The Swoose Will she ever be restored ?

[rwdfresno]

I'd like to see both the Swoose and Flak Bait assembled and then preserved with as much of their original paint, equipment, etc intact. It would be nice to see a war weary aircraft to show just how hard these birds fought.

Ryan

[Jerry O'Neill]

The reason the floatplane was done was it was a donation from a model company, same reason as the P-61 was put on display, it took money from a outside source.

Now if Boeing will kick in the $ to get the Swoose restored, I just don't want them flying it unless someone else checks the fuel.

Matt's right about the cash!
I said it before on the last discussion about the "Swoose". Come up with the cash and it'll move to the front of the line!
Why don't we start a campaign?
Jerry

[bluethunder28]

Last year asked at the Swoose and here's the answer I got back:
"Thank you for your interest in the collection of the National Air and Space Museum. In regards to your inquiry about the museum’s B-17 “Swoose,” it is the museum’s intention to display this aircraft once funding has been secured to do so. In fact, we have approximately 100 more aircraft that are currently slated to be added to the collection in the future. Unfortunately, I am not aware of a timeline as to when the “Swoose” is to be displayed. For further information, please feel free to contact our WWII staff curator, Dik Daso, at DasoD@si.edu. Hopefully, he would be able to provide you with further details on the arrival of the B-17 to the Udvar Hazy Center’s collection.



If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me directly.



Sincerely,



Michael D. Shaffer

Visitor Services Assistant Coordinator

National Air and Space Museum

Steven F. Udvar - Hazy Center

14390 Air & Space Museum Parkway

Chantilly, VA 20151

Phone: 703.572.4114

Fax: 703.572.4161"

Maybe the key is to keep sending emails to them and naybe, just maybe they will put her together.

[Nathan]

If I had the Swoose she would be the first one on my list to restore.


I really do hope she will get some TLC soon. I do not want to see such a rare model B-17 rot away.

[gemmer]

Well I am a big fan of the Swoose, but have to disagree with the restore it now crowd.

The plane remains at least in the configuration of its 1945 overhaul.

What configuration should it be restored in?

Personally to me the plane should be as it was at the beginning of 1942, Combat modified, and in that color scheme. When I met some NASM people at Reno a year or two ago, their thing was to "restore" it to a factory fresh standard. To me that would be an irrevocable tragedy, and would remove one of the few artifacts from a difficult time in the war forever.

Lets wait until the NASM sees the history of the plane in a different and more nationally relevant viewpoint.

There are a number of problems regarding what"original" configuration it should or could be restored to.

According to several sources I have found, the skin on the aircraft is in a condition from earlier outside exposure that will prevent it from being restored to a polished pre-war era finish. Also, it's not clear what colors were used to camoflage it, if the intent was to restore it that way. Photos in Brownstein's book clearly show a two color pattern on the upper surfaces, perhaps sorts of brown and green. The color of the undersides is also questionable. It's known that of the aircraft painted at Del Monte, no two looked alike and some were actually painted with brooms. The upper colors were described as green and liverish brown. I've seen photos of others painted at Del Monte that barely had the upper surfaces covered. while the undersides were still natural metal. Restoring it to the way it looked after it was renamed the Swoose also presents a problem since the surviving Swoose logo on the aircraft is not the original one.

Duane

[APG85]

Assemble it and display it "as is" for the time being. A story board positioned by it explaining it's history would be suficient in my opinion. Rotate it into full restoration when time, money and resources permit...

[hang the expense]

Scott is right on. Just to see the swoose in one piece would be almost as good as seeing her restored.Just remember, it is govt.

[Steve T]

I don't usually chime in on these...but I agree with several opinions voiced here: for now, at least, conserve it, assemble it and display it. NASM have already done this with that wondrous time-capsule P-38. And perhaps even more than with the Swoose, the same treatment should be afforded the B-26B Flak Bait--a timewarp artifact, redolent of the history of World War II, if ever any airplane was...

S.

[Hal B]

Now if Boeing will kick in the $ to get the Swoose restored, I just don't want them flying it unless someone else checks the fuel.

Ouch!

[SPANNERmkV]

SWOOSE should be re-assembled because I got the impression, on my visit to Silver Hills, that "stuff" was spread all over the place. As in fuselage in one hangar and God Only Knows where the rest of plane was.
(Of course it was ALL there someplace )

I've only heard of one case where the wrong wings were mated to a couple of FW-190s whilst in the tender care of Da Gubmint.

[Shay]

I've only heard of one case where the wrong wings were mated to a couple of FW-190s whilst in the tender care of Da Gubmint.

