Memphis Belle - restored

My Uncle flew B-17's in WWII , so this aircraft is dear to my heart. Happy to see this iconic girl getting a proper place to rest ! Mike :applause:
 
I've followed this pretty closely over the years and fortunately live just two hours away from Museum . Hope to make it there this summer and take a ton of pictures . I've made couple dozen visits over the years .

Rich
 
The "Belle" deserves nothing less.....
Although she was Loved and admired on Mud Island; I think even more people will now get to see and adore her for what she is there at the Air Force Museum. The "Belle" is surrounded by other historic aircraft and displayed in her element with proper reverence. Long before there was a movie with the name. The "Memphis Belle" was known as the most famous B-17 ever built. It is a shame that Col. Bob Morgan didn't get to see this for himself. I was lucky enough to meet and heard him speak about a year before he passed. Col. Morgan pleaded with the crowd to "Save the Belle." He wanted her moved someplace out of the elements and preserved for future generations. He was troubled by the weathering and vandalism she had suffered and was afraid she'd rot away out there. FedEx was trying to do their part to save it... but it wasn't enough. I don't think anyone at that time would have believed the "Belle" would leave Memphis, let alone end up in Dayton. Mission Accomplished Colonel Morgan...
 
Memphis Bell is a beauty. I love the B-17F. I'm sure the chin turret was nice to have in the G model but the Belle looks brand new now!
Ted
 
I agree with Ted. The F is sleeker and sexier than the G, in the same way as the 109e or f is prettier than the G with its lumps and bumps.

David
 
For anyone who may be interested and wasn't aware, back in February the National Archives made available on Youtube the original color footage outtakes from the wartime "Memphis Belle" documentary, most of which had hardly ever been seen before by the public. 30+ sets of film, most which are about 20-minutes a piece (only a very small fraction of which was actually used in the documentary - I believe all of the combat footage was shot over the course of three missions): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLugwVCjzrJsUYPKoEFkYjLAEgxWEWVqmQ

The USAF Museum used this abundant amount of footage to accurately reproduce the markings on the restoration, to depict the aircraft just as it looked after completing its 25th mission, without any of the additional markings that were added later (for the war bond tour). Although they didn't want to try and depict any "patina" or wear & tear in the finish on the restored "Memphis Belle", they did make the finish of the OD on the fabric control surfaces lighter to match the same style of fading seen originally in '43, and made the shade of OD on the main vertical fin/tail section a bit darker (since, as I recall, it was a replacement section, following damage on one of the missions). Also, on the restoration, where as on engines #2, 3 & 4, all of the prop blades have stencils, the stencils aren't applied to the prop blades on the #1 engine, since it can be seen in original footage around the time of the aircraft's 25th mission that the stencils on those prop blades had worn off, though they remained present on the rest of the blades.
 
The chin turret adds some visual weight to the otherwise very plain and featureless nose of the "F" and especially acts as a counterweight to the dorsal turret to make the fuselage appear more balanced in the vertical axis. Longitudinally, it kind of acts as a counterweight to the huge vertical tail.



Man, now I want to do something involving B-17s. If only B-17 FF2 had larger formations...
 
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