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PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 8:23 am 
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Wonderful thread Bomber Flight thanks so much for sharing your pictures with us. I think I have several magazines covering the building and opening of this museum. It is pretty wild to think that the exhibits area already being refreshed, it seems like it just opened. :lol:

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 24, 2011 2:30 am 
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Location: Chrishall Grange ~ England
This Easter Sunday we're lucky to have the opportunity to look back in time at Mary Alice ......

The following images are from Tony Clarke ~ a long time visitor to Duxford ~ who has scanned some old negatives and prints to share with us :D

I must confess to making this first image look worse in attempting to brighten it up ~ plus the constraints on file size in Photobucket.

At this time ~ 44-83735 was still being operated as a survey aircraft with the Institut Geographique National ( IGN )

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According to Scott Thompson's excellent B-17 survivors reference book "Final Cut" [ 4th Edition just published ] ~
44-83735 was sold by the IGN to Euroworld at Duxford in 1975.

The intention was to use this aircraft as a spares source for the UK's only airworthy B-17 ~ Sally B

We don't have any info on when the nose art was added ~ maybe someone reading this can help ?

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The windows we can see in the rear fuselage were added when the airframe was converted into executive transport
configuration in 1947 by Transocean Airlines.

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44-83735 was sold to the Imperial War Museum and restoration work began on turning the aircraft into a museum exhibit.

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It seems that the Mary Alice paint scheme was selected because it reflects a B-17G with a Cheyenne tail in Olive Drab.
Does anyone have anything more to share on this period of time ?

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The final two pictures show Mary Alice as she was when she was moved into the American Air Museum at Duxford.

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Once again ~ a big thank you to Tony Clarke for taking the time and trouble to share these images with us !

More news on the current restoration project soon :D

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 2:21 pm 
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Tony Clarke fished another jewel from his photo collection for us !

Difficult to know if this was taken soon after the B-17 arrived by road from France ~ but the fuselage is in one piece when this was taken

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We now fast forward to the present time for another update on the current restoration process .....

The next two pics were taken on Easter Sunday and show the paint removal process underway.
Given that this B-17 spent most of its life in a natural metal finish ~ there won't be too many layers of Olive Drab paint to remove.

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And these pics from today .....

All four props have now been removed

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The next phase will be to remove the engines. All the pipework and control cables have been disconnected.

The Ball Turret has been unbolted and now awaits for the tail to be jacked up to remove it. ( After the engines come off )

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It looks like the team have put just enough lift on the tail section to allow the tailwheel to be rotated ~ bye bye flat spot !

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The paint striped parts are back where they were and the fabric covered parts have been worked on too !

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More news soon :D

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Consolidated by US state ~ see if there's a heavy bomber tour stop coming to an airport near you ...... http://www.bomberflight.info

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PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2011 3:32 am 
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Just a short update from Sunday May 1st

No changes to report from Hangar 5 ~ the Conservation Hangar regarding Mary Alice ( It is a Bank Holiday weekend after all ! )

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Down in the AAM itself however ~ things have moved on since my last post

For a start ~ the tail wheel is now the right shape

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More significantly ......

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One engine has been dismounted and the next is ready to come off too

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Another update soon :D

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Consolidated by US state ~ see if there's a heavy bomber tour stop coming to an airport near you ...... http://www.bomberflight.info

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PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2011 4:45 pm 
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good!

Certainly want to see how she fits through that door.

Reminds me of the M*A*S*H episode where RADAR mails the JEEP home to Iowa! :lol: :lol:

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Last edited by the330thbg on Wed May 04, 2011 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2011 10:43 pm 
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I thought Radar was from Ottumwa, Iowa...


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PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 3:00 pm 
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A short visit to the American Air Museum today showed further progress .....

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We now have two engines dismounted from the airframe !

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In the next pic ~ we can see that engine is being attached to a frame so it can safely be transported to the Conservation Hangar.

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Once secure ~ the engine was moved to a position next to the double doors in the glass wall and the equipment was then repositioned
around the other side of the B-17 nose ~ ready for the next engine.

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So that's two engines down and two to go ! :D

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Consolidated by US state ~ see if there's a heavy bomber tour stop coming to an airport near you ...... http://www.bomberflight.info

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PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2011 7:35 pm 
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Seeing her come apart is giving me deja voodoo nightmares! :shock:
I had forgotten how much "quality" time I spent cleaning out the flap channels and the wing interiors on TR.

