B-17 Restoration Thread...

Wittpilot said:
Grabbed a shot of the bombracks in place. You can also see the famous "rope". Quite helpful when navigating through the plane when you're in a hurry... Also the fiberglass cheek gun ready to be attatched.

-witt
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Ah, yes, the ropes. Walking through Nine-O-Nine during flight with an old, full size VHS camcorder was a real thrill. All I could think about was the pre-flight briefing and being told to not fall off the catwalk. Landing on the bomb bay doors would likely result in them opening and me being gone for good.
 
Please tell me Witt that they really didn't just "slap" the norden in place ... I hope they took their time and placed it with care! ;)
 
Sorry Snuffy, poor word choice. Not it wasn't just thrown up there. It is sitting on it's perch just as Boeing intended.
 
Champaign Lady moved to her new home recently. Just to the north in the new museum hangar.... I have stolen some photos from the museum's website of the move since I couldn't be there.
 
Some photos from Thursday. Work begins, and is progressing nicely on the top turret. That is original stock plexi I do believe. And can anyone guess what went in this little "bay"?
-witt
 
Wittpilot said:
Some photos from Thursday. Work begins, and is progressing nicely on the top turret. That is original stock plexi I do believe. And can anyone guess what went in this little "bay"?
-witt
Click to expand...

Hopefully a little bomb...:jump:
 
Witt

Thanks for sharing all the pics and updates...very interesting watching a B-17 come back together.

Looking at the pic of the belly turret on it's support frame...I couldn't help but see Darth Vader sitting inside that thing....his fighter thingie looked like a Fort's belly turret with side plates.

OBIO
 
OBIO said:
Witt

Thanks for sharing all the pics and updates...very interesting watching a B-17 come back together.

Looking at the pic of the belly turret on it's support frame...I couldn't help but see Darth Vader sitting inside that thing....his fighter thingie looked like a Fort's belly turret with side plates.

OBIO
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Yes Obio, I believe in an earlier post I make mention of this exact same observation!
 
Wittpilot said:
Not quite... It is actually the bay underneath the radio room where they kept the camera that took pictures of the target as they dropped the bombs.
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I thought thats what the Radio guy did. They just tied a rope to him and hung him out the bomb bay!:jump:
 
Okay, been a long time I know... But I grabbed some shots from our appreciation banquet/dinner....

Top turret shell & th new floors/table in the nose....More to come soon!
 
Question for ya Witt. I can see in the first pic part of the top turret protruding into the cockpit area. Is this going to have a complete turret ? I've been through four different B-17's and none had the turret inside the aircraft. Only two had the complete ball turret. I know it would be a pain for ground tours. Last summer I helped our local EAA with the Sentimental Journey. I was in the cockpit and had a hard time not laughing at some of the comments made by people after climbing up from the nose only to be met by the bomb bay bulkhead and catwalk. Would love to see the "whole" turret in there:jump:
 
Curtis P40 said:
Question for ya Witt. I can see in the first pic part of the top turret protruding into the cockpit area. Is this going to have a complete turret ? I've been through four different B-17's and none had the turret inside the aircraft. Only two had the complete ball turret. I know it would be a pain for ground tours. Last summer I helped our local EAA with the Sentimental Journey. I was in the cockpit and had a hard time not laughing at some of the comments made by people after climbing up from the nose only to be met by the bomb bay bulkhead and catwalk. Would love to see the "whole" turret in there:jump:
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This is a rather large problem in the B-17 circle... Very few full turret's remain in existence. That is probably the biggest reason why you do not see them very often. Another reason leading up to that you already touched on, comfort. In Liberty Belle for example, it allows us to fit two seats for riders right behind the pilot & copilot. This would make for a very cramped ride w/ the turret in place. Also, I think weight would also play a little part...probably not much though.

We had parts for a complete top turret. Unfortunately I believe they belonged to the famous, or as most are finding out infamous, Tom Reilly. They are no longer in our hangar I don't think. Not sure what the plans are. I'd think we'd have to build the thing from scratch which would be a monumental task. However, every effort possible is being made to make this THE most accurate "fresh from the factory" B-17 flying in the world.... So only time will tell...

Did that answer your question?
-witt
 
Yes, you did Witt. I was just wishing :icon_lol: but really understand how much prime space would be "wasted." Haven't heard about this fellow Tom Reilly...
Thanks, Curt
 
Mr. Reilly is very well known in the warbird/restoration community - has led the restoration of numerous warbirds for the past three decades, including WWII bombers, fighters, trainers, and is currently advancing quite well on restoring an airworthy P-82. Among many other things, he and his company did restoration work on the B-17 "Nine O Nine", "Liberty Belle", "Suzy Q", and I believe will be working on Don Brooks' other B-17 project, 44-83790. I don't know much about the guy personally, but his name pops up quite frequently in the warbird world, as he has restored quite a variety of aircraft (currently with an F4U and P-38 in his shop, among other things).

As always Witt, thank you for the updates/photos! I bet it is a good bit of a morale-booster to see the turret shell in place!
 
Tom is without a doubt an intriguing character... When he was in charge of of maintenance with Liberty Belle, he let my 15 year old brother climb up in the cockpit by himself and do small things... i.e. open the cowl flaps, lower the wing flaps...etc... He is a nice guy... A bit of a smooooooth talker really.... He'd make a great car salesman! I mean, how many others could have talked Walter Soplata out of that P-82???

The Champaign Aviation Museum obtained a B-25 restored by Reilly.... That was several years ago... It hasn't flown since. It has been worked on since they got it.... A lot of things had to be changed out or fixed.....Anybody putting two and two together yet?

Yes his airplanes fly, you can "kick the tires & light the fires" so to speak.... but with Reilly it is a question of how long will you be kicking!
-witt
 
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