Just of mention:

That mistake has been corrected. And if I'm not in error, happened while they were still test aircraft and not since they became exhibits.

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[SPANNERmkV]

Whew... that's a relief!

[bax101]

so this is the original "swoose" I found this video on you tube and it shows the "swoose" sitting in a graveyard along with like hundreds of other b-17's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqbUG0dm ... ed&search=

[Django]

"The Swoose (Serial No 40-3097)

The Swoose deserves special mention not only as the oldest surviving B-17, but also as the only known US military plane to have flown in combat on the very first day the US entered the World War II.

Unlike most of the B-17s that still exist today, the Swoose is a B-17D, a precursor to the fighting B-17. Originally nicknamed 'Ole Betty' by her crew, she began her career as Lieutenant Henry Godman's bomber on 28 April, 1941 - and what a career it was. It was this bomber that made the first non-stop flight by a land-based military aircraft from continental US to Hawaii, it was the first to fly a night-bombing mission and it was the first bomber to shoot down a Japanese Zero fighter. She also flew the second bombing mission of the war, three days after Pearl Harbour, bombing Japanese forces invading the Philippines at Lingayen Gulf.

Ole Betty's official career as a bomber ended on 11 January, 1942 when, following relocation to Singosari, Java, three enemy fighters mounted a 35-minute attack against the bomber. Her crew shot down two of the three fighters, and Ole Betty managed to scurry away, but the damage was severe enough to terminate her career as a warplane.

The bomber was flown to Melbourne, Australia where she was refitted with a new tail from another bomber and given a complete overhaul. Her second captain, Weldon Smith renamed her 'The Swoose' after a popular American song about a tormented gander1, since she was practically a composite of parts from other bombers. She became the personal plane of Lieutenant General George Brett, Commander of Allied Air Forces after her new captain Frank Kurtz2 chose her to ferry the general to Australia.

The Swoose broke the speed record flying from Sydney, Australia, to Wellington, New Zealand on 17 May, 1942. One month later, during a trip to Australia, her navigation equipment malfunctioned and her crew were forced to make a landing near a sheep station outside Winton, Queensland. On board the Swoose on that occasion, funnily enough, was a certain Lieutenant Commander Lyndon B Johnson, who was on a fact-finding mission for President Roosevelt.

Two months later, the Swoose broke yet another speed record when Kurtz flew her back from Brisbane to Hamilton Field, California.

Frank Kurtz left as the Swoose's captain in July 1943 when he took over command of the 463rd Bomb Group and was given a brand-new B-17G, which he named - to nobody's surprise - 'The Swoose'.

The original Swoose was grounded in February 1944 when a team from Panama Air Depot found not only numerous small cracks in the main spars of both wings between the landing gear and the fuselage (which was enough to ground a plane) but also corrosion in several areas. Her captain then, Jack Crane, tried to protect her from death by cannibalisation. It was fortunate for her that he was an engineer; it was even more fortunate that he managed to find sufficient parts not only to repair her, but to upgrade her to a B-17E. Within just two months, the Swoose was fit to fly again...

...only to have her career ended again when General Brett retired in 1945.

It was Frank Kurtz who came to the Swoose's rescue upon hearing that she'd been marked for the boneyard, and arranged for the City of Los Angeles - which was planning to create a war memorial for the B-17 - to purchase her for $350. She was repainted drab olive and black and flown to Mines Field (Los Angeles' municipal airport) on April 6, 1946, where she would spend the next few years.

When the city's plans fell through, Kurtz approached the Smithsonian Institute. Its curator Paul Garber agreed to accept her. Kurtz would once again fly his bomber - this time to the Douglas C-54 assembly plant at Park Ridge, Illinois, which served as the Smithsonian's temporary storage hangar for their museum aircraft. Booted out again on 18 January, 1952, she was relocated to Pyote, Texas, where she was stored together with the famous B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay.

The Swoose made her last flight on 3 December, 1953 - to Andrew AFB, Maryland. Two days into the flight, two of her engines failed; a third quit just before she touched down at Andrews. She would spend the next six years there, vandalised almost to total destruction. Finally, in April, 1961, she was dismantled and brought to the National Air and Space Museum's Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility at Silverhall, where she lies today."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1913438

[mustangdriver]

Yeah, I mean really why would the NASM want to put that thing back together. Not like it has an history or anything. I don't think it is right for a National Museum to accept money in trade for putting something ahead in the restoration line. They should be doing so already. I can see if it was a private museum, or something along those lines. But not the National museum.