Any updates on Collings P-38 and B-17 Oregon

[Chris Brame]

Hey, I'd like to see a B-17 in US training field codes, but we know that's not going to happen!
(There's a thread going over at Aero Vintage right now in which we're trying to dig up all the images we can find of the trainers at Hobbs, NM.)

[C VEICH]

Is the B-17 painted silver or bare metal?

I've not seen the Fortress since it left Arizona but it was bare metal when it was here. Looked fantastic too, particularly when sitting next to Arizona's other well know B-17 "Sentimental Journey". I miss those days! Evergreen hosted a couple of really great airshows back in the '90s when they had their fleet of warbirds in Marana.

[Dennis7423]

This is what she looked like when I last saw her a few years ago. I presume it still looks exactly the same.

N207EV 44-83785 - 32426 - Evergreen - Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress 299P - Evergreen Air and Space Museum - McMinnville, Oregon - 131026 - Steven Gray - IMG_8954 by Steve Gray, on Flickr

- Dennis S.
Westminster, CO USA

[Pat Carry]

Once Collings has Evergreen's B-17 up and flying, what happens to "Nine-O-Nine"??

[Warbird Kid]

Once Collings has Evergreen's B-17 up and flying, what happens to "Nine-O-Nine"??

I believe it is suppose to come down for a lengthy and in-depth overhaul. Similar as to how they've switched off Betty Jane for Toulouse Nuts now. But now the question is when will they get another B-24...

[Ztex]

I asked Rob Collings if they had a plan for the new B-17 paint scheme when I saw him at Oshkosh....he just smiled and said "we think so"



Here's the interview...Rob is towards the end.
http://www.warbirdradio.com/2016/07/the-texas-warbird-report-airventure-2016-show-episode-16/

[CoastieJohn]

This was updated today. How accurate is the last sentence?

http://www.johnweeks.com/b17active/b17evergreen.html

B-17G Evergreen International is based at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. Evergreen is the largest airline that nobody has ever heard of. They took over CIA transport operations and are now a huge international cargo shipper, both by air and sea.
This B-17 was finished about a month before the end of WWII. It flew cargo and passengers at the tail end of the war. It was then sold into civilian use, where it was owned by a number of CIA shell corporations. In one of these roles, it served as the testbed to develop the Fulton Lift, a method of picking up a commando on the ground from a moving airplane. This was demonstrated in a 1964 James Bond movie using this aircraft. Evergreen has tried to erase the cloudy past of this aircraft by painting it in false markings of 48-3785, which is shorthand for serial number 44-83785.

[Zac Yates]

I saw a video of the P-38 having an engine run on Facebook, but I've no clue where. From memory it was within the last week.

[Warbird Kid]

I saw a video of the P-38 having an engine run on Facebook, but I've no clue where. From memory it was within the last week.

Probably Gary Norville's Facebook page.

[JohnTerrell]

This was updated today. How accurate is the last sentence?

http://www.johnweeks.com/b17active/b17evergreen.html

It doesn't make much sense, as that is how the serial number 44-83785 should be applied to the tail, as it would have been originally if that is indeed the correct number - the standard USAAF practice being you only keep the last digit of the year from the serial number as the first number of the serial applied to the tail.

[thoots]

I visited the museum today -- I hadn't heard of any news (haven't been on this site) for a few weeks beforehand. Very notably, the P-38L, the Spitfire Mk.XVI, the Bf-109G, and the P-40K had been moved from the positions they had been in for the past several years, to positions near the big hangar doors at the rear of the building. The P-38L was right inside the door, with a tug standing nearby.

I talked with a docent, who mentioned that they were indeed "getting ready to leave" the museum, and that they had started the P-38L's engines a few days ago. Supposedly it "would be gone already," but during the engine run, they found an oil leak (or perhaps a gas leak -- don't quote me like I'm using quotes here!), so obviously they've got to fix that before it goes anywhere. A number of engine access doors were open on the B-17G, so they're obviously working on that.

The docent mentioned that the P-38L and the B-17G would be flown out, perhaps with a stop at the nearby Aurora Airport for further repairs before flying to their eventual destinations. The other fighter planes would be trucked out. These were the obvious "planes that had been moved" that I could tell, so I'm not sure about any other planes beyond the ones I've mentioned here.

I took pictures (of course), but I just got back, and I've got to process some, and then I'll post them to this thread. But obviously, if you're anywhere near the museum and you'd like to get a look at these planes before they go, now is the time to get to McMinnville! It really sounded like the P-38 could be gone "any minute now," as soon as they get that leak fixed, and/or whatever else they might need to do.

By all means, if anyone has a source of information regarding what's going on with these planes, I'd love to hear about it. I definitely plan on getting over there quite often over the next week or few weeks or however long it takes, to see if I can get some pictures of any actual movements outside of the museum.

thoots

[thoots]

I found that Facebook P-38L video, here:

https://www.facebook.com/gary.norville/ ... fallback=1

That location is just straight back from the big hangar doors that I mentioned in my post, above.

[Michel Lemieux]

I wonder what they have in mind for the 109...

Quite a few years ago I remember 2 of them being restored to airworthy flight condition...and I was kind bummed they never flew.

One ended up at Evergreen and I do not remember where the other one went. Anyone remembers???? OR who even did the original resto. Was it Evergreen?

[swbaileyLSFM]

I wonder what they have in mind for the 109...

Quite a few years ago I remember 2 of them being restored to airworthy flight condition...and I was kind bummed they never flew.

One ended up at Evergreen and I do not remember where the other one went. Anyone remembers???? OR who even did the original resto. Was it Evergreen?

The two BF-109s came from Doug Arnold in England and were restored by Vintage Aviation in Fort Collins, CO. One of them was kept at Evergreen while the second one was traded to the National Museum of the US Air Force for a couple C-130s which Evergreen founder Del Smith, then turned around and sold. During my tenure as Curator at Evergreen, it was always said that the Bf-109 could be made flyable, but that there was still some plumbing and electrical wiring that was never finished.

[Michel Lemieux]

Wow...thank you for the answer!!!!!!!

So it would not be far fetched that whomever gets to own it eventually has to possibility to get it in the air.....

Thank you again!!!!