Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:11 am
octane130 wrote:I've actually been inside the fuselage of the Planes of Fame's B-50 Lucky Lady II at Chino within the last few years. It is actually quite complete and in very good condition. I "toured" the fuselage with a former gunner on B-50s and he explained the remote gun-sighting system for the turrets on the aircraft for me (most components still present I believe). Very fascinating! Some years ago, a crew member on Lucky Lady II gave a presentation at the Planes of Fame Museum on Lucky Lady II's very last flight. He was a crew member on the last flight of that aircraft. The nose gear (and I believe it was just the nose gear) would not descend upon a landing approach to an airfield in Arizona. The aircraft landed quite short of the runway and as a result, all kinds of debris entered the shattered portions of the plexiglass in the nose, including some very nasty cactus branches. Aformentioned crewmember had to spend some time in the local base hospital to have cactus spines removed from his poor hide! I may have the audio recording of his presentation and I will post it if I can find it. Anyway, soon after the semi-crash-landing, the fuselage of Lucky Lady II was placed on a flat-bed truck-trailer and put on tour. I don't know what other areas she might have toured, but she was in my local area in Southern California a couple of years before my time in the early 50s.
Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:53 am
APG85 wrote:octane130 wrote:I've actually been inside the fuselage of the Planes of Fame's B-50 Lucky Lady II at Chino within the last few years. It is actually quite complete and in very good condition. I "toured" the fuselage with a former gunner on B-50s and he explained the remote gun-sighting system for the turrets on the aircraft for me (most components still present I believe). Very fascinating! Some years ago, a crew member on Lucky Lady II gave a presentation at the Planes of Fame Museum on Lucky Lady II's very last flight. He was a crew member on the last flight of that aircraft. The nose gear (and I believe it was just the nose gear) would not descend upon a landing approach to an airfield in Arizona. The aircraft landed quite short of the runway and as a result, all kinds of debris entered the shattered portions of the plexiglass in the nose, including some very nasty cactus branches. Aformentioned crewmember had to spend some time in the local base hospital to have cactus spines removed from his poor hide! I may have the audio recording of his presentation and I will post it if I can find it. Anyway, soon after the semi-crash-landing, the fuselage of Lucky Lady II was placed on a flat-bed truck-trailer and put on tour. I don't know what other areas she might have toured, but she was in my local area in Southern California a couple of years before my time in the early 50s.
Does anyone have pictures of the plane on tour or of the accident? It looks like the nose section is a replacement but info is difficult to come by...
Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:54 am