Warbird Information Exchange

Thought y'all might enjoy this picture I dug up this afternoon- it is c/n 327, AAF s/n 41-28735 having its nose turret guns tested at the Douglas-Tulsa firing station. The photo taken at night seems to add a great deal to its dramatic beauty, I think. There were several photos of this aircraft undergoing this test in the file.

Enjoy!

kevin

[img][img]http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g204/tulsaboy/B-24327nighttestfire.jpg[/img]

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tulsaboy,

Where was the gun butt located with relation to the assembly building? Also, on the Lil thread a while back I posted a story that the North American photographer told us about stray rounds coming back out of the butt in Dallas and showing up on a photo just like yours. The ground was so full of spent lead that new stuff was ricochetting back out!

Scott

Scott,

We just located a couple of pictures taken during the war or immediately after the war that are aerial views of Tulsa Municipal Airport, showing AF Plant #3, the mod facility and the terminal and hangars. The location of the firing pit can be identified on that photo. I'll try to scan it tomorrow and post it for you.

In the meantime, here are a couple more pictures from the Douglas-Tulsa plant. Enjoy!

kevin


When we were just getting started... A-24B and the first B-24D come down the line...
[img][img]http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g204/tulsaboy/41-11754-2.jpg[/img]

The second B-24D on the line (note the "2" on the nose). The first 10 B-24s built at Tulsa were D models sent in kit form from Consolidated-San Diego. The rest of the B-24s (952 of them) came in kit form from Willow Run.
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Here we've really hit our stride... These are B-24E models.
[img][img]http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g204/tulsaboy/B-243435.jpg[/img][/img]

_________________
FOUND the elusive DT-built B-24! Woo-hoo!!!

are the hangers still in existence?

Yep, all of the facilities are still there. The main building, Air Force Plant #3, which is about one mile long, is shared between the International Bus company and Spirit aerosystems. The modification facility, which is a series of four pretty big hangars, is still used by American Airlines as one of their largest maintenance bases in the country. They have built some additional facilities around those four hangars as well.

The attached picture was taken in the 1950's, and should give you a pretty good idea of what the facilities looked like at the end of the war. The large building at the upper left is #3, and the four hangars are at the bottom of the picture. A couple of bonuses- Scott, the area for test-firing the guns is located towards #3 from the mod facility, there at the end of a small taxiway. Also, if you look in the lower right hand corner of the picture (might take some zooming in) you can see a derelict B-47 in a pit.

kevin

[img][img]http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g204/tulsaboy/TulsaAirportAerial.jpg[/img]
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_________________
FOUND the elusive DT-built B-24! Woo-hoo!!!