B-23 Dragon/39-0063 roars out of obscurity

[Scott Rose]

B-23 Dragon/39-0063 flew into Madras, OR in August

Registry Entry - B-23 Dragon/39-0063

[JohnB]

I photographed it in Moses Lake, circa 2012. It looked well taken care of.

Talk about obscure, the author of a recent B-18/23 book didn't know about it. And he lives about 90 minutes from Moses Lake!

[Mark Sampson]

Great to see this. An interesting and nearly forgotten airplane.
It would be a wonderful thing if the folks at Geneseo could put theirs back together- I remember when they brought it home 7-8 years back. But that will take some serious dollars and a fair amount of time and skill. Hard to find for such an obscure type, I guess.

[airnutz]

This one and 0033 have received the most love toward flight in recent years. Hard to believe 0063 was unknown in the recent book. It's made every list compiled on the WIX in past years...something a google or wikipedia search would've found multiple times.

[JohnB]

Allow me to expand my statement.
In the book he had a brief history of the a.c. which ended in 1958. The downloadable production list said the aircraft was in Fairbanks or Moses Lake.
When I emailed him and said the aircraft was in Moses Lake he asked if I wasn't referring to the one at McChord.

No, I replied, it's in Moses Lake...really! So I sent photos.
So he vaguely knew the aircraft existed but not it's location or status, despite its proximity.
That's what I meant by being obscure.
It wasn't hidden or even locked up...The hangar door was open when I encountered it, otherwise I wouldn't have seen it, I didn't do any breaking or entering...it was just hiding in plane sight.

Last edited by JohnB on Mon Sep 11, 2017 8:27 pm, edited 4 times in total.

[Lon Moer]

I hope they keep the civilian paint job.

[airnutz]

Allow me to expand my statement.
In the book he had a brief history of the a.c. which ended in 1958. The downloadable production said the aircraft was in Fairbanks or Moses Lake.
When I emailed him and said the aircraft was in Moses Lake he asked if I wasn't referring to the one at McChord.

No, I replied, it's in Moses Lake...really! So I sent photos.
So he vaguely knew the aircraft existed but not it's location or status, despite its proximity.
That's what I meant by being obscure.
It wasn't hidden or even locked up...The hangar door was open when I encountered it, otherwise I wouldn't have seen it, I didn't do any breaking or entering...just hiding in plane sight.

Ahhhh...thanks for clarifying that JohnB. The most recent indoor photos I recall were from a few years back. I seem to remember a white framed background..probably wood...were those yours?
I'm wondering how #33 is coming along with Pissed Away? Heard anything?

[JohnB]

Those may have been my photos, I have posted them on the UK-based forum. Also, any shots of the aircraft would look pretty much alike given its position in the hangar.

Glad to see it's up and around.

[marine air]

Oshkosh was particularly nice this year for bombers. Represented were the B-52, B-1, B-2, B-29, B-29B, B-17G, A-26, A-20, various marks of the B-25, a few TBM's and T-28D's and F's. Lots of fly bys and i couldnt help to think about the missing B-24, PB4-Y, PBY and B-23.
It was nice to see so many of those fly and to be able to compare the A-20 to its later brother the A-26.

[tulsaboy]

Has anyone ever seen a WWII numeric lineup or flyby? By that I mean something like:
B-17, B-18, B-23, B-24, B-25, B-26, B-29

I could see something like that being fun for nerds (like me.)

kevin

[Mark Sampson]

Well, at Geneseo a few years back you could have seen all 3 Douglas WWII bombers in one place. They had an A-20 (now sold), an A-26 (also gone to a new home) and the B-23 (in pieces). Only the A-26 was a flier though, and they were never parked next to each other AFAIK, but it was a nice bit of historical synchronicity just the same.

[JohnB]

Well, to the best of my knowledge, no B-18s are flying...so that would let that out.

[marine air]

The problem with the B-18's are that they were operated and owned by a firefighting company until the 1980's. During the Reagan administration they were traded to the U.S. govt. in exchange for more modern surplus aircraft like the P-2V Neptunes and C-1/S-2's. Apparently none were owned outside of this one company so the survivors are all now owned by the government. There isn't one to restore as a warbird. Also, some think they are quite ugly, especially the B model with the dognose.

[JohnB]

Ugliness shouldn't be an issue, the are historic in their own right. It would be fun to see an ASW example fly.
And, as warbird go, fairly inexpensive to operate.

Still, their looks/performance will ensure they'll never replace the Mustang as a desirable warbird.

[Chris Brame]

There isn't one to restore as a warbird.

There's exactly one left in civilian hands - B-18 36-446 on the big island of Hawaii, down the side of a ravine on private land. One of the property owners is a member here (ypochris). It's still largely intact (minus the nose, engines and dorsal turret the NMUSAF took) but nearly inaccessible and in a very difficult position to remove; last word was the property owners were still trying to agree on what to do with it.
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