mustangdriver wrote:
What happened to the turret that was in the airplane? It may have been covered and I missed it.
Also there was some sort of an issue was it just an FAA mix up?
The turret assembly was removed in Genneseo before the plane was flown down to Cherokee Airport. One of the compromises with doing a ride program is that people are moving through the airplane during flight, which is no easy task in a B-17! Having the turret installed made transitioning between the cockpit and the bomb bay very difficult. Another factor is the need to install a pair of jumpseats in the cockpit in order to be able to carry enough people to, hopefully, make a little money on the rides to support rebuilding Liberty Belle. I would have loved to keep the full turret, but it just wasn't practical. Nothing has been changed in the plane that would prevent the full turret from being reinstalled.
As far as the FAA is concerned, I've been spending a fair chunk of time with the plane for the last month or so and I'm not aware of any problems or issues with them.
I'm just happy that the plane is out on tour and that it looks like we had a good first weekend!
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