B-17G Flying Fortress/44-85738/Preston's Pride

[spriso]

Time for another visit, and again, other than the nose glass now missing, the rest seems as it was before-- dirty, and neglected-- but I did not notice any new damage. I was dismayed to see that the pigeons are nesting in the wings, so who knows what kind of corrosion is going on in there now.

I took a bunch of photos wih my regular camera, which I will post later, but here are a few panoramic shots taken with the phone (the fence makes photography very difficult!)







More later in the week when I get back,

Michael

[spriso]

Here are the rest of the shots that I took of 44-85738 earlier this week:

Behind the fence:



Interior is totally stripped out:



Nose plexiglass is missing (but thankfully covered by a flat sheet of plexiglass):



Pigeons on the inboard engine-- they later flew into the wing vents and were scratching around on the inside of the wing (which made me cringe!):







I hope for a better future for this beauty one day!

Michael

[Warbird Kid]

THAT THING FLEW IN?!!?!!? GEEEEZ that 17 needs a new home. Preferably one that will restore her to fly.

[spriso]

i was the area again yesterday and stopped by to see if anything had changed with "Preston's Pride" and was plesantly surprised to see that the plexiglass nose cone had been put back on and the markings had been repainted (albeit not correctly).

I will post a pic when I get home.

Michael

[spriso]

Here is the promised pic of "Preston's Pride" with the insignia and squadron markings repainted-- my photo of the nose did not turn out very good (LOL)





Michael

[peter]

Sad girl..

[spriso]

This week brought me back down to Tulare, CA, and of course I needed to check in on "Preston's Pride" to see how the elements had been treating the old girl--













I did not notice any "new" damage, but the flying rats are still poking there head out of the engines and any openings-- maybe one day this beautiful aircraft will get the love it deserves...

Michael

[Superior Shine]

Hopefully very soon, if not by years end... by early next year, a team will gather in Tulare to polish Prestons Pride. We are gearing up for it now.

[bdk]

Preston is likely not very proud at the moment. And the plastic owl is not keeping the pigeons at bay.

I know it will look great once Superior Shine gets done with it!

[Lost4Ever]

I have driven by this bird every couple of months for nearly 8 years now on my way to visit family but have never stopped to take a look. I finally got the chance to stop last week (just me and my son in the car this time, both aircraft enthusiasts) Looks like there's been a little TLC done since last I saw it: the fence is repainted and there are some pretty heavy duty bird screens over the engines now, but it still can use some work. Just thought I would post this update for you guys and post a few pictures I took while I was there.

[edit] I apologize for the broken image links. Fixed now.

[Superior Shine]

The date is set. We are going to polish the aluminum skins 2nd week in April 2018.

[spriso]

Down in Tulare, California again this week, and I thought I would share a couple photos from this year's visit:







The tail markings have been stripped off and you can see some of the original markings below:



I really hope that this aircraft is returned to some more accurate 379th markings after it is cleared up-- I heard that there is some talk of changing the markings on this plane to reflect it's drone controller history....

I also noticed that some of the props are in different positions than before-- so maybe the engines are not frozen solid??

[Superior Shine]

Three props spin freely. One will not move.

I performed a couple of test polish spots on her and she will shine up nicely. Notice the reflection of the ladder in the aluminum.
It's going to be a lot of work but we will get her to shine like a new quarter.

[Superior Shine]

That's a little better....

Attachments

[Superior Shine]

The event made the local news.... https://youtu.be/1TARHHFwB4E