area: 27,000 shell. Then the first aerial bombing on Saturday, April 14th , with high explosives. Then the bombing all Sunday morning with napalm. By seven that evening they were in Royan. It was a burning furnace. The next morning, they could still hear the clatter of machineguns in the woods nearby. Royan is still burning. The dispatch ends: “It is a beautiful spring.”

I think this correspondent was so engrossed in the bistros of Cognac that he had no idea at all about what had gone on over on the coast. Maybe he read the New York Times.

There were good Correspondents over here someplace----like Ernie Pile and Margaret Higgens, but they weren’t at Royan. (Side note, I met and danced with Margaret Higgens and her Mother at their going away party in New York on the night before we all sailed for England------Same convoy--- different ships. It wasn’t a secret, even the cabby, who drove us back to camp, knew when we were leaving)

LETTER #7

Now that the fighting was over, who do you think rushed in to suck up some glory? I bet you guessed it, General Charles De Gaulle. A large open pasture was found that was adequate to hold the entire ground fighting force involved---somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 men.

As far as I know the American 8th Air Force, that was certainly involved at the beginning, did not attend the festivities. If not, were they smart or just lucky? There had to be room for all of us to be able March in Review before the General and other viewing dignitaries and then stand facing the Reviewing Stand while the General did his thing. His thing was to give a long speech while we stood at attention listening. Of course it was in French and most of the American couldn't understand it.

Next came the presentation of medals ---- hundreds, it seemed like. For this we had to stand at attention and hold a salute. It was impossible to hold a salute that long. It seemed like hours but it probably wasn't more than an hour. How long does it take to call a name, read a short statement , pin on a medal, kiss them on each cheek and step to the next man? In our position, it just seemed like a long—long time.

Now that was just for the French and Moroccan troops. Next came the Americans. He didn't bother with individuals here. He just gave the "Croix De Guerie", a French decoration, to the American commanding officer and another box of them for distribution to the American troops as he pleased. That was a relief. Holding the salute through all of this caused it to deteriorate from the standard salute to gripping the front of the helmet with the fingers----to putting the hand on top of the helmet---to holding the right elbow up with the left hand--- to just saying to hell with it and letting the long dead arm drop and hang there. By the time this display was over we all hated that arrogant ******* with a passion.

We could now go back to the real War, but first we would have to get our Howitzers refitted with new tubes (barrels). The continuous and rapid amount of firing we had done here plus what we had done during the Battle of the Bulge, had completely worn them out. While this was being done the war ended. We all were very happy about that, but I had a lot more to be happy for. My 21st birthday was coming up in a little over a month----and I would soon become a legal Adult.

If anyone reading this has any further info on this operation, I certainly would like to hear of it.

LETTER #8

Of the three days that I accompanied the Moroccans on their advance into the Pocket, It has nothing to do with the Air force operations, but you might be interested. They were each unusual in their own way.

These Following three events might give you a view of the Moroccan troops and the French Red Cross that you might find enlightening. I did.

I believe it was the first day following the bombings that the following took place. The Lieutenant and I had this interesting experience while looking for a place we could observe from. We followed the Moroccans into a small very old village. The outer buildings were joined together to form a wall around the entire town. This town had not been bombed nor had it been shelled. There also had been no damage to the fruit orchards and vineyards that surrounded it. Where the few roads radiated out of the village, there were gates. At the gates the Moroccans had parked their tanks to block the opening.

Another interesting point: The tanks were vintage World War I with the tracks that went high up on the sides to the top of the tank and their two 75 MM guns stuck out the sides between the treads.

At the gate that lead out toward the Enemy we noticed that the French Red Cross had a van type vehicle parked at the side. The two Nurses were tending the wounded and a man was tapping mugs of beer out of a keg and passing it out to the soldiers. This sure wasn’t something that our army or Red Cross did. It was another indication that these troupes were not Muslim.

There was a high Water Tower standing in an orchard about a 100 yards beyond the gate. We could see a walk-way with a railing around the water tank near the top and we thought we might have a good view from there. A very tall, very black Moroccan Sergeant was standing nearby and with this in mind we tried to communicate with him by using gestures mostly. He smiled, and by his expression, indicated that he understood and beckoned for us to follow him. We walked out through the gate with him for maybe fifty feet or so before he turned to us and in perfect English with an Oxford Accent said, “I really don't think you gentlemen should try to get any closer to the tower. There is a German machine gun nest we are trying to get that is beneath it". With him laughing, we all beat a hasty retreat.

There was high grass growing in the orchard and every so often we would see the tip of a red fez stick up. Also every so often we would hear a call and stretcher bearers would run out (The Germans didn't seem to shoot at them) and bring another wounded one back. We gave up on our WATER TOWER idea.

