B-26 Flak Bait Restoration?

[rwdfresno]

they might as well just make it out of fiberglass.......

IMHO of course

Of course, and Roosevelt's wheelchair and Washington's ivory teeth should be used by some geezer in Palm Beech, FL because we all know that if something is in a museum and not being used it is worthless and may as well be a plastic model.

Last edited by rwdfresno on Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[bdk]

Sure would be nice if they would restore and fly it to it's new display destination... <DUCKS>

[gary1954]

This just in from the NASM..I went to the Man!!

Dear Mr. Lewis, At present, the nose of the B-26 Flak Bait is on display in the WorldWar II gallery as it has been for many years. At some point down theroad, after the completion of the restoration building at the Udvar-HazyCenter near Dulles Airport, the aircraft will be moved the restorationarea, reassembled in its current condition, and cleaned and prepared forlong-term display. There is no current plan to strip and repaint theaircraft. The date for this cannot yet be determined as the new buildinghas yet to be completed. Thanks for your question. Warm Regards, Dik DasoCurator

[Pat Carry]

Thanks for the info Gary! In regards to the new restoration facility being constructed at Udvar Hazy I heard they plan to have it operating in 2010 so thats good news!

[n5151ts]

they might as well just make it out of fiberglass.......

IMHO of course

Of course, and Roosevelt's wheelchair and Washington's ivory teeth should be used by some geezer in Palm Beech, FL because we all know that if something is in a museum and not being used it is worthless and may as well be a plastic model.

in reality Washingtons teeth were made of wood.......and I buy hoverrounds for all those old geezers in fl...with my tax dollars.

[mike furline]

they might as well just make it out of fiberglass.......

IMHO of course

Of course, and Roosevelt's wheelchair and Washington's ivory teeth should be used by some geezer in Palm Beech, FL because we all know that if something is in a museum and not being used it is worthless and may as well be a plastic model.

in reality Washingtons teeth were made of wood.......and I buy hoverrounds for all those old geezers in fl...with my tax dollars.

Actually they weren't wood.

http://www.mountvernon.org/learn/meet_g ... m/pid/382/

[warbird1]

I kind of like Flak Bait just as it is. You can walk right up next to it, look in the cockpit, look fwd into the fuselage, etc.

Once it's put back together, no one will ever get to see what an unrestored original WWII B-26 looks like on the inside.

Regards,

Here's a picture I took of it last year:

I could live with it if they touched up the paint here and there where it was damaged during disassembly and storage, as long as the repairs aren't jarringly obvious. As I recall there's a nasty bare metal patch on the nose in the the only place visitors could actually manage to touch.

I don't believe there's anywhere you can touch it, and I didn't see any bare metal on it. It's possible I could have missed it though. Do you recall where it was at? Here is a picture of it from last year. Sorry, for the crappiness of it, as it was VERY dark, and I didn't have a tripod.

[Mark Nankivil]

DoraNineFan -

I think the huge difference between the Fw190A-8 and the Ta-152 is precisely what you noted - they are not in their original scheme/paint/condition whereas Flak Bait is or nearly so. Restoration vs. Conservation as JDK pointed out.

You're right about the Fw190-A-8, that was a great restoration job as far as I'm concerned.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

[APG85]

When I was a kid, the nose section of Flak Bait was not protected the way it is today. You could touch the skin in the area where the fuselage meets the nose section glass. You can see where visitors have rubbed the paint down to the metal. I was probably one of them ...

[APG85]

This is the article that led me to believe some type of work was being done on the aft section of Flak Bait...

http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-f ... aways.html

[mustangdriver]

they might as well just make it out of fiberglass.......

IMHO of course

Like your head.

[tom d. friedman]

her war worn look is her charm & mystique

[JDK]

her war worn look is her charm & mystique

And the original items, metal, equipment and paint, is of historical, and tangible, importance.

[Glen]

Are any of her Crew members still alive ?

[Steve Nelson]

Well, they'll have to repaint that interior. Everybody knows all American aircraft were painted "Interior Green" inside from nose to tail...

SN