Warbird Information Exchange

Wow...what a great thread! It is always great to come in here to WIX and get educated...I also did not know about Hell's Angels nor any of the other B-17s that you fellas are talking about. Thanx for the info...seriously.

Now, having said that, I guess I would put myself in with the general public that goes to airshows. I might know a tiny bit more than the general public, but certainly not even close to what you guys know about the history and statistics of WWII planes and pilots. I couldn't agree more with what Django said on the third page of this thread about how the general public sees an ad for an airshow with a B-17 listed that they are vaguely familiar with and it is a draw. Agree or disagree, like it or not, the owners of The Movie Belle know quite well that she is a draw. And if that paint helps them to keep her flying, I personally don't see what the big deal is now that they have placards in front of her letting the general public know where The Real Belle is.

Airshows are for entertainment. From what I can gather from reading what you guys write all the time, there are not many people getting rich restoring or flying around in these beautiful aircraft. If someone actually finds a way to make a buck or two to help them keep their aircraft airworthy, why not applaud them instead of villifying them?

Just my .02 cents worth...

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Earn my respect and never lose it.
Demand my respect and never gain it. -Me

...just another plane dreamer.

Ok, so speaking of Movie Belle what has happened with the ownership of that aircraft? Now that Dave T is gone what is the future for the bird?

Well, from a pure marketing standpoint, I can't at all blame the current operators for putting it back into the movie paint. Many members of the public would rather see the "movie" version of something than the real one. Go figure. I saw this bird right after she got back to the states and was still wearing the movie paint at the time (with a few "enhancements"):
I was never a big fan of Tallichet as a person (I had a couple of bad run-ins with him on the air show circuit and knew a few people who worked for him), but he was no dummy when it came to marketing. He could easily have painted it as a 100th BG plane but knew that it would draw more people in its movie guise...

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

I just received the Hangar Tales from the 1941 Historical Aircraft Group in Geneseo where the B-17 is based and they are now referring to the aircraft as “The Movie Memphis Belle”.

Eric

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The air resounds from the Rolls-Royce roar!
To an enemy the warning is dire: here only eagles soar,
and the last thing he'll see is a mirrored Spitfire!

So "Memphis Belle" is based at Geneseo now? Hmmmmmmmmm Mr. T must have liked Geneseo alot to put more than a few of his birds there.

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

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Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

Geneseo is now operating "The Movie Memphis Belle".

As far as the whole why the movie belle is named......I remember watching an interview of David T. and he specificly said that he was keeping the name "Memphis Belle", not to represent the real "Belle" but to represent the plane that flew in the movie. The plane is a movie star and David T. knew how to exploit money out of it at airshows. The movie was popular and the chance for people to see the movie Belle would draw in money for David. Bottom line.

I have mixed feelings on repainting the "movie" Belle. I liked the movie so I enjoy seeing her still in her movie paint. . But then again she is not the real Belle and there are so many B-17's that could be represented. It would be a tough descision.

Cheers,
Nathan

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