This was the second interesting event.
Possibly on day # 2

One of the problems we had here was lack of places to use as Observation Posts. There were few hills. On this occasion the lieutenant, and I were exploring the one low ridge available to us at the time. There was a hedgerow running along the top of the ridge. At the right end of the ridge, on which this hedgerow ran, was a barn. We thought if we could get up on the top of the barn, we would be able to get a pretty good view of what was ahead.

To get up on the ridge we had to go up to the left end and then follow along the hedgerow. When we got up there we found that the Moroccans had a couple of their few 30 caliber machine guns set up on the other side of the hedgerow and the Germans were shooting at them with small arms fire. We began crawling behind the hedgerow toward the barn. About half way along we came to an opening in the hedgerow. We would be exposed to fire crawling across this opening. This we didn't particularly like and while we were discussing the problem, we heard a shuffling behind us. It was a French Red Cross Nurse with a bottle of wine in each hand---refreshments for the Machine Gunners. She crawled right by us and crossed the opening. We, feeling a bit sheepish, followed her.

Our view from the top of the barn was good, but it didn't last long. The barn was built into the forward slope of the ridge and had what amounted to a basement that was accessible from the front. Shortly after we got on the roof, a German "Screaming Meeme" rocket came in, apparently went into the basement and blew the bottom part of the barn out from under us. What a let down. These particular rockets were called "Screaming Meemes" because of the loud whistling scream they made as they came in. Surprisingly the ride down for us didn't seem all that bad, except that the concussion plus the shock of getting to the bottom so quickly loosened all of the fillings in my teeth. Other than that we were totally unscratched. When I told our Medical Officer what had happened---my fillings were falling out---he said, "No Problem". Surprisingly, a couple of days later, a Military Field Dentist came to give me a new set of temporary fillings. I didn't even know they had this service. The Dentist had a Staff Sergeant Assistant. The drill the Dentist used was Bicycle Powered. In place of a rear wheel, there was a transmission assembly that powered the drill. The Sergeant did the peddling----not quite up to today's standard, but it worked. Those temporary fillings lasted almost a year. The Dentist suggested that I wait until I could have my civilian dentist put permanent fillings in.

This is the third incident and probably occurred on the next to the last day of fighting. (Day #3)

At another location we were observing the Moroccans advance toward one of the only real hills in this pocket. It has a conical shaped hill about three or four hundred feet high. The Germans were occupying what appeared to be some well dug in defensive positions on the top. We called down for some heavy Artillery fire on the hill top. As this was going on, about a hundred Moroccans filed onto a narrow roadway cut along the base of the hill, preparing to charge up the hill when we lifted our fire. When the firing stopped, they took off running up the hill. Heavy machine gun fire erupted from the top and before they were a third of the way to the top, they were all cut down. We called in heavy fire again, much more than the first time.

While this was going on, a second group of Moroccans filed in and waited. When our fire ceased, they too took off, like one man, not one hesitated. Machine gun fire again hit them. They made it about twice as far as the first group before they were stopped. We began our firing again and kept it up until there was nothing on top that we could see except raw dirt. The third group, that had moved into position, again took off without a hesitation and secured the top. These Moroccan Troops were extremely well disciplined and brave men.

We heard that about one half of the men in the first two attempts were killed, probably about one hundred men, and all of the others wounded. We never did know how many German casualties there were on this hill top. There wasn't anything left to count.

Charles R.(Bob) Young

half PINT

Ryan — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:24:00 +0200

It is about time I addressed the issue of Half Pint, as this name comes up repeatedly in connection with 448846.

In 1945, there was a 14-year old schoolboy who was fascinated by the nose art of the B-17s. This boy took care to document the nose art and other markings of over 100 B-17s stationed at the 351st air base at Chelveston from the 305th, 303rd, 379th, 306th and 92nd Bomber Groups.

In this sketchbook, there is one page from mid May that mentions 48846 with the fuselage marking XK-M and which states "from triangle-J". These markings are, of course, those of the Pink Lady, as she bore them during the war, and at the time when she was exchanged for a less fully-equipped B-17. Following this exchange, the Pink Lady had her fuselage codes repainted from the 511th squadron letters (DS-M) to those of the 365th squadron (XK-M).

But what has caused some debate is what comes along with these markings. For the young man also wrote:

Touched "half pint" Chelveston plane. silver stripped.

These comments and observations surround the drawing of a red-headed woman in a green swimsuit superimposed over a 500lb bomb. Next to the pin-up is the name "half pint". Here is a copy of this page:

Two photographs, taken at Chelveston station 105 - 305th BG, show that there was indeed an unpainted B-17G with its nose turret newly removed and sporting this artwork. In the photo, you can also see crew members that would fly the aircraft for the beginning of the Casey Jones photomapping project in May 1945.

Based on this, it is believed by some that this nose art was on 48846 during her missions at the 511th Sqn - 351st BG, and that she arrived at Chelveston after war still carrying same artwork.

