why is b-17 swamp ghost to be relegated to as found diorama

Mike · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 8:54 am **Posts:** 3331

67Cougar wrote:

If someone tried to restore this aircraft by using anything other than the tiniest of pieces, you wouldn't catch me anywhere near it when someone tried to get it off the ground. From what I saw, there was nothing there that could be classified as usable on an airworthy aircraft.

The intention is not to restore it to fly, but to static condition to be displayed in the museum.

groundpounder · **Posted:** Sun May 05, 2013 6:38 pm

Just for comparisons sake, how much of the Desert Rat will be original once she takes to the skies again ?? BTW.. Freaking awesome job those guys are doing on the Rat !!!! :drink3:

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Mon May 06, 2013 12:14 am

POOP!!!!

Looks like I will need to make the trip back to Hawaii... at least this this it won't be at the tail end of a 6 month Haze gray and underway cruise and the wifee will be with me. Could be a good time as I think it through.

Tim

Mark Allen M · **Joined:** Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:48 pm **Posts:** 7815

Not sure if most of you have seen these before. Saw them posted around the internet lately. (Wikipedia Commons as well)
Pretty cool deal for sure. Hope eventually it's gets inside somewhere or at least covered a bit. Even in HI the environment can be tricky.
Photos look to belong to the Pacific Aviation Museum. Photographer unknown to me.

Looks to be the fellas involved with the care and display.

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Thu Jan 08, 2015 12:54 pm

How much better is the weather in Hawaii compared to New Guinea? It's still a tropical climate. If the B-17 was displayed outside say at... PIMA, I'd have less of an issue since the environment and weather is much less harmful to aircraft. I wouldn't have that big of a deal with it. But Hawaii rains pretty frequently if I'm not mistaken. That can't be good for this plane.

I really do hope this 17 is restored to at least static display, to how she looked before her last mission.

Rocketeer · **Joined:** Wed Jan 26, 2011 6:16 pm **Posts:** 195

Thanks for the update and photos Mark. I hope people come to understand corrosion - which is not a decorative patina, but a cancer that devours metal...
Technically the aircraft is not preserved outdoors - even if out of the swamp, it is simply decomposing at a slower rate now.

Restoration or not, stabilizing the corrosion should be a priority for an aircraft this significant to the Pacific Theater.

cooper9411 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:26 pm

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't an inhibitor applied to slow the corrosion after it was recovered front the swamp?

4RG.I.'S · **Posted:** Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:34 pm

I guess I need to study more of the pictures Mark so kindly posts to answer my own question, but doesn't it seem odd that all 4 engines have one blade almost straight up? I understand the interference of the terrain it was descending through during the crash so there would be less resistance to 2 blades on the sides compared to 1 straight down, but all 4? Or were they removed and re-installed in a different orientation? Sorry, weird little details bug me...

Matt Gunsch · **Posted:** Thu Jan 08, 2015 2:05 pm

If you look at the props you will notice that each has 2 blades bent, one blade more than the other, meaning the engines were turning at low power when they ditched, the reason the props are the way they are now is ground clearance.

Swamp Ghost should be inside, out of the weather. What will happen if they get hit with a typhoon ?

mustangdriver · **Posted:** Thu Jan 08, 2015 2:24 pm

It's slated to come indoors any time.

4RG.I.'S · **Posted:** Thu Jan 08, 2015 3:04 pm

Matt Gunsch wrote:

If you look at the props you will notice that each has 2 blades bent, one blade more than the other, meaning the engines were turning at low power when they ditched, the reason the props are the way they are now is ground clearance.

Swamp Ghost should be inside, out of the weather. What will happen if they get hit with a typhoon ?

I understand the amount of bend relating to power, just noting blade position. I figured it was for ground clearance, just interesting that they were moved. I agree completely it deserves to be inside!

DH82EH · **Posted:** Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:01 pm

Thanks for posting the pictures Mark.

Storing an aircraft beside the ocean, is only marginally better than storing it in the ocean! :shock:

Andy Scott

sandiego89 · **Joined:** Mon May 21, 2012 12:28 pm **Posts:** 1198

I think she looks fantastic in the as found pictures mark posted above. If she moves under cover as mustangdriver indicates in this configuration I say great. I think there is actually a more compelling story in this condition. Flying and static B-17's are pretty well represented, granted not this model. I vote leave her as found. A well done diorama could make you feel like getting a peek at her undisturbed after all these years.

I think it would be similiar if Lady be Good ever gets to a real museum. A well done diorama in "as found" condition would be a moving display. Replacing 90 perecent of the structure and flying her around at airshows, or putting her back together as a complete static as she took off for her last mission? No thanks.

RyanShort1 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 08, 2015 9:05 pm

Honestly, I think we need flying AND static examples, and I think this one is a good static candidate...

ALOHADAVE · **Posted:** Fri Jan 09, 2015 12:29 am

"Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't an inhibitor applied to slow the corrosion after it was recovered front the swamp?"

What inhibitor would you use?

None was applied when I saw it last year.

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why is b-17 swamp ghost to be relegated to as found diorama

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