Warbird Information Exchange

I'll post more soon!

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Thanks Wolverine for the great picture of Doc...nice to see the "outside" light reflected on her nose...getting closer to daylight is a good thing for a restoration project.

Also, good picture of Thunderbird's nose, showing clearly the differences from a "standard" B17 nose (framing and additional lower glass, among others).

Wolverine,

Excellent shot of Doc's nose ! It looks like Doc herself is chomping at the bit to fly again. The folks at Boeing have done fantastic work to get her this far.

Thanks for posting the photo's

Paul

T-Bird's nose is slightly non standard because this configurations was better suited for her photo career with the French National Geographic Institute. The issue of replacing the nose with a more standard G unit has been discsussed many times at the musuem, however with so many other things critical to her operation as well as the other flying aircraft coming up it hasn't been a priority. I agree that it doesn't look quite right but for the most part it falls into the "if it ain't broke- don't fix it" categoary.

Steve

Great photos Wolverine. Here are a couple of mine.
The rest (mostly Doc) are found here.
http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b67/s ... mcconnell/

Steve S,

The point of my previous post about Thunderbird's non-standard was not meant to be critical in any way, just merely to point out the differences for those who might not have noticed before. Thanks of some sort are certainly due to the IGN for "saving" (using) so many B17s in their post-war work, of which Thunderbird is one.

Also, a big thank-you from me to all the LSFM volunteers. Every one I have met from the LSFM has been invariably kind to me...great group of people. Can't wait to see your PB4Y-2 in the air with Thunderbird someday.

great shot above. I like how they displayed Doc's engine and cradle on a 25K Loader......Man does that take me back.

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

With all the trouble Fifi has had with her engines, what will Doc be flying with?

Regards,
Mike

Mike, I can't necessarily speak for the Doc guys, but I was told by Tony Mazzolini (I'm paraphrasing here) that they are somewhat obligated to put their airplane back in as original condition as possible. That includes the engines. We talked with them about going in with us on this re-engine project for FIFI, but they simply couldn't. We are discussing, however, the sale of our remaining original engines and spares to the Doc project. That should help us fund our project somewhat and help them with some engines that are more likely to run than the ones they have.

Maybe one day we'll be able to get both airplanes in formation together!

Gary Austin
Crew Chief, B-29/B-24 Squadron