Questions remain

Not everyone agrees, however that 48846 did indeed have "half-pint" nose art. Indeed, Micheal Bezier (head of Fortresse Tojours Volante) and Jean-Paul Andre are not convinced, and have asked for further evidence.

Also, Norman Trapp does not remember that the plane had any art work on its nose when he flew her in the role of Pathfinder in April 14th, 1945 for the Royan mission.

Some final questions remain: who painted the artwork, when, and where? There is no evidence that this drawing was ever put on the plane while at Polebrook.

I will not draw any conclusion as to whether or not 48846 was once known as "Half Pint", but I will help keep the debate going by presenting the evidence of both opinions.

Pink Lady Videos

Ryan — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 22:07:00 +0200

Here are a couple of videos of the Pink Lady in flight:

At the Airshow in Grenchen

B-17 Pink Lady at the Airshow in Grenchen

Boeing B17 'Pink Lady'

B17 flying fortress

If anyone has any other videos or photos, please send me a copy at noram@pinklady.fr I would be interested in your story and media!

Performance in La Ferté 2007 Air Show

Ryan — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 14:47:00 +0200

It appears as though the Pink Lady will be flying at this year's La Ferté 2007 Air Show!

The show will be held from the 26th to 27th of May 2007, at the Cerny-la Ferté-Alais private airport, and is held by Amicale Jean-Baptiste Salis. For more information, please contact the association at:

Amicale Jean-Baptiste Salis Aérodrome de Cerny-la Ferté-Alais 91590 France tel: 01.64.57.55.85

Or visit their website at: http://www.ajbs.fr

Changing Base for 2007

Ryan — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 19:04:00 +0100

NEWS: The Pink Lady is no longer at Orly. Pending a new perminant location, the pink lady is being stored at St Yan, (Saône et Loire), France.

Since the hangar where the Pink Lady was stored at Orly no longer met safety rules and regulations, the hangar has been scheduled for demolition by Air France. As a consequence, the ATV had to find a new location where they could store the Pink Lady out of the elements for the winter. A sutable location was found at St Yan.

Here is a view of her new temporary hangar (source: FWV):

At the same time as this move, there is some speculation that the Pink Lady will be grounded (at least temporairly), just as the other flying B-17G in Europe, 'Sally B'. If this were the case, it would no doubt be related in part to rising insurance costs in Europe for this category of aircraft (ca. 500% rise, or an additional $1,890 per hour of flight).

Considering the small scale of the support oranization of the Pink Lady in France (when compared to that of 'Aluminum Overcast', or 'Yankee Lady' in the USA), it is financially problematic for her present caretakers to keep her flying until international sponsors will be found.

Should no sponsor be found, the Pink Lady will be maintained in flightworthy, but will remain grounded and it has been suggested that she would be put on static display at the AJBS museum at Ferté Alais, though a special hangar would need to first be built to accomodate her.

Special thank you for detailed information: Franck Cabrol, www.pegase-airshow.com

Mission: Furstenfeldbruck

Ryan — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 10:52:00 +0200

Briefing for the 8th Air Force's mission 935 was held at 6:00 AM on the morning of April 9th, 1945.

Due to bad weather, however, the mission to bomb the Luftwaffe airfield at Furstenfeldbruck, Germany that Monday morning, would be delayed...

Two hours and forty-five minutes later, the Pink Lady and her crew, piloted by Frank H. Wilcox, would takeoff from Polebrok, along with the 511th, and head towards London, escorted by 137 P-51 mustangs (2).

At the capital city of England, she followed the Group Lead, Major Geiger, who then turned Southeast towards the English Channel and the French city of Calais, before proceeding along the following course:

When Furstenfeldbruck airfield was reached, the Pink Lady released her bomb load, following the cue of the Lead Bombardier, Lt. Hall. It was a beautiful, clear day, and visibility was unlimited for the 139 B-17s participating in the visual bombing mission, which in part aided the group in scoring a direct hit, as bomb photos would later proove.

Dispite the extremely heavy flack, the Pink Lady was able to return successfully with the 511th, passing over the major German cities of Augsburg, Stuttgart, Karlsrhue, and Mannheim, before flying alongthe French boarder towards home. The return flight path of the 9-hour long mission was as follows:

Fortunately there were no Allied fatalities during that mission. Nonetheless, two B-17s were damaged beyond repair and 12 recieved minor damage. One airman was wounded. (2).

The Furstenfeldbruck airfield would eventually be rebuilt, and continues to operate today:

Mission: Halberstadt

Ryan — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 21:28:00 +0200

Like so many European cities, Halberstadt's history is devided into two periods: before and after "the bombing".

On Sunday April 8th 1945, the Pink Lady took off from polebrook airfield shortly after breakfast, and Captain Jay H. Maish put her into a holding pattern over the English coast while the entire bombing fleet would be assembled (1)...

