Memphis Belle is saved from the scrapheap

Daily Mail ^ | May 17, 2018 | Ian Burns and Megan Sheets

[GreyFriar]

Legendary WWII bomber that survived 25 missions over occupied Europe is lovingly restored and put on display

B-17 'Flying Fortress' known as Memphis Belle is introduced this morning at National Museum of USAF in Ohio

Plane was celebrated for being first bomber to survive 25 missions over Europe before returning to US in 1943

It had been kept in Memphis, Tennessee for years but had been subject to vandalism before being refurbished

[rdl6989]

I assumed it was in a museum, I guess not.

[mjp]

I used to drive by it many times a month while growing up in Memphis. I’m glad it is being saved.

[deport]

Thanks for the link.

[deport]

Question is the photo on the internet. If so you can show it on
FR by posting the image link.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Who would possibly recommend a scrap heap for one of the most famous planes in human history ?

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Not to denigrate the significance of this plane, but you know they made several each day during WW2. Over 12,000.

Damaged B17s

[Hardastarboard]

risque art and heavy machine guns

This is what I'm naming my band.

[Right Wing Assault]

That plane is beautiful.

[Windflier]

My all-time favorite aircraft. A glorious bird.

[Sequoyah101]

Risqie nose art? Not even close.

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

the term Greatest Generation took on a much more serious and respectful, not casual, definition

Got that right.

I would like to add a word for the brave men of RAF Bomber Command in their Lancs and Halifaxes. The British government to its shame turned its back on honoring them after the war. One of the black marks on Churchill's record.

[zot]

Thanks for your memory at post # 11.

[hinckley buzzard]

Took a ride on Memphis Belle in 2014 in Cleveland. It was great since my father was a B17 pilot in the war, 50 missions over the Axis powers.

I hope she is still flying.

[knarf]

Thank you for this ping, GreyFriar.

[archy]

I assumed it was in a museum, I guess not.

It was under a polyvinyl *mushroom* umbrella on display on Memphis' Mud Island around 1998-'99 when I was in the airplane bizniz there. A number of Fed Ex, Delta, Northwurst Airlines and Tennessee Tech Airframe & Powerplant mechanics were dragooned, kicking and screaming, to do a complete technical survey, inspection and evaluation for the rebuild by the boffins at wright Pat. Being as the Memphis airline business was not quite so competitive as to require tail gunners and bombardiers, I was picked as the one with the most experience on those systems, and got the job of doing the writeup on the engineer/top turret gunner's position, to include his two .50 Browning machineguns. I also got stuck with the same task for the belly turret, the tail gunner's position, and the Bombardier's nose position, including servos and Norden M bombsight, which annoyed me because we were short of engine mechanics who'd worked on radial engines, and that had been my powerplant project in A&P school.

Happily, it all got done. And also happily, the techs surveying for corrosial found the spot at which one of the aircraft's main longitudinal spars had cracked clear through, and the second was better than halfway gone. It was no problem for the USAF transport crew once they knew about it, but if they hadn't, or if the aircraft had been hastily moved during a Mississippi river flood by unknowing crane operators, the result would have not only have broken a lot have hearts.

Highest two spots in those days: When former USAF General Jimmy Stewart [also a pretty well-known actor] passed away, a Memorial Flight passed over the Belle. And that was where the escorting aircraft, including a flyable B-17 and a B-24 dipped their wings in salute and dropped a memorial wreath. And I got to meet three of the original crew, JP the tail gunner [only one of the crew to get the Purple Heart, and should have gotten at least a DSC, as well as the Combat Infantryman's Badge; he was the real hero aboard] Captain Morgan, and Bob Hanson, the last of the crew to rejoin his pals, in 2005. I wonder what the old Viking Warriors in Valhalla think of the crazy Americans over in one corner, now forever young again, and outfitted in the leather jackets and high-altitude gear they wore in their office, eight miles above us all.

Happy Memorial Day, guys. We remember you.

[archy]

Risqie nose art? Not even close.

There's some pretty good stuff inside the ladder door covers of A-10 Warthawgs back in the days when my wifey was turning wrenches on the things as a targeting systems avionics tech on her beloved Hawgs. But never quite anything to match the WWII B-24 The Dragon and his Tail:

[rdl6989]

Thanks for this info.