Thu Nov 05, 2009 11:11 am
Oooooo, shiny!!! 
Thu Nov 05, 2009 11:14 am
It is amazing to be in those hangars with both the Belle and the Swoose.
Thu Nov 05, 2009 11:23 am
How are they planning on getting a shine like that on the rest of it ? I know that somehow they will.
Thu Nov 05, 2009 11:29 am
With dull, O.D. paint! 
Thu Nov 05, 2009 11:43 am
Totally cool!!!!!!!!!
Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:21 pm
Rule of thumb method, if you can push your thumb through it, replace it! 
Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:51 pm
cool shot, and great to see progress being made on this project.
So is that four seperate pieces of aluminum making up that new skin, or is it one piece? And does the sheetmetal need to be rolled to take on the compound curves first?
greg v.
So is that four seperate pieces of aluminum making up that new skin, or is it one piece? And does the sheetmetal need to be rolled to take on the compound curves first?
greg v.
Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:03 pm
So am i correct in assuming that there is no way that this one is gonna fly even once ?
Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:15 pm
Air Force Museum? Fly? What are you drinking (I may want some later!) 
Thu Nov 05, 2009 4:07 pm
I'd like a piece of the old skin please...
Thu Nov 05, 2009 4:40 pm
Sasnak wrote:groundpounder wrote:How are they planning on getting a shine like that on the rest of it ? I know that somehow they will.
Actually, they won't. They are planning to return her to the period of time when she was olive drab, with the ventral gun "tub" back in place.
If they REALLY want to make it a true restoration, they will separate "Swoose" and build a new front fuselage for the tail section, and a new tail section for the original front fuselage...
What a great thought- TWO early B-17s from One!
lol
(Ducking now)
Robbie
(the self amusing)
Thu Nov 05, 2009 4:50 pm
One polished and the other OD, right?
Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:44 pm
I'm Canadian !! I'm drinking Beer until the hockey starts at 4 and then i will switch to crown royal ! The swoose will be flying by 7 !!
Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:01 pm
APG85 wrote:I'd like a piece of the old skin please...
Raises an interesting point: what is going to happen with the original skin?
It has a heck of a lot of historic value, in its own right. I don't see NMUSAF just tossing it, and even though they'd probably make a good chunk of cash chopping it into little pieces and selling it (with certificates of authenticity) I'd think that approach would be horribly inappropriate (and I say this as someone who has a nice chunk of the former-USS Yorktown's flightdeck, with a CoA, sitting on my office shelf).
IIRC NASM's policy is that bits/pieces removed from aircraft during restoration (or in order to hang the aircraft from the rafters) are cataloged and put into storage. Would think that NMUSAF would do the same thing.
Thu Nov 05, 2009 11:56 pm
Not sure what the plans are but the skins are pretty damaged. Not sure what swoose was hit with while at garber. I think it would be better to let people have a chance to own a piece of the skin. Especially in the condition as this