Once the force of 339 B-17s (2) was assembled, it then flew out over the English Channel and over the Northern coast of France. As a bid to decieve German air defences, the flight plan involved a route that, at least in the beginning, implied that the force was going to bomb Nürnberg or Schweilnfurt (1). Then, south of the city of Fulda, the fleet changed heading towards the Northeast, and the awaiting city of Halberstadt.

Flightplan of the Pink Lady for the Halberstadt mission:

In his own words, Brigadier General Frederick L. Anderson (not on the Pink Lady, but participating in the same mission) recounts what then happened when the destination was reached by the fleet:

"(...)When we arrived in the Mosquitos, we saw the squadrons of bombers coming in from the south. To our right were the Harz Mountains; we could see the Brocken (highest peak of the Harz mountains). The planes flew over the southern portion of the city, dropping a few bombs as a prophylactic measure on exit roads where the inhabitants, responding to the air raid alarm fled towards the mountains.

The squadrons then regrouped at the north eastern corner of the city, over the road leading to Magdeburg. They circled twice until all the squadrons had joined the formation so that they could fly the attack in a close formation. The orders were for saturation bombing, i.e., concentration of bombs on the southern or middle section of the city. We didn’t know the city, had only a map to go by and our first visual impression. From this we knew that the main streets went through the middle from west to the east, in the north small villages, to the south mountains. We didn’t have time to dwell too much on the lay of the land since we still had the attack and flight back home ahead of us. We looked for the cardinal points of the city."

(...)We looked for the main arteries and the exits. Also where it would really burn. You know yourself where that is in an old city. You don’t have to be a medievalist to know that such cities were founded in 800 A.D. With that in mind the bombers concentrated on the corner houses so we could block the streets. Ideally a pile of rubble at the entrance and exit of every street.

The trap was sprung after we opened up the houses on either side of the streets. Then followed with incendiary canisters and fire bombs, etc. Then a third and fourth wave again to detonate the houses and burn them. This led to a criss-cross effect even though we always flew along the same path. Buildings that were still intact were hard to set afire. First the roofs had to be destroyed, opening made that go down to the second or ground floor where all the flammable material was. Otherwise we didn’t get area fires or fire storms, etc. (...)" (1)

The bombing would leave about 300 people dead, and would create 1.5 million cubic meters of rubble that would need to be removed from the city (3). Three days later, the American ground invasion of the city would take place, followed four weeks later by the end of World War II.

Arial view of Halberstadt today:

Mission: Royan

Ryan — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 20:42:00 +0200

On Saturday April 14th, 1945, the Pink Lady participated in what would be the first day of a two-day bombing of the city of Royan and the surrounding area, in an attempt to dislodge the occupying German force... (Read a first-hand account of the bombing)

Royan is a small city, located along the French atlantic coast, and at the mouth of the Gironde.

In all, according to the Air Force Historical Studies Office, "1,161 heavy bombers destroyed 22 defensive installations consisting of AA and arty positions and strongpoints covering the Gironde estuary"(1).

Other official records indicate that of that force, "480 of 490 B-17s hit 15 strongpoints and flak batteries in the Bordeaux/Royan, Pointe Coubre and Pointe Grave areas (...), and " 338 of 341 B-17s attack 4 strongpoints and flak batteries in the Bordeaux/Royan area without loss."(2).

German soldier at Royan:

Of the April 14th raid, in which the Pink Lady participated, Lieutenant Glaskin of the 100th Bomb Group wrote in his diary that, "The mission was a direct request from the ground troops to knock out the naval guns guarding the estuary entrance to Bordeaux at Royan. . . Hit target at 1043 (by squadron bombing) from 20,000 feet on a heading of 340. Beautiful visual day. No flak. No fighters. "(3)
On a darker note, the bombing of Royan would be the Eighth Air Force's only use a new weapon in an attempt to kill Germans in their bunkers: napalm (1, 4). Known as a Class-C Fire Bomb, each napalm bomb contained 108 Gallons of the petrolium substance, and they were only used in a few missions. A B-17 only carried 4 of them (5).

Another member of the 100th BG (the Pink Lady was with the 511th) wrote of the bombing run of that day:

(...)the author lost the Bomb tag for this mission, time over target is unknown. However, author recalls that the bomb load consisted of some P-51 wing tanks filled with napalm with an igniting device. Emitting fumes that even penetrated the crew's oxygen masks, the bomb bay doors were opened slightly to allow the fluid napalm to go out into the slip stream. One can conjecture that the personnel responsible for filling these tank did not take into consideration that by filling the tanks to the brim at ground level, the fluid would expand at altitude and over flow. As I recall the tactic of using napalm was to simply burn the Germans from their bunkers. I always wondered why I did not have a bomb tag for this mission; one answer could be that because we were dropping P-51 wing tanks and not conventional bombs, arming pins were not needed or overlooked? Larry Lazzari recalls that the P-51 wing tanks were attached to wires and due to the wires getting tangled some of the bombs malfunctioned. (...)" (4).

