I am not an expert but have seen some of these planes in action.
In the first clip below you will see the B-29 taxi with only two engines running. This was in 2012 or 2013. The next time I saw in 2014 they ran all 4 all the time.
The number one engine is as Craig said, the far left(or port side to the pilots left). In this clip you will see B-17 "The Memphis Belle"-Movie version, start-up number 3 engine. This is because between flights they would leave one and two running, and shut down 3 and 4, cause that was the side riders boarded the aircraft.
In this next one of the B-29, you don't see the first engine starting, but as I recall they did the number 1, then number 4, then 2 and 3. I would have to watch the footage again to varify it though.
On all the twin engine B-25's I have seen, they always start the number 2 engine on the starboard(right side), first. Once it is running well they do the port side. Pilot is on the port side. Here is a video of B-25's, and there is one short shot of "Yankee Warrior" starting the starboard engine first. Recently I saw a C-45(Twin engine), and it started the same way. These are just previews so the scenes are short.
Speaking of OSS during WW2, I knew 2 different guys who were part of that. One was a jewish guy who escaped Germany near the end of the time one could get out. He joined the OSS and was a spy basically during the war. The other guy was a tail gunner on a B-24, and was in the squadron that was part of the OSS, dropping in spys and supplies to the underground, and other stuff, all at night. They usually flew in a 6 plane formation. He told me one of the resistance people told them about the Germans moving an 88 (used for anti-aircraft), near where they were intended to go, and with the info he said it probably saved their bacon. Those 88's were quite feared.
Greg Scholl
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