Taking A Ride on the Liberty Belle

The Virginian ^ | 8/18/2008 | Moneyrunner

[moneyrunner]

A real ride back in time. One of my fellow passengers flew these in WW2.

Click on the link for a few more pictures.

[BellStar]

BellStar

Great Pictures!

[doublecansiter]

The Belle was in Cincinnati back in May. She's a beautiful
ship. And rare. One of 16 flyable B-17s left.

Mike

[Chode]

i've flown in FuddyDuddy twice...

[moneyrunner]

I was pleased that we were allowed to go all around the plane during flight. Watch out for the sharp edges in turbulence.

[Bringbackthedraft]

Looks like a G Model, the late war model, no longer painted olive drab. I believe I read somewhere that they were rebuilding the Memphis Belle, an earlier model, to flying condition.

[savedbygrace]

My FIL crewed in one during WWII. One of their last missions was to attack Berlin. Harrowing experience. He wrote a long letter back home about it, and I read the letter a couple or three months ago, so it’s fresh in my mind.

The Liberty Belle was open for touring and flights in Tulsa earlier this year. Other than the bombs, the rear of the B-17 was pretty spartan. A few straps, some wood plank seating, that’s about it. I wish we’d had the cash to take one of the flights.

http://www.libertyfoundation.org/

[BellStar]

Tom and I had the great joy of visiting the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston Texas about two weeks ago and we saw so much history. The Lone Star Flight Museum is home to one of the finest collections of restored aircraft and aviation exhibits in the nation
http://www.lsfm.org/
The website does not do it Justus!

[BellStar]

Tom and I had the great joy of visiting the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston Texas about two weeks ago and we saw so much history. The Lone Star Flight Museum is home to one of the finest collections of restored aircraft and aviation exhibits in the nation
http://www.lsfm.org/
The website does not do it Justus!

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

You are correct.It is a late G model with staggered waist windows and Cheyenne tail gun position.I am associated with the owner of this b-17 and we are rebuilding another one to fly.This one is in the markings of his Dads plane.His father was the tail gunner on the original Liberty Belle flying his first mission in support of the Normandy invasion on June 6 of 44.He flew thirty five missions and came home.

[yarddog]

I love the look of just about all war planes but to me the World War II models are the classics. Nothing is as pretty as a Spitfire, or BF-109, or even a Zero or P-40, they were just plain beautiful. I thought some of the uglier ones such as the B-24 and Lancasters were still works of art.

What amazing acts were done with some of them. Erich Hartmann shooting down 352 Russian planes with his Messerschmidt. Sometiimes 7 or more a day.That total will never be equalled.

Richard Bong in his P-38 and Pappy Boyington in his Corsair.

[Notary Sojac]

The Memphis Belle is being restored, but as a museum exhibit, not to flying condition.

I've never flown in a B-17, but about 15 years ago I had the privilege of sitting up here in the copilot's seat of the only pre-war Fortress still extant (although unrestored as you can clearly see)....

while listening to one of her former pilots talk about flying her around the SW Pacific in 1944.

[tanknetter]

Looks like a G Model, the late war model, no longer painted olive drab. I believe I read somewhere that they were rebuilding the Memphis Belle, an earlier model, to flying condition.

Sort of. The National Museum of the USAF now has possession of the Memphis Belle and is doing a full-up, comprehensive restoration of her. But even if she ends up in "flying condition", there's no way - at all - that she's ever taking to the air again.

NMUSAF also just took ownership and possession of Swoose from the National Air and Space Museum a month or two ago. Swoose is the sole remaining "sharktail" B-17, a "D" version that was converted to a General's transport after flying some of the first bombing missions of WWII out of the Philippines. She's colocated with Memphis Belle and the two are going to be restored side-by-side.

Liberty Belle is a pretty unique airframe, even amongst B-17s. After WWII she was converted into an engine testbed for Pratt and Whitney. She actually had one of the extremely-powerful late/post-war engines crammed into her nose as a fifth engine, and was capable of flight on that engine alone.

She was retired and eventually made her way into the collection of the New England Air Museum. In 1979 she got seriously torn up by the tornado that chewed through NEAM's collection. IIRC she had a Grumman Albatross flip over and rake down her back. She should have been razorblades after that, and it's absolutely amazing (and a testament to the very hard work and dedication of those who restored her) that she's capable of flying again.

[VOA]

Great thread!

And if you’re ever in the Mid-Missouri area aroung Memorial Day...
try to make it to the Salute To Veterans Memorial Day Airshow.

Kids “of all ages” get a rush touring thorough larger planes and
getting to climb a ramp to look inside the cockpit of planes like
(for example) the F-15 or F-18.

http://www.salute.org

http://www.salute.org/Aircraft.shtm

[tanknetter]

i've flown in FuddyDuddy twice...

Did you take that picture? I'm interested in what I see in the background - looks like the landing gear of a restored B-25, plus the cut-up fuselage and inner wing parts of a second Mitchell.

[Notary Sojac]

Re the Swoose, check my post #12. I got to go through her during a tour of the old Silver Hill NASM shop.

Talked to one of the guys working on the Memphis Belle when I was in Dayton last fall, they are restoring her in the same way the NASM does, which means retaining/conserving the original structure and systems, replacing only those items which are missing or so corroded that they can't be reinstalled.

Which means as authentic a piece of history as possigle, but she'll never be able to fly.

[Figment]

“I believe I read somewhere that they were rebuilding the Memphis Belle, an earlier model, to flying condition.

They might rebuild her to flying condition, but she’ll never fly again. She was confiscated from Memphis by the Air Force Museum for lack of care and respect(thank you Willie Herenton) She’ll be on permanent static display when restored

[tanknetter]

Talked to one of the guys working on the Memphis Belle when I was in Dayton last fall, they are restoring her in the same way the NASM does, which means retaining/conserving the original structure and systems, replacing only those items which are missing or so corroded that they can't be reinstalled.

NASM does go as far as possible in preserving and restoring their artifacts to working condition. I've been told that Enola Gay is probably flyable with minimal work at this point ... just that no one is even going to think of trying it because 1) it would just be plain insane to risk a priceless national treasure and 2) once you start operating a highly complex, old machine parts that you really want to preserve are going to need to be replaced.

Memphis Belle is probably the same; I haven't read or heard anything regarding major structural weakness or corrosion that would require new things like wing spars that would make the aircraft flyable at the expense of the historic fabric. I have heard that her interior - wiring, cabling, instruments, etc - aren't all that original, or even contemporary in nature (the folks down at Mud Island did the best that they could with the resources they had ...) The Belle restoration is probably going to approximate what Paul Allen and his FHC does with their restorations ...

[Chode]

nope... it used to be the center piece at the WarBird museum in Elmira till they had to sell it. that pic is from where ever it went.

[SoCalPol]

I have a small model of a B17 in honor of a relative who was a B17 pilot with many mission over Europe.
He took off on his 20 something mission and the plane loaded with bombs was kaput on takeoff.
My relative chose to guide the plane away from a British town and on to a farm field where he crashed with his crew.

To this day the town has a memorial for him and his crew.