Warbird Information Exchange

I volunteered with the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale back in the late '80's and early '90's when I was stationed there as a B-52 Crew Chief and I still keep in touch with the old gang that is still there. A friend of mine posted these pictures on his Facebook page.





It's nice to see the old girl getting some long overdue attention. I'm willing to bet that it is a typical USAF base static display mop paint job, but at least it offers some level of protection from the elements. I'll try to see if they are having any luck with getting a building to put some of thier planes in (B-24J). They just had a change in curators after the former curator retired after about 30 years of service to the museum. I don't know anything about the new guy.

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Bill Gorin
Vintage Flying Museum
http://www.vintageflyingmuseum.org
https://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=57513906106

Good to see this B-17 is receiving some TLC.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Very cool to see the plane getting some attention. Looks nice. I know their battle!

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Love to see the paint protecting her.

DANGER DANGER Will Robinson on seeing her wing parked OVER a stone monument.
I hope if that left main ever goes flat there is enough clearance so that it does not puncture the wing.

SPANNER the nervous

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Support Your Local Warbirds! KBO!
The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.

I noticed that too Spanner, don't worry they never get bad storms in Louisiana!!

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Bill Gorin
Vintage Flying Museum
http://www.vintageflyingmuseum.org
https://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=57513906106

How can they just let a bird like that sit out in the weather?? If i ever won the lottery god help me i'd buy every thing and put in indoors and make it flyable

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

Not just paint, but some work and concrete too. I take it they recovered the ailerons, with what?

It may be the parked the wing over the monument or it may be a trick of the camera. Last time I was there, the wing would have missed it.

Any word on the other planes? It is a huge improvement though.

They repainted a T-33 that they have also. I'll ask and see if I can get some more updates, hopefully they're working on the B-24J, and B-29 too.

With regards go getting them indoors, I know that we were trying to do that 20+ years ago when I volunteered there. Even with all of the USAF retiree's in the area and all of the support for the military we could never get it done. Maybe some saint will win big in the casino's and donate it to the 8th Air Force Museum!

One of these days I will spend a day with my scanner and scan all of the pictures I have from "back in the day". I was on active duty crewing B-52G's and volunteered off duty taking care of static displays in the airpark and was "crew chief" on the B-52D that was retired and on static ( I guess I have a thing for Boeing Bombers). I helped to put the B-29 together too. Wade, a.k.a. Chicoartist was the caretaker of the P-51 Mustang replica (no surprise there ).

You know you're getting older when the planes you worked on in service are now in air parks, case in point B-52G 57-6509 (Nine 0 Nine nose art) is on display at Barksdale now. I worked on her from '88 to '91.

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Bill Gorin
Vintage Flying Museum
http://www.vintageflyingmuseum.org
https://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=57513906106

About the "mop" paint jobs at USAF static display parks...
At Dyess I was told due to environmental rules (painting outdoors) that they had to be painted with water-based paints and it must be applied by brush.

I was there when they did the B-47...a 3-4 maintence types volunteers out in the hot Texas sun working on hot aluminum for 3-4 days.
God Bless them, I wouldn't want to do that...

They did a great job and the plane looks pretty good considering the limitations imposed on them.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

My guess is that when they poured the new concrete and then parked the airplane on it that they didn't quite get it positioned just right.

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Bill Gorin
Vintage Flying Museum
http://www.vintageflyingmuseum.org
https://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=57513906106

A rather large airline applies the livery on their jets with paint rollers for the same reason. They don't use water base paint (yet) but the idea is the same.

Has anyone else noticed that the new paint on the Fortress replicates the darker O.D. on the vertical fin that many B-17s had?

Scott

Here in Mass. and Conn. at the local air museum we have there is a A-26 invader which is a real combat veteran from WW2. Saw massive amounts of bombing runs over Germany. That stayed outside until maybe 2007-08. It's being restored right now to be put BACK OUTSIDE! Can you believe it!? It's all because of the president of the museum. Needless to say the volunteers are dragging their feet so it wont go back out. There's even a f4 phantom that had 2 kills in Vietnam that was pushed outside and is still sitting in the weather. Even at Stratford, Ct they had the F4u Corsair sitting on a pole up until last year. They took it down and is in restoration right now. BUT the Marines who claim to still own the plane want it back up on the pole! MY GOD!

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."