Yankee Lady - Departed for Madras 10/19/2024

[JohnH]

This needed its own post , rather than get buried in the others .

As I promised to post, Yankee Lady departs for Chino on Monday , and will fly in Detroit area today and tomorrow.

Last edited by JohnH on Sat Oct 19, 2024 12:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[JohnH]

She's up, on the first flight!

[JohnB]

Starting on the next chapter of its life.
Remember, it's said that current owners are only temporary caretakers, so perhaps it's best to look at it like that.

[JohnH]

It did a lot of Flights Friday . Stay tuned . It may leave Saturday , and people are stating Madras is the destination, not Chino.

[JohnB]

...and people are stating Madras is the destination, not Chino.

So, can we infer that Erickson is going to do some work?
It it still going to the Southern Hemisphere for restoration?

[JohnTerrell]

At Madras, Erickson will perform the aircraft's disassembly for shipping to New Zealand - they're better equipped to do so than at Chino.

[JohnH]

Yes , that makes way more sense to me, just had dinner with Mike Oliver of Erickson a few weeks ago at Santa Maria, and talked about B17 stuff. And yes, she's off to Madras now as seen on the flight path. https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/N3193G

[Xray]

Appears to have landed in Sioux Falls yesterday and still there.

[JohnB]

At Madras, Erickson will perform the aircraft's disassembly for shipping to New Zealand - they're better equipped to do so than at Chino.

If disassembly requires special tools and skills not available at Chino (that's a bit surprising since Chino is considered by many the epicenter of American warbirds), I'm wondering if it will be reassembled in NZ?

In other words, will the NZ crew restore the various sections,.and then ship them back to the U.S. for reassembly and test flights?

If disassembly if such a big deal, the task or reassembly, test flights, and disassembly for shipping seems like a lot of work.

And while the NZ crew are experienced warbird restorers, unless they have spent time in the U.S., UK or France, they likely don't have "hands on" B-17 experience.

Just out of curiosity, when was the last time a B-17 was in New Zealand?

[ErrolC]

Just out of curiosity, when was the last time a B-17 was in New Zealand?

When I quickly scanned through this thread on WONZ when it was announced, 1955? They were never based here.
A movie fuselage mock-up is in Classic Flyers Tauranga.
https://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/1609 ... ew-zealand

[Tim Savage]

At Madras, Erickson will perform the aircraft's disassembly for shipping to New Zealand - they're better equipped to do so than at Chino.

If disassembly requires special tools and skills not available at Chino (that's a bit surprising since Chino is considered by many the epicenter of American warbirds), I'm wondering if it will be reassembled in NZ?

In other words, will the NZ crew restore the various sections,.and then ship them back to the U.S. for reassembly and test flights?

If disassembly if such a big deal, the task or reassembly, test flights, and disassembly for shipping seems like a lot of work.

And while the NZ crew are experienced warbird restorers, unless they have spent time in the U.S., UK or France, they likely don't have "hands on" B-17 experience.

Just out of curiosity, when was the last time a B-17 was in New Zealand?

While the center of the warbird world used to be Chino that is rapidly changing. The folks up at Madras not only work on their own B-17 but also are re-sparring another. They also have a hangar big enough for a B-17 to be disassembled. I am sure there are variety of shops that could have disassembled it but it makes sense to go to the one that has the space and is working on them every day. This should not be taken as a slight on the skills of any of the folks at CNO.

I am confident the AvSpecs people will do just fine with it. Reverse engineering a Mosquito is infinitely more difficult than putting a B-17 together...

[JohnB]

I have immense admiration for the work AvSpecs have done on Mosquitos, but I'd politely suggest restoring and reassembling a B-17 requires a very different skill set.

And the value of experience should not be taken lightly, as you said.."...but it makes sense to go to the one that has the space and is working on them every day."

[Tim Savage]

I have immense admiration for the work AvSpecs have done on Mosquitos, but I'd politely suggest restoring and reassembling a B-17 requires a very different skill set.

And the value of experience should not be taken lightly, as you said.."...but it makes sense to go to the one that has the space and is working on them every day."

And I would politely suggest you are incorrect….based on my 30 years in this industry