Warbird Information Exchange

Today's Washington Post reports (in the Style section) that the NASM is trading the Swoose to the AF Museum for Shoo Shoo Baby.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... v=national

Good! Hopefully she will finally be restored now

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Magister Aviation
It's all in my book

Well, that's about the best airplane news I've had in a long time. Someone is thinking. NMUSAF will be overloaded with two significant B-17s but I bet they can handle it.

The NASM is hot to restore airplanes to their last configuration, so hopefully the NMUSAF will instead restore the Swoose back to a B-17D configuration (reinstall the combat gear, take out the passenger stuff), and replicate it as it was on the first day of the war.

Finally, that will give the NASM two B-17Gs. I bet if someone made the right offer, 44-83814 could be busted loose after being in storage for several decades.

I'm sure they can handle two 17s in the WW2 Gallery. After all, they have two F-105s, two F-4s and two F-111s in Modern Flight

I remember when 'Baby' flew in to the museum. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they flew her out again!

As much as I hate to see Shoo Shoo leave, it will be awsome to see the Swoose get cared for. Two things I would love to see is Shoo Shoo get taken to natural metal(as long as the nose art can be saved as it was repainted on there by starcer), and I hope they fly it to Washington, but I doubt they will.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

That's great news another crown jewel, my hat's off to the General and his staff now if they would trade Flak bait Thanks Mike

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IF YOU CAN FIND IT WE CAN FIX IT

Oh man, that would be sweet. The NASM really should have a combat veteran B-17 on display in it.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

So who is gonna get the "Strawberry Bitch" ball turret?

I think it should rightly stay with 42-72843, even if its not in plain view.

That turret is not in the Shho Shoo Baby, it is in the one in Dover. And yes there are plans to plce the turret back in the B-24.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

The decision to paint in OD and grey has always baffled me a bit. If the skin was not in good enough condition to display in natural metal why not paint the aircraft silver? Surely silver paint is no more innacurate than camo on what should have been a natural metal airplane. Not a big deal but it always seemed something of a no brainer to me.

Well not really. Shoo shoo Baby did fly some missions in the O.D. and green scheme.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

"Painted Aluminum" never looks right....You can always tell something's just not right.... If the aluminum was indeed in bad hsape...the OD was a better decision....

Excelent news! Best I have heard since they brought the "Belle" to WPAFBM....The idea of "Flak Bait" going as well is a thumbs up too!

There was a fair amount of sheetmetal work on the baby as well as fill.BUT! She still looks the biz.Great trade deal as now people will have a better chance to see a shark fin model.Sign me up to help.

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Hang The Expense

finally........ some positive government horse trading!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!