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): tail351blow-up.jpg 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: extrapolation.jpg 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: 42-38005.jpg

Though is at times small, and towards the bottom: 44-8045.jpg

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

43-38954.jpg 48468.jpg

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, ).

297144.jpg

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: t351bg.jpg

Any ideas?