Belle and Swoose 3/11/11

[Steve Nelson]

I took the NMUSAF "Behind The Scenes" tour last week. Thought I'd post a few pics of the Memphis Belle and Swoose.

The Belle has been pretty much stripped to her bare bones. I understand the plan is to begin reassembly and fitting out soon.

[Steve Nelson]

They're using a few parts from the Swoose as patterns to make missing parts for the Belle (the D and F had some systems in common.) Here's a heater assembly from the Swoose..



..and the handcrafted replacement installed in the Belle.



Wings are coming along..looks like most of the structural repair and restoration are done.







Looks like they're outfitting her for mud-bogging!

[Steve Nelson]

Turrets are pretty much done. Here's the dorsal..talk about some massively heavy framing!









And here's quite a pair of balls. The one in the foreground is the recently re-acquired turret for the B-24D "Strawberry B!tch."



I think this is the Belle's turret. The tour guide said that everything has been refurbished and repainted except the varnished wood handles, since they're still stained with the sweat of the gunners flying in combat.



Oh, and here's the support for the retractable turret in the B-24..

[Steve Nelson]

On to the Swoose...

Not a lot going on right now. The Swoose project is currently on hold while the restoration staff focuses on aircraft for the the revamped Southeast Asia gallery. Since I saw her two years ago, it looks like they've completed the process of stripping her out inside, and done some sheet metal repairs on the nose. The panels with all the flags were removed at one point. Looks like they're Cleco'ed in place right now..I hope they're preserved separetly and replaced with new skins.

[Steve Nelson]

One new thing was the gun tub, which is in place and looks fantastic! I couldn't help but picture Gary A. sitting there going "Taka! taka! Taka!" with the guns.







As Forrest Gump would say..that's about it.

Cheers!

Steve

[Cherrybomber13]

Steve,
Great Photos! I had the same thought about Gary while looking at the all the work being done. Thanks for sharing.

[Second Air Force]

Thanks for the photos and update, Steve. The NMF aft fuselage treatment in the Belle looks very nice. I was hoping to use their process on my former project if I'd ever gotten that far.

That heater fabrication/restoration is NOT for the faint of heart. You wouldn't believe how complicated that whole system is.

[Steve Nelson]

That heater fabrication/restoration is NOT for the faint of heart.

They've got some amazing sheetmetal guys there. One of the workers was showing us the process of making a new rudder for the A-25. Apparently the NMUSAF and NMNA in P-cola are cooperating in the restoration of both of their Helldivers. The NMUSAF guy is making two new rudders, using the remains of the one from the SB2C recovered from Otay Resevoir last year as a pattern (the original is badly corroded.) He was showing us one of the wood forms he made to stamp new parts, which he said he "knocked together in about four hours"..it's just amazing how they're able to fabricate all this stuff. They also had a giant vacu-form machine to make a new bubble canopy for the recent XP-75A restoration. Makes the little Mattell machine I use to make 1/72 canopies look pathetic!

SN

[APG85]

Thanks for the update and pictures! I was just wondering what the latest was with these two planes. Wonder why they didn't fully strip the old paint off of the Swoose before installing the bathtub...?
Great stuff...

[Misterg97]

Steve,

Thanks for the photo update ... a great job my friend

The two main parts of the Belle's fuseulage were joined together sometime this past week. One of the guys I volunteer with in the Korea/SEA Gallery also volunteers one day a week in restoration and he showed me on Friday some pics he took with his phone as they were putting the pieces together.

[aerovin]

Thanks for the update and pictures! I was just wondering what the latest was with these two planes. Wonder why they didn't fully strip the old paint off of the Swoose before installing the bathtub...?
Great stuff...

That's just in place for fitting...not permanent yet. It will come back off. Aero Trader custom built the bathtub from blueprints.

[Pat Carry]

The Belle is looking great! They do some amazing work there in the restoration area. Thanks much for the photos

[Aircraft Mech Paul]

Hi All,

Thanks for posting those photos. It looks like both bombers are finally getting the great amount of TLC that they deserve. I would love to be a fly on the wall during some of their work days. It looks like the quality of their work is Top Notch.

Thanks again,

Paul

[Steve Nelson]

The two main parts of the Belle's fuseulage were joined together sometime this past week.

Fantastic! Any idea how close they are to attaching the wings? When I was there it looked like they had cleared enough floor space to facilitate getting her back into more-or-less one peice. How long has it been since she was disassembled and moved from Mud Island anyway..ten years?

SN

[the330thbg]

Beautiful shots and what a fantastic job they are both doing!

Thanks very much for sharing!