this info is from Steve (Servicide.blogspot.com) who always amazes me with the stuff he knows or finds out about things I've posted.
The original B-17 had two different colors on the bathing suits - blue on the port side and red on the starboard side.
The image was taken from George Petty's April 1941 pinup in Esquire magazine.
The pilot, Robert Morgan had gotten Petty's phone number from the magazine and asked him for permission to reproduce the artwork. Petty was gracious and even thrilled to be a part of it. Corporal Tony Starcer, who was an artist in the Squadron, painted the images on the fuselage. Morgan had told Starcer, "I don't care what color you put on her bathing suit, as long as you put a bathing suit on her." When restored the first time, the pinups were repainted a bit too hefty (see the blue suit image).
The current restoration is returning them to their wartime figures (red image),
I saw the Memphis Belle on Mud Island in Memphis in 1987, just shortly after it went on display there.
