Gary ~ What's The Plan For Diamond Lil ? 2006 and Beyond!

[Nathan]

Ol' 927 back to Diamond Lil? Someone I know was sharing that information around town... true or not?

kevin

I hope not! I think this was one of the greatest things the CAF has done was turn the B-24 back to near original origins. There are not too many early model warbirds out there. Let alone in early war markings. For me having the most interest in those kind of things it gives me great pleasure in seeing the effort made.

[warbird2]

I would rather see the old nose art and name with the current paint job. I was never a fan of the Ol 927 art or name.

[Lightjug]

I was going back over this thread (rope ???) looking for a photo of the tunnel gun that I knew was there and sadly found that most of the early pictures are no longer there.
I didn't check all the way back, but it seems that most if not all of the restoration pictures Gary took are gone and a lot of the shots taken by other members have also been deleted.
Seems a shame to me.
I don't know if anyone has access to Garys computer or photo library, but if they do an attempt to restore the missing photos would go a long way in keeping his memory alive and increases the value of this thread.
Maybe a dedicated (free) Photobucket or another photo host account could be established to put the lost images in so they could be seen again, just a thought.

Earlier in this thread (Oct. 31/09)... Matt Gunsch had the foresight to mention that the pics will be gone unless someone was able to make a request to photobucket or flickr. I'm not sure if anyone checked?

I for one want to see this thread live on... the same goes for the Big Spring Texas thread

[JBrawner]

Calendar aside, it was an honest question- guess I'm not getting an honest answer, or at least thus far no one "in the know" has chosen to respond. That's just fine, I was just curious. Wanted to squish a rumor rather than perpetuate it.

kevin

If i over stepped my pay grade within the squadron im sure ill get spoken to but one word ....... NO. i asked while i was out working on FIFI this past weekend just for you guys.

[tulsaboy]

Thanks, Jon. I appreciate the ask. I really like what Gary did to the airplane, and sure thought that expending scarce resources right now to repaint/rebrand the aircraft, especially after all of his efforts, and Django's nose art, sure seemed to be a waste. I'm all for periodically changing the paint on these aircraft, as Collings does from time to time with the B-24, but it just sure seemed to be a quick move.

Thanks again,

kevin

[Flashonyrsix]

If they decide to go back I hope they use the real nose art, not the PC.
Norm

[dred]

IIRC, the authentic nose art for Ol 927 as a B-24A would have been a neutrality flag. That was nixed by HQ at the time.

[Steve Nelson]

I would have preferred a Nuetrallity Flag or no nose art at all, but I understand the need to "brand the product" to keep the bucks coming in. I'd love to see AM927 get a real bomb bay (with doors) and the rest of her gun positions at some point, but right now I'd settle for a stock B-24 greenhouse canopy. I've always thought that late B-24M knife-edge windscreen just looked wrong.

SN

[warbird2]

I do like the neutrality flag but I hope they at least go back to the old nose art and name someday. The plane has a far longer history of being called Diamond Lil than anything else.

[dred]

I would have preferred a Nuetrallity Flag or no nose art at all, but I understand the need to "brand the product" to keep the bucks coming in. I'd love to see AM927 get a real bomb bay (with doors) and the rest of her gun positions at some point, but right now I'd settle for a stock B-24 greenhouse canopy. I've always thought that late B-24M knife-edge windscreen just looked wrong.

SN

I agree on the canopy; I'm wondering if that doesn't first depend on the reconstruction of the flight engineer's station, so that the overhead controls can be moved there? And doesn't the FE station depend on part of the hydraulic system being relocated? I seem to recall that from Gary's comments.

[the330thbg]

First things first. Bombbay doors first, please!

We should start a seperate WIX fund for the doors? i'm in

[Warbird Kid]

I've heard that the biggest obstacle with installing a fully operational bomb-bay would be the fact that the entire fuselage would have to be jigged so no warping would appear. Does anyone have any more info on the matter and what it would literally take to see 927 become a full bomber again? How much would have to be scratch built?

[Django]

Correct, a jig would be needed.

[Ztex]

I was going back over this thread (rope ???) looking for a photo of the tunnel gun that I knew was there and sadly found that most of the early pictures are no longer there.
I didn't check all the way back, but it seems that most if not all of the restoration pictures Gary took are gone and a lot of the shots taken by other members have also been deleted.
Seems a shame to me.
I don't know if anyone has access to Garys computer or photo library, but if they do an attempt to restore the missing photos would go a long way in keeping his memory alive and increases the value of this thread.
Maybe a dedicated (free) Photobucket or another photo host account could be established to put the lost images in so they could be seen again, just a thought.

Yeah that is a problem with these things....the Photobucket account was bound to go inactive at some point. Someone is bound to have collected the photos (100's of them) but restoring them would be difficult. An account set up then matching the photos to the correct posts could be doable as long as the file names match. It would be time consuming to say the least.
I hope it can get done some day...

[the330thbg]

gary,

We have B-24 bomb racks and bomb bay doors if needed.

You guys still have the B-24 'extras'?