Warbird Information Exchange

Was at the museum for a wedding, and got a few pictures of the B-17G (44-83814 / NC66541). She has her wings back on and they are slowly working on refurbing her. She'll be open for cockpit tours when she is completed. Pardon the Marine in the one shot, that's our Marine.















Mike in Florida
USAF Aircrew Life Support (Retired)
"Your Life Is Our Business"

As long as you are posting pics of B-17's, it is OK to allow an occasional Marine drift into a pic, especially if it is your own!

Good to see her coming back together!

Were they giving them away with paid admission?

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Those who possess real knowledge are rare.

Those who can set that knowledge into motion in the physical world are rarer still.

The few who possess real knowledge and can set it into motion of their own hands are the rarest of all.

Yeah we won him as a door prize when we got there.

Mike in Florida
USAF Aircrew Life Support (Retired)
"Your Life Is Our Business"

Looks like they have their work cut out for them...

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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..."

Yep.

At least a year's worth. But we're not going anywhere...

Please post progress updates as they come. It's great to see this plane under a roof and well cared for...

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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..."

Will do.

Right now the crew is working on cleaning up the outer surfaces. The undersides of the wings are the hardest to clean at the moment. Some of the museum " wheels" meet with Tom Reilly and Don Brooks next week for advisement on the restoration. They have already done a " walk thru" of the aircraft to get an idea as to her condition.

That is what Sentimental Journey was like when the AZ wing got it and look at what they did.

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Matt Gunsch, A&P, IA, Warbird maint and restorations
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Great to see this B-17 on display. For a while I think many wondered if we would ever see it. Good job already by the men and women of the 8th AF Museum.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

For those that haven't been to the museum, my first impression was the small size, but soon I discovered that it more than makes up for it. While they might not be overflowing with Aircraft, they tell human side of the story more than any other museum I've been in. Roaming around the garden you see the FG, FS, the BG, BS represented everywhere. Yeah we know that these aircraft were a big part of the war, but it took humans to build it, fly them into harms way, and fly them back to home base, sometimes with aircraft that shouldn't have made it home.

I encourage those that haven't been there to make a point of going. Like I said I was there for a wedding, but got to look around a little bit, I asked one young lady working there about the B-17 and she took me and the grooms father into the room and let us walk around her. I will make it point to go back there the next time I am at Parris Island MCRD, and see all they have to offer.

To the staff and all at the Mighty 8th AF Museum, great job, and thank you for allowing us to visit with the B-17.

Mike in Florida
USAF Aircrew Life Support (Retired)
"Your Life Is Our Business"

A neat display would be to build a tail section or something to show the flak damage. It would be really cool to show a whole aircraft like that, but that would be tough to do on such a nice B-17.

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Any chance the plane will be reunited with it's tail turret? Or will you have to find another one?

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... ian+turret

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Not sure of the status of that situation. Everyone here was so happy to get the aircraft as we did that I am sure the "Wheels" at the museum didn't want to stir up the waves about the tail. I don't know that for fact but it is my assumption.