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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 ...

Well, all I can relate is what I saw and was told at the AFM. There were some parts that clearly had been thinned by corrosion which were being refinished and prepped for installation, for example some control surface framework which I for one would not want attached to any plane I flew in...

The Enola Gay on the other hand you may be right about. She did go into museum storage not too long after the war, as compared to the Belle which sat out in that Tennessee weather for forty-odd years.

"Enola Gay is probably flyable"

Saw her a couple of times at Silver Hill when they were putting her back together. Fantastic!

She is at the Edgar Hazy (sic) section of Air and Space out at Dulles Airport in Virginia.

She is beautiful and looks as though all you need is an ignition key to get her going.

As an aside, watching the Japanese Tourists faces when they see her is interesting. (I'm so ashamed! ;^))