As a result of the conventional and napalm bombing of the city of Royan, the city was totally destroyed, with one report citing that only nine houses remained standing (6). Among the destructive figures is cited that 1,700 French civilians were killed (7).

The military success of the operation was minimal, and an official Air-Force report of the mission concluded that, "The sole operational employment of napalm bomb by Eighth AF is carried out against German ground installations (pillboxes, gunpits, tank trenches, and heavy gun emplacements) in defensive pocket at Royan by nearly 850 HBs. Results are negligible and HQ recommends its discontinuance against this type of tgt. (...)" (1).

Ultimately, however, the bombing of the German forces would help regain control over the port area, curring off access to the Atlantic ocean by the German U-boats and destroyers stationed along the Gironde.

The town would later be totally rebuilt by French architects (6). As you can see in the photo below:

Photos: Le Musée de la Poche de Royan (public domain)

A Concise History of the Pink Lady

Ryan — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 13:48:00 +0200

I have managed to pull together a brief history of the Pink Lady from all the sources I have used up to the present. This history expands on what I already wrote in the Wikipedia article...

While there is more information on the Pink Lady in all my sources than what I have listed below, I have only added information that seemed to be to be the most definitive. If anyone has any comments or corrections, please don't hesitate to post them!

Rolled out of the Lockheed-Vega production facility in Burbank, California in December, 1945, the Pink Lady was then only known as a B-17G-85-VE Fortress, serial number 44-8846, and construction number of 8246.

Too often overlooked, it would not be right to begin the history of any aircraft without discussing those who made its existence even possible. Already, images I have found in a national photographic database provide an interesting view of the production stage (though concerning the construction of B-17F in 1942), that are often overlooked by the general public. Though there are the expected production photos displaying an endless number of aircraft parts in various stages of production where the subject is not man, but machine:

there is also the unexpected photos where the human element jumps out at you. Whether it be scenes of factory workers getting on a bus to go back home, a colorful shirt that you might imagine wearing on the weekend, such images really remind me of the importance of the people in such an endeavour.

She was delivered to the United States Army and Air Force on January 17th 1945 at Cheyenne.

B-17 bombers like 8846 that were built late in the war were left unpainted, both to save weight and because there was less of a threat that the airfields in Europe would be bombed by the Luftwaffe. The only real paint that was applied to them was olive drab patches on the fuselage in front of the cockpit windows and on the inner sides of the engines. This was to prevent or reduce the amount of glare from sunlight that was reflected into the cockpit.

When 8846 was first made, the only marking she had was the number 48846 written on the vertical stabilizer, in 15-inch tall black numbers, in the 45° font of the USAAF.

On March 1st, 1945, 8846 was flown to Polebrook, England, where she would be assigned to the of the 351st Bomber Group of the 511th Bomber Squadron.

Below is a photo in which you can see the nose and crew of the Pink Lady when stationed in Polebrook...

Rear from left: 'S/Sgt. Phil Povlotsky,Lt. Eugene Leone, Lt. Howard F. Smith, S/Sgt. Kenneth A. Morris. Front, S/Sgt. John R. M. O'Neill, S/Sgt. Robert Smith, T/Sgt. John Snyder, T/Sgt. James Morphew'.

Source: Ken Harbour, The 351st Bomb Group in WWII, p. 140.
available at freespace.virgin.net/ken.harbour/index.htm

This photo was taken in 1945 while the Pink Lady was stationed in Polebrook, England as part of the 351st Bomb Group. It is showing the original markings of the 511th squadron, where the aircraft was given the letter M as an identifier (the squadron's ID was DS). As you can see, the Pink Lady was in the usual unpainted aluminum typical of B17Gs, and is in mint condition.

Additionally, it is noteworthy to see that there is no nose artwork at the time of this photo. In fact, when B-17s had nose art, crews posed by it to help identify themselves with their aircraft. It is therefore evident that the only way to identify the Pink Lady in the same photo frame as a portrait of the crew was to have them pose by the "M" painted on the chin turret.

It is interesting to compare this with the photo of the post-"Memphis Belle" configuration which you may see in my first entry "Clear the Prop!" below...

When assigned to the 511th, she would be given the markings of the squadron, which were:

M on nose turret
Vertical stabilizer: Black Triangle (48" tall) with white J (40" tall), angled red stripe, black serial number 48846 (15" tall) painted 96" below top of vertical stabilizer, and in front of rudder. Black call letter M (24" tall) painted below the serial number.
Fuselage: M DS in 72"-tall black (insignia blue?) letters seperated by the USAAF logo (25"-long side bars, 50"-diameter circle) which was located 50" in front of the front edge of the waist gunner's window on the left side, and 50" from the back edge of the waist gunner's window.
Top left wing: USAAF star logo: 35" side bars, and a 70" diameter circle (total width of 140"). This was located 13 feet from the wingtip.
Lower right wing: USAAF star logo: 35" side bars, and a 70" diameter circle (total width of 140"). This was located 13 feet from the wingtip.

