Warbird Information Exchange

Greetings
Got a ? for the group.
When the Air force museum in Dayton fully restores the Memphis Bell, I undestand that plane will be their Show Case for B-17's what will happnen to the Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby ? I hope that she will not be stuck outside some where Idea maybe FLY IT again !

Glen

Not at all. Shoo Shoo Shoo baby will be in either the Air Force conference Center main hall which will be opened to the public and will be attached to the NMUSAF , or it will remain where it is and the Belle will be the one in the Conference Center. As far as I know the museum has not announced which B-17 will be in which facility.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

Just where on the museum grounds is the conference center going to be constructed?

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Warbird mech might now a little more than I do, but from what I understand it will be attached to the museum. The museum layout is going to change as far as where parking lots are and such. I think I remember the center is going to be out by the Cold War Gallery.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby is definitely going to remain where it is inside the Air Power Gallery. She is not going anywhere. The Memphis Belle is going to be displayed inside the new Conference Center. The plan is to put the Memphis Belle onto a turntable that will spin the aircraft around 360 degrees very slowly. Once we complete the Memphis Belle's restoration we are going to run up all four of her Wright R-1820-97 engines and maybe even taxi her around Wright Field under her own power as a salute to all the brave crews that flew B-17's into combat! Sure this will be a site to see! We already have four zero time engines just waiting to be installed onto her airframe. When we complete the restoration of the Memphis Belle back to flying condition, she is going to be by far the most historically correct B-17F in the world! The only thing I and our Restoration Division Chiefs are at odds with the Research Division is over the color they want us to paint all the engine mounts. They say they should be painted black, but every manual we see for a B-17F shows them painted a light grey instead. Right now the mounts are painted light grey. We will paint them whatever color the Research Division wants us to paint them, but I do not believe black is the correct color from a historical standpoint.

I'm not sure exactly where they plan to build the new Conference Center. I have not heard anything definite yet, but I'm sure there is a master plan somewhere.

Jim

Please make sure that's posted in plenty of time, so I can get over there and shoot that taxiing...

Wow...the chance to actually see the Belle move under her own power...I'd never have dreamed it.

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"Anyway, the throat feels a bit rough...the legs have gone...but I'm still able to chant, so let's get going."

Joe Strummer, 1999

Hey Jim are they going to do the engine run up for sure? I heard that there was some talk about not doing it.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

Which also brings up the subject of interior colors...

Someone blasted most of the Belle's insides with "interior green" as some point..but every pic I've seen shows her with a bare metal waist section. When I visited her last winter the bombay was (surprisingly) still in its original neutral gray, and you could also see traces of the original dull dark green in the cockpit and nose compartment (under the interior green repaint.)

Hopefully when the Belle's restored the correct interior colors will be used. So far from what I've seen it looks like the staff is serious about getting her as accurate as possible. Our tour guide told us she'd be painted as she appeared on her 23rd mission, since that was when most of the documentary footage was actually shot.


SN

As neat as it would be (to see her engines run and taxi) wouldn't that be a lot of extra work in the end? The fuel tanks woul have to be opened up afterword and cleaned of every drop of rediual fuel and preserved. The engines would also need to be drained, cleaned and have every trace of contaminants removed and then filled with some form of preservative (refer to the Enola Gay restoration). Just curious...

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

The restoration team is striiping her of all paint inside and out. I will let Jim tell you more on that.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

That'll make longer exposures of her pretty impossible...*sigh*

Gotta shoot her before that, then.

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"Anyway, the throat feels a bit rough...the legs have gone...but I'm still able to chant, so let's get going."

Joe Strummer, 1999

Maybe they will have a pause in the rotation every so many turns for that purpose?

Hey guys, from what I hear, the turntable is going to be a VERY VERY slow moving thing. Not like a car show room.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

Just curious if you guy's know the history on the engines that she has on her now? I realize that the Belle went through many in her career but does anyone know if these were her engines back in her 25th mission, or war bond touring days?

I don't think so, I think they were used just to get her from Oklahoma to Memphis. Remember that she served as a training platform after the tour. So she more than likely went through engines there as well.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director