Warbird Information Exchange

The Best B-17?

The best B-17 in the world is the one sitting on your airport ramp, dripping hot oil on the tarmac , and on your shirt, as you wait for your chance to go up in it. Is there anything better!!!

Marine Air ! We don't mention dripping oil ! Warbirders have enough trouble keeping the FAA happy... don't need the EPA getting involved too!

Hmmmmm,

Well, I feel that perhaps I should put my two cents in here also. So here goes :

Sentimental Journey...Excellent representation...and it was the first opportunity for me to see her in person....

Thunderbird....simpy OUTSTANDING example of a flyable Fortress, Lone Star really takes care of their aircraft

909......I knew some of the guys who worked for USAir after 909 landed long and ended up in a ravine many years ago. While I still think she is a fine example, I am predjudiced by the fact that Mr. Reilly severely critiscized the work and workmanship of the volunteers at USAir that did a ton of the restoration work...for FREE. I know some of them personally and to say what he was quated as saying about these volunteers, to me was a total outrage. Still, though, 909 is a beauty.

The David Tallichet "Memphis Belle"......greasy, dirty and well worn. And, forgive me for viewing this one with the eye of a career maintenance inspector, but this old girl is in dire need of some serious TLC. Stop drilled cracks all over the place and the old girl looks tired more than anything else.

Yankee Lady....what else can you say....a beautiful example of her breed. may she fly long and pround.

Miss Angela.....having seen her close up, albiet many years ago, she IS in great shape, but since she left Minnesota, I have not seen her since and do not know if she flies often.

Aluminum Overcast....she was GREAT before the gear collapse, and I think that there will be many improvements to her when she next appears in the skies.

Fuddy Duddy.... Although I have never seen her until Thunder over Michigan...I was impressed...she is looking very good considering the time she is putting in for the rather sickly Aluminum Overcast.

Chuckie......now there is a plane whose presence was WELL MISSED on the airshow ciricut. And I was very glad to see her again. She still looks wonderful.

Liberty Belle.....what can you say...a simply FINE exapmple of current restoration efforts.

Texas Raiders...although she is in the "hospital" now...I am sure that one of the most recognizeable CAF Flagships will once more be long and pround in the skies.

I have never had the opportunity to see either Pink Lady or Sally B...but am told that they both are still soldiering on quite nicely and from photo's I see that some of you have posted here....they can both look forward to long airworthy career's. If the bloody insurance companies keep their head out of their backs#$s and let the do what they are mean to do.

On quick note...doesn't the Planes of Fame museum have a B-17 named Piccadilly Lilly ? If memory serves me correctly, she is in sad shape and not getting any better. Does anyone know is she is slated at some point for a restorative effort on the part of POF ???

Well folks...you asked for folks "two cents worth" . There is mine....does anyone concur with what I have said here ??

Thoughts ??

Respectfully,

Paul

In all fairness I think there needs to be several sub-categories here to differentiate... I think that a Flying-Flying Fortress is wonderful regardless of condition, but there are levels and categories.

Category One - Best Mechanical and Working Condition
(regardless of authenticity)

Category Two - Most Authentic & Complete
(regardless of mechanical condition)

Category Three - Best Overall
(best compromise between authentic and mechanical)

Obviously due to my direct affiliation with the Collings Foundation you can safely know what my choice for overall best would be... but I will say the following about "Nine O Nine" that would be my statements regardless of affiliation.

1) Nine O Nine usually can't be found at the airshows that many of us know and attend, so unless you come to the many visits we perform yearly, you might not see her and be aware of what she looks like as much as you could see Thunderbird, Liberty Belle, or Sentimental Journey.

2) Interior-wise, Nine O Nine has just about everything that was on her in '44... top turret & accessories, ball turret & accessories, complete nose compartment, complete waist compartment, and a fairly original cockpit. Only compromises are the mandated mods for the backrests for riders in the waist section, which are far less intrusive than the canvas bench seats or modified pilot seats that some feature. Furthermore, she doesn't have the modern noise padding installed... just the metal like in '44.

3) General maintenance-wise I can say that Nine O Nine is pampered! When you have one to two full time mechanics (and we mean, 7 days a week, 10-15 hours a day FULL TIME) working on her, you have a pampered bird. The mechanics know her inside and out... and have a very personal connection with the plane... and a personal pride in her condition. Pilots have this connection too and the communication between the mechanics and the pilots is quite good too... meaning squawks get taken care of ASAP. Wayne and Mac (who is also our lead pilot on the B-17) care so much for 909 and I challenge anyone to find a pair that work harder than they do to keep her flying, looking, and sounding right. Add to all this the full scale annual maintenance at American Aero Services where the plane gets turned inside out and major stuff is taken care of... you just can't find a better cared for bird in my opinion. The crew is even trying to raise the bar by making the turrets in full operating condition and adding a fully-operational chin turret (not the fiberglass replica).

4) Accessable - With over 135 cities visited annually... many in some far flung areas... you can bet that people that would never have gotten the opportunity to see a B-17 up close, can! That says a lot considering a fully restored B-17 isn't much good unless people can see it somehow.

All just my .02 though. Take it as you will!

Ryan Keough

My hat's off to "Nine-O-Nine",too. I flew aboard her during the recent stop-over at Mount Comfort, Indiana. (I flew on Witchcraft,too.) What a great plane and great pilots. Fully operational turrets would be the icing on the cake!! My congratulations to the Colling's Foundation and thanks for the rides of a lifetime!
PJ

Ryan,

Very well said, I enjoyed your comments.

During 909s stopover at Boca Raton and Ft. Lauderdale, for about the last 12-15 years. Each day I spend many hours at the exit door of the 909. As people exit the plane I and Lew Barwick ask people if they have any questions, which we try to answer. We get a great deal of pleasure in the time spent beside the beauty.

Lew was a waist gunner who was shot down on his 19th mission. I was a pilot who completed 50 missions in her sisters.

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WW2 B17 pilot 99th B.G. N.Africa- Italy 12-15th A.F , 50 combat sorties, from July 1943 to Feb 1944