I had hoped to see Mary Alice intact this July, because I used pictures of her and the others in the aero-design book #19 a lot as references for TEXAS RAIDERS' restoration.

Keep up the good work Bomberflight AND the lads at Duxford!

SPANNER

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PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2011 4:04 am 
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Don ~ by the time you visit in July ~ all of Mary Alice should be in the Conservation Hangar. I suspect they'll be happy to see someone with first hand experience !

These pix are from Wednesday May 4th

As someone said to me while I was there ...... "I'm pleased to see R2D2 made it into Hangar 5"

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On no ~ sorry ! It has to be the Ball Turret ~ It says so on the cradle :)

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We now have three engines in the hangar.

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The thing that strikes me is just how much "kit" is needed to do this project in the time frame they have alloted for it.
Things like having the right number of engine stands ~ so they can all be worked on at the same time.

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Ah yes ~ that bloke with the camera is here again

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Time now to pop along to the AAM for a look in there too .....

If you look to the right hand side of the next image ~ you'll see work underway now to remove the outer wing panels.

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It's possible that by the time I type this ~ this outer wing panel will be off the airplane

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More soon :wink:

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Consolidated by US state ~ see if there's a heavy bomber tour stop coming to an airport near you ...... http://www.bomberflight.info

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PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2011 7:42 am 
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wow.., this is fascinating to watch. Too bad you can't set up a camera on a tri-pod and take a shot or two each day. When you put them together you will have a time lapse version of her disassembly. If you ever get depressed., just watch it in reverse and POOF.., there she is again! :o :wink: :lol:

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PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2011 10:38 am 
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Great thread! Looks like they are doing a great job. 8)

What are the odds that she'll go back to NMF?

It seems like if they are going to all that trouble, it would make sense to at least go to some different markings. Even people who have been there before would want to come again to see the unveiling, and with static aircraft, you don't get many opportunities to change the markings.

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PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2011 8:50 pm 
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Very cool. Could use some shots of the B-29... :wink: :wink:

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PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2011 3:05 pm 
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the330thbg ~ I have a camera that can do that ! I'm planning to try and do some time lapse work on a B-17 very soon !

Django ~ As I understand it the Imperial War Museum hasn't made a final decision on the scheme after restoration.
Speaking personally~ I want to see it in natural metal thats buffed up to match the B-24 so the finish won't fade like Olive Drab does
and when the sun shines on it ~ there will be shafts of light cast inside and reflected outside too.

This next bit may be controversial ( but again personally ) I'd just put the real serial on the tail and come up with a good cartoon nose art
like the CAF did with Ol'927. That way it honors every B-17 in every Squardron in every Group rather than a specific WW2 aircraft.
And as with the CAF ~ the AAM then has a piece of nose art to merchandise on T-shirts, caps and badges.

APG85 ~ B-29 pix taken and posted for you sir. See the 6 o'clock thread from Duxford posted today !

More news coming soon :wink:

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Consolidated by US state ~ see if there's a heavy bomber tour stop coming to an airport near you ...... http://www.bomberflight.info

Warbirdapps on facebook ~ every day a new image from my personal journey thru the world of warbirds ..... https://www.facebook.com/Warbirdapps


Last edited by bomberflight on Sat May 07, 2011 12:47 am, edited 2 times in total.

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PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2011 3:18 pm 
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Progress ! Progress ! Progress !

The outer wing panels have been removed

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In this next shot ~ the dark discoloration is the result of the suspended C-47 marking its territory ....

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The other outer panel waiting to go to the Conservation Hangar

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Interior detail shot into bright sunlight ~ tweaked in photoshop

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I used fill-in flash on this one to try and show the detail better

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My respect for the Boeing designers grows with every visit.

Being able to see the "V" section inner skin ( above ) and little design details like the lift rings on the panel .....

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To finish this post I'll add two more shots of the engines located in the Conservation Hanger

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More soon :wink:

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Blue Skies .....

Peter

Consolidated by US state ~ see if there's a heavy bomber tour stop coming to an airport near you ...... http://www.bomberflight.info

Warbirdapps on facebook ~ every day a new image from my personal journey thru the world of warbirds ..... https://www.facebook.com/Warbirdapps


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PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2011 3:23 pm 
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What a great thread!

Many thanks and have a great weekend!

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