At that time, there were no de-icer boots on the leading edges of the wings or stabilizers on the pink lady. This can be seen by looking closely at the period photograph, where you can see to the left of engine number 3 where the de-icer boot would have been.

I wanted to be sure that this was the case, so I located a similar aircraft 44-85829 (AKA Yankee Lady) to compare photos. Below is a comparison of three images to help show that there was no de-icer boot in the photo of the Pink Lady.

The first photo (a) is a color photo of 44-85829's engine #3 and its nearest de-icer boot, which is clearly visible. The second photo (b) is a black-and-white version of the same photo, that can eaisly be compared with the photo of the same wing section of the Pink lady (c). It is therefore evident that the de-icer boots were indeed missing.

These hard-to-maintain boots would appear later (in the 1980's) when she was outfitted as 'Lucky Lady' for airshows, and would remain on in her subsequent painting for the movie 'Memphis Belle' and thereafter in her ficticious olive drab 511 appearance.

The image below is a recreation of the the 8846 as it appeared in April 1945, with the markings of the 511th Bomber Squadron (Source: Cédric FWV)

Since the war would soon be over, 8846 would only fly six missions over Germany as part of her active duty for the 511th (April 6, 1945 to May 23, 1945):

Date: Sunday, April 8, 1945
Captain: Jay H. Maish
Mission #932: Marshalling yard at Halberstadt, Germany

Date: Monday, April 9, 1945
Captain: Frank H. Wilcox
Mission #935: Luftwaffe airfield at Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany

Date: Saturday, April 14, 1945
Captain: Norman A. Trapp
Mission #948: Strongpoints and flak batteries in Royan, France

Date: Monday, April 16, 1945
Captain: Julian C. Meadows
Mission #954: Rail bridge at Regensburg, Germany

Date: Wednesday, April 18, 1945
Captain: Julian C. Meadows
Mission #959: Electrical transformers (or marshalling yard) at Traunstein, Germany

Date: Friday, April 20, 1945
Captain: Lieutenant George A. Patterson
Mission #962: Marshalling yards at Brandenberg, Germany

Photo of Lieutenant Patterson, the last captain of the Pink Lady during her active war duty (photo from when he was with 48468, TU-J):

The active wartime mission duty crew for mission #962 of the Pink Lady was as follows:

Lt Thomas Kucskar
Lt Georges A Patterson Lt L. L. Lesch
Lt D. J. Young
Lt L. R. Phelps
T/Sgt W. L. Mawhorter
S/Sgt A. L. Rhoden
S/Sgt D.J. Appleford
S/Sgt R. L. Dickman
T/Sgt D. B. Saltman

8846 remained in England when the rest of the 351st returned to the United States, as she was transferred to the 365th Bombing Squadron of the 305th Bombing Group, based in Chelveston, England.

In May 1945, the Pink Lady was transferred to (the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron, in Lechfeld Army Air Base, Germany with) the 305th Bombing Group. She would participate in the "Casey Jones Project", an ambitious project to map Germany by Air by B-17.

On 22 March 22nd, 1949 The pink lady was relocated converted to a RB-17G, and stationed at Weisbaden Air Force Base, Germany until February 1953, when she would return to the United States.

The Pink Lady was then assigned to the Ogden Air Material Command Centre, Hill Air Force Base, in Northern Utah.

On November 10th, 1954, the Pink Lady was retired from the Air Force at Olmstead Air Force Base, in Pennsylvania.

On december 5 (7th?), 1954, the Pink Lady flew to France, after being purchased by the IGN, where she would accumulate 9,483 hours of flight. She was then given the tail number F-BGSP. As you can see in the photo below ("Fana de l'Aviation", 85 - Dec. 1976. Merci Tex Hill!) the inner surfaces of the engines and just in front of the cockpit windows has been painted. This is to reduce the glair from the reflecting sun shining into the cockpit.

She would then be stationed at Creil, in the north of Paris. The IGN modified her with special survey equipment.

The Pink Lady would perform survey operations around the world, including such locations as Polynesia and the Far North. In 1965 she was flown to South Africa for a survey proect, when she would be allocated the tail number (ZS-DXM).

The pink Lady would appear in several films, such as the 1966 French comedy, "Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At" (Original title: "La Grande Vadrouille"), and in 1968, "The biggest bundle of them all" (in the final sequence).

The Pink Lady stopped flying on August 27th 1979 and put in storage, after having her tail number changed to F-BWFU.

44-8846 was restored to flight worthiness, funded in part by Air France, and performed a flyover during the July 14th parade in 1984.

In May of the following year she was given to the "Forteresse Toujours Volante" association in partnership with the Amicale Jean-Baptiste Salis. The Pink Lady was then re-registered as F-AZDX. At that time, the Pink Lady was re-painted with ficticious 8th Air Force markings.
Though its ball turret and nose turrets were not returned.

