Sentimental Journey question

[JANDMBEAR1109]

Hello all. First off, I'm new to the forum and am happy to be here. There's a wealth of knowledge here in these pages! I had a question about Sentimental Journey. Her top turret has a blue, what looks to be glare shield. I've always wondered why she has this and all the others do not?

[Taigh Ramey]

I believe that the center optical panel on the top turret of Sentimental Journey has been green tinted plexiglas since it was installed many years ago. This is not original as the turrets came with clear plex that also had to meet standards for optical clarity. My guess is that they did it to reduce direct sun on the flight deck.

The Sperry A-1B in Sentimental Journey came from the Lacy B-17G in Oregon. They traded real turrets for Fiberglas replicas decades ago.

I hope this helps

[JANDMBEAR1109]

Thanks Taigh! I knew I could get the answer at this Forum. I suppose that's also the reason for the green upper flight deck windows on Mid Atlantic Air Museum's B-25 "Briefing Time"

[APG85]

This came up years ago. I think the response from someone who works on the plane was along the lines of what Taigh said. The plane spends the majority of its time in Arizona where the Sun is three miles from the Earth. The green tint helps cut down on the intense heat/glare...

Last edited by APG85 on Tue Oct 28, 2014 7:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

[JANDMBEAR1109]

Thanks for the replies. Hey Taigh, I just saw you on an episode of Warplane on American History Channel! You were flying a B-25 with a couple of veteran Bombadier's dropping 100lb dummy bombs for a segment of the show. Awesome!

[p51]

The Sperry A-1B in Sentimental Journey came from the Lacy B-17G in Oregon. They traded real turrets for Fiberglas replicas decades ago.

...and now the owners of that Portland B-17 are deeply regretting that move.

[Matt Gunsch]

Art Lacey was pleased with the trade, a crew from AZ replaced a lot of plexiglass and did other repairs in exchange for the turret. Sentimental Journey has had the green tint panel on it since I helped to install it originally.



Left to Right, Joe Dawkins, Matt Gunsch, Chuck Hoover

Last edited by Matt Gunsch on Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[JANDMBEAR1109]

Thanks for all the great replies and pictures guys! There truly is a wealth of knowledge here at WIX!

[p51]

Art Lacey was pleased with the trade, a crew from AZ replaced a lot of plexiglass and did other repairs in exchange for the turret.

Yes, it was a good trade at the time. But the people with the plane now aren't thrilled that it happened because they're left without some parts they now wish they had for the restoration.
But hindsight is always 20/20. Nobody would have gussed anyone would seriously think of restoring that B-17 to flying condition, at that point.

[Matt Gunsch]

a story about them getting the turret, seems others had tried to buy it, but the AZ wing was the only group that offered more then money. They drove up there with new glass, and other supplies and did the repairs and glass replacements, removed the turrets and other parts that were in the deal. One morning the phone rang and Art answered it, well, it was someone wanting to buy the turret, Art said that he had someone they could talk to about it and handed the phone to the head of the AZ group, as soon as they said Hi, the caller, who was from the Confederate Air Force launched into a sales pitch as to why they needed to sell them the turret. Dave Dawkins, who was leading the AZ group up there answered, That's amazing, I'm with the Confederate Air Force as well, and just purchased the turret and then said it was for Sentimental Journey. If you have not guessed it yet, the caller was from the Texas Raiders.