Shoo Shoo Baby Test Flight-Life Archives

Fri Dec 05, 2008 1:07 am

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q ... a=N&tab=wi

Found these a while back, just now remembered, figured you guys would like these in particular

ps ignore the smug georgia guy kthx

Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:47 am

Cool pics!

I didn't realize they pulled up the gear. The only in-flight shots I'd ever seen showed her with the gear down..I assumed she was ferried to Wright Field that way.

SN

Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:57 am

It would make a GREAT flying Ambassador for the NMUSAF ! Provided, of course you replace the F wing for a G. :lol:

It's not like they don't have a couple of extras for static display ! :twisted:

Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:48 am

RickH wrote:It would make a GREAT flying Ambassador for the NMUSAF ! Provided, of course you replace the F wing for a G. It's not like they don't have a couple of extras for static display !

That is an interesting theory. Non one at Wright Pat or Dover AFB seems to know anything about F model wings on SSB. They all say that they are G wings. While there were soem design changes between the F and the G the specs of the wing as far as size and shape did not change. The weight of the G model is heavier.

Regardless she will never fly again. She is a combat vet and even her nose art is a piece of history as it was painted by Tony Starcer. She belongs on the ground.

Just to clear up some sort of Urban Legend, nothing was done to SSB to make it non airworthy. While some don't like the General, the one thing he does bust everyone's ass on is that he wants the aircraft restored to as close to combat ready as the museum can get them. He has even had some of the older restoration gone through again to add equipment and instruments, and that is still going on today.

Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:57 am

How did think to search for that? Those never came up with a B-17 search probably because they list as B-17G. If you type in B-17G, those are the only ones that show up.

Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:00 pm

Maybe the guys who were at Dover that actually did the resto could enlighten you guys ? Just a thought....

As far as her being a combat veteran that shouldn't be flown, that fact didn't seem to bother the French who flew her all over the world !

Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:07 pm

RickH wrote:Maybe the guys who were at Dover that actually did the resto could enlighten you guys ? Just a thought....

As far as her being a combat veteran that shouldn't be flown, that fact didn't seem to bother the French who flew her all over the world !

Well, to the French, and most of the world at the time, she was just a Surplus bird put to work. Not a prized war relic, until now. Funny how time changes things!

How many combat flyers started out as Surplus birds or piles of twisted aluminum that no one cared about?

I am ok with her resting in a museum, she earned it!

Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:22 pm

"nothing was done to SSB to make it non airworthy"

By parking it inside and never letting it out and warming up the systems you basically did just that!

I wish they would move it to a location of the museum and do like the brits do, start it up once a month and let her roll around. I bet you would get alot more people at the museum on those days and a few more $$$$$ in the donation kitty for fuel to do so!!

Where did the B-17 go to when the USAF took it back from the museum in St. Petersburg fla?????????? They used to run that every 3rd sunday........I went there as a kid many times with dad when we lived in fla.

Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:22 pm

Well if you carry that particular thought a little farther...does that mean that every aircraft with combat history should be grounded ? Seems like a pretty drastic measure to me.

Fri Dec 05, 2008 1:31 pm

RickH wrote:Maybe the guys who were at Dover that actually did the resto could enlighten you guys ? Just a thought....

As far as her being a combat veteran that shouldn't be flown, that fact didn't seem to bother the French who flew her all over the world !

I talked to them as well as I am researching some interior colors for another B-17 and they also say that SSB does indeed have G model wings.

The French flew it in like the 1950's and 60's. Are you serious. Does that mean we should still test weapons on 909?

Not every combat vet should be grounded, but I think that when an aircraft that does have a combat record is being restored, one needs to pause and at least weigh some options. Chances are if SSB was a flyer it would have systems in it that don't belong in there. Also you must think of how rare it is. Out of all the B-17's left, how many are actual combat vets. You can count them onone hand. If it turns out that you have the only one or one of the last ones left of an example that is a combat vet, or if it just to historic to fly, then it SHOULD be made static. I don't think we can blame the National Museums for having preserving combat veteran examples of types of aircraft. That is where they belong.

Fri Dec 05, 2008 1:35 pm

N3Njeff wrote:"nothing was done to SSB to make it non airworthy"

By parking it inside and never letting it out and warming up the systems you basically did just that!

I wish they would move it to a location of the museum and do like the brits do, start it up once a month and let her roll around. I bet you would get alot more people at the museum on those days and a few more $$$$$ in the donation kitty for fuel to do so!!

Where did the B-17 go to when the USAF took it back from the museum in St. Petersburg fla?????????? They used to run that every 3rd sunday........I went there as a kid many times with dad when we lived in fla.

I would rather them spend the moeney to restore more aircraft than run one of them once in while. As for the systems, they are preserved to the highest standard possible. The NASM and NMUSAF as well as the NMNA have all come along way with not just restoration but preservation. These aircraft are more than just classic aircraft. They are memorials for all of those who flew them, fought in them, worked on them, and sent loved ones off to fight in them.

Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:27 pm

Django wrote:How did think to search for that? Those never came up with a B-17 search probably because they list as B-17G. If you type in B-17G, those are the only ones that show up.

I don't remember how I found it originally. I've been going through the LIFE archives using every search term I can find, because a lot of the good photosets, as you mention, are either tagged with nothing, or tagged with things that are totally unrelated to their subject matter. I've even gotten to the point of entering single letters or numbers, and I've still got results from that!

Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:57 pm

FYI, one remaining B-17 that still flies is a combat vet: "Pink Lady" in France.

August

Sat Dec 06, 2008 11:48 pm

So are they claiming copywrite over these USAF photos taken by a MSgt??
I noticed the same with all the WWII photos by Edward Steichen's unit all in the Navy.
Or are they simplely charging $80.00 and hoping someone will buy it???

Sun Dec 07, 2008 1:05 am

Eh? I thought these were basically public domain now.