It then flew at airshows as "Lucky Lady":

And eventually found a sponsor, who used her as a billboard for advertisement:

In June 1989, the Pink Lady flew to England for the shooting of the movie, Memphis Belle. F-AZDX was then painted in olive drab, and adopted the serial number 25703, along with DF-S fuselage codes, as "Mother and Country". Fake turrets were fit on the aircraft.

In August 1989, the filming of Memphis Belle was complete, and the Pink Lady returned to France. Though oficially registered as F-AZDX, was painted for the movie, "Memphis Belle" as 28703 (25703?) on tail, DF-S on fuselage, "Mother and Country" on nose

Right side: 122960 on tail, G-DF on fuselage, "The Pink Lady" artwork on nose:

Below is a 1997 photograph showing her with tail number 22955 and ZQ-X painted on the fuselage:

In 1999, The pink Lady was painted back to the markings of her original assignment as part of the 351st Bomber Group, 511th BS, though she remained in the Olive Drab applied to her for the Memphis Belle movie.

At present, the Pink Lady has a dual identity and is currently flying without her nose turret. On ler right side, she has both "Mother and Country", and "The Pink Lady" artwork on nose, and is painted with her original wartime number: triangle-J 48846 M on tail (with red stripe), M-DS on fuselage:

On her left side, she presently has "the Pink Lady" nose art:

The Pink Lady is now based at the Paris-Orly Airport, though she is not open to the public for display. Her current captains are Michel Bezy and André Domine.
Current crew of the Pink Lady (André Domine is not pictured):
(Photo by Franck Lenoir)

In October 2006, the Pink Lady was transferred to a new location: St Yan.

The Pink Lady is now in Wikipedia

Ryan — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 21:47:00 +0200

Upon looking at the B-17 entry in Wikipedia, I noticed, to my dismay, the absence of our beloved 48846! Of course the usual stars were there (Memphis Belle, Liberty Belle, Nine-O-Nine, Sally B, etc...) but the Pink Lady was not on the list of "Notable B-17s"...

I therefore added "The Pink Lady" to the list of B-17s on the page, and thus brought her to the attention of the rest of the world, and the millions of high-school students of America who use Wikipedia as their primary source of information.

In adding the Pink Lady to this list, I realized that I therefore should create an entry in Wikipedia for her as well. So I did! At present, the Pink Lady has a place in the free online encyclopedia, where all of you can also add your facts.

For now the entry is sparce, but I will edit it as my research progresses, and this weekend I shall turn it in to a real summary of the aircraft's history. I do not plan on spening too much time on my Wikipedia entry (because that would defeat the purpose of the website that I will eventually put on this domain name), but I feel the entry should at least be informative.

Photographic Documentation

Ryan — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 23:06:00 +0200

Below is the actual control panel of the Pink Lady: I will begin a thread that will present photographic documentation that I come across that can be commented on. To begin with, below is a photo I found while researching the 511th Squadron in which you can see the nose and crew of the Pink Lady when stationed in Polebrook...

Description:

Subject: Flight crew and the Pink Lady in 1945.

Source: Ken Harbour, The 351st Bomb Group in WWII, p. 140.
available at freespace.virgin.net/ken.harbour/index.htm

Comments:

It is interesting to compare this with the photo of the post-"Memphis Belle" configuration which you may see in my first entry "Clear the Prop!" below...

Markings of The Pink Lady 1945- 2006

Ryan — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 14:51:00 +0200

I have compiled a very rough list of the various painting schemes and tail numbers associated with The Pink Lady from 1945 to Today, which I will present below of review and comments. This list will mainly serve as my starting point, as it provides me with a visible chronology of the Pink Lady, to which I may in turn place events...

Dated photographs found on the internet were the primary source material used to create this list, though I also cross-referenced them with posts made by many online enthousiasts of the aircraft (I have added the URLS below for reference). I suggest verifying the below with a peer-reviewed publication before it is stated as fact, keeping in mind that at this time, it is only to be used by me as a guideline.

There were a few photos that led to some speculation, and an interesting comment by Ian White about it being "Half Pint" for a period in 1945, but I tried to limit the list below to what I could visually verify during my preliminary background research.

Here is a non-exhaustive chronological list of the Pink Lady's painting schemes and registration numbers from 1945-2006:

Entire Aircraft: Unpainted Aluminum

1945: 48846 on tail

1945, March: , M on nose turret
Vertical stabilizer: Black Triangle (48" tall) with white J (40" tall), angled red stripe, black serial number 48846 (15" tall) painted 96" below top of vertical stabilizer, and in front of rudder. Black call letter M (24" tall) painted below the serial number.

Fuselage: M DS in 72"-tall insignia blue letters seperated by the USAAF logo (25"-long side bars, 50"-diameter circle) which was located 50" in front of the front edge of the waist gunner's window on the left side, and 50" from the back edge of the waist gunner's window.

Top right wing: USAAF star logo: 35" side bars, and a 70" diameter circle (total width of 140"). This was located 13 feet from the wingtip. Lower right wing: USAAF star logo: 35" side bars, and a 70" diameter circle (total width of 140"). This was located 13 feet from the wingtip.

1945, May: Triangle-J 48846 M on tail with red stripe (?), XK-M on fuselage,

1954: IGN logo on tail, F-BGSP on fuselage
Top left wing: F-B
Top right wing: GSP
Bottom left wing: GSP
Bottom right wing: F-B

1965: ZS-DXM (possibly not painted with this)

1979: WFU (possibly not painted with this)

1985: 48846 tail, F-AZDX on fuselage, "Lucky Lady" artwork on nose

Entire Aircraft: Olive Drab

1989: Oficially registered as F-AZDX, was painted for the movie, "Memphis Belle" as:
Left side: 28703 (25703?) on tail, DF-S on fuselage, "Mother and Country" on nose
Right side: 122960 on tail, G-DF on fuselage, "The Pink Lady" artwork on nose

Unknown: added: Total logo (?) on fuselage by horizontal stabilizer

Unknown: added: Hertz logo added to nose

1993: large text below pilot and co-pilot side windows:

 B 17
 FAURE
 EVER

On right-hand side, 5 yellow bombs painted after the word "FAURE", under which there were 2 swastikas

1998: 22955 on tail, F-AZDX on fuselage, "Mother and country" artwork on nose

2002: Triangle-J 48846 M on tail (with red stripe), M-DS on fuselage (absence of nose turret)
Left side: "The Pink Lady" artwork, and 846 on nose
6 yellow bombs painted below pilot's side window
Blue number "7"
TEXT (black stencil):

 U.S. ARMY-MODEL B-17G-85-VE
 AIR FORCES SERIAL NO. 44-8846
 CREW WEIGHT 1200 LBS

(+ 5 lines of smaller, illigible text)

Right side: "Mother and Country", and "The Pink Lady" artwork on nose
Top left wing: Star
Right Bottom wing: Star

The current paintjob does not have "The Pink Lady" artwork on right nose, but is otherwise like its 2002 configuration.

On something of another subject, In examining the tails of other B-17s of the 351st, to try to get an idea of what the Pink Lady's original tail would have looked like, I have begun to notice the presence of a small triangle on the rudder, something not often mentioned in descriptions of the 351st markings.

This triangle was first brought to my attention in the photograph I dug up of [the Pink Lady in April, 1945: in the background you can see the tail of another B-17|.

Here is an enlarged photo of the background aircraft (the propeller in the foreground and the tire belong to the Pink Lady): It would appear as though this was 44-8455 (DS-O), a contemporary of 44-8846 in April 1945. After retouching the image, the details stand out even more: The triangle in this image is clearly visible, though it is large and possibly empty in the middle.

I then looked at other photos of B-17 from the 351st, which also seem to show a triangle on the rudder, though smaller. It is often towards the top:

Though is at times small, and towards the bottom:

And, of course, is often not there at all:

Another interesting point, and one that is clearly identifiable in just the couple of photos provided here, is the great degree of variation in the placement of the Triangle-J, and the aircraft identifier (O, G, L, R, etc.). Also, the aircraft identification number either goes directly over the red stripe(43-38954, 44-8045), or cuts through the stripe (48468, ).

The replacement rudder that has been put on 42-38005 (the crashed plane up above) clearly comes from an unpainted B-17G, is evidence that there are still yet other examples of this small triangle on the rudder on other Flying Fortresses of the 351st.

If anyone out there has any ideas about the significance of the mysterious small rudder triangle, please let me know!

UPDATE: I have found an online source that also shows this triangle, though it was not elaborated on:

Any ideas?

Technical Woes

Ryan — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 19:52:00 +0200

Today's log entry has absolutely nothing to do with the Pink Lady aircraft. Rather, I though it might interest some of you to read about some early technical aspects regarding the creation of this website...

Domain names that use the .fr TLD such as this one can take some time to set up, due to AFNIC's famous ZoneCheck system and DNS propagation time.

The domain was created using the full1.gandi.net and full2.gandi.net forwarding nameservers which are very reliable for creating a .fr domain at Gandi.net. The actual domain itself took about 1 day to be registered at the registry and made visible on the internet.

My first idea was to put the blog on a subdomain, and leave the domain unused. However, this just looked lame, and so rather than having an address like www.blog.pinklady.fr I decided to configure my DNS to put the blog's IP directly on the domain itself. Of course switching the DNS from full1 and 2 to ns7.gandi.net and custom2.gandi.net took another day to be verified by AFNIC and to propagate the internet.

So even though I created thepinklady.fr a while ago, the blog you are looking at now took some time to actually appear where it is.