Shoo shoo shoo Baby

[Steve Birdsall]

The decision to paint 42-32076 was made at least partly because one of the former crew members' memories was playing tricks on him. It's a long, sometimes painful story.

Scott Thompson's Final Cut is the best source I know of for photos of 42-32076 in her final days as F-BGSH at Creil.

[F3V]

How many surviving B-17s are ex French IGN machines - six?

Six and an Half!!

B-17G-95-DL 44-83729 [F-BEED] Thunderbird (Lone Star Flight Museum) operationnal
B-17G-85-VE 44-8846 [F-BGSP] Pink Lady (Forteresse Toujours Volante) operationnal
B-17G-35-BO 42-32076 [F-BGSH] Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby (USA Museum) on display
B-17G-105-VE 44-85784 [F-BGSR] Mary Alice (Duxford) on display
B-17G-105-VE 44-85784 [F-BGSR] Sally B Operationnal
B-17G-85-VE 44-8889 [F-BGSO] (le Bourget Air Museum) Stored

But
Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby's nose came from B-17G-95-DL 44-83729 [F-BEED]

And the tail of B-17G F-BEEA n°44-85643 probably in UK??? I don't Know

A link with some pics of this B-17s: http://b-17-flying-fortress.fr/IGNindex.html
(text in french, sorry.... )

[APG85]

I would love to see pictures of Shoo Shoo Baby being loaded on the C-5, off-loaded and during restoration. Are there any out there?

[Steve Birdsall]

There's a very good photo of the main fuselage section being loaded aboard a C-5A in Claims To Fame: The B-17 Flying Fortress, a book I co-wrote with Roger Freeman.

[APG85]

In the wartime pic she looks bare metal. How come she's camouflaged now?

When it was being restored back to it's wartime configuration, there was alot of new metal in with the old giving it a real patched up look. So it was decided to put it in the O.D. scheme to make it look more presentable.

It wouldn't shock me if sometime down the road, the NASM strips it back to natural metal finish. They are meticulous about accuracy especially when it comes to an actual wartime veteran aircraft. The patched look from new metal can be overcome with polishing and other techniques....

[k5083]

I agree. USAFM's rationale for painting OD/NG never cut it with me, but even if it made sense then, it doesn't now. Hence my earlier comment when it was only rumored that she was going to NASM that we'll know for sure if the NASM puts in a big requisition for paint remover.

August

[Fouga23]

I also hope they strip it again

[Matt Gunsch]

I agree. USAFM's rationale for painting OD/NG never cut it with me, but even if it made sense then, it doesn't now. Hence my earlier comment when it was only rumored that she was going to NASM that we'll know for sure if the NASM puts in a big requisition for paint remover.

August

Only if they can strip the plane and leave the nose art INTACT.

[APG85]

I agree. USAFM's rationale for painting OD/NG never cut it with me, but even if it made sense then, it doesn't now. Hence my earlier comment when it was only rumored that she was going to NASM that we'll know for sure if the NASM puts in a big requisition for paint remover.

August

Only if they can strip the plane and leave the nose art INTACT.

I'm sure that can be accomplished. They've been able to gently strip away layers of paint to reveal old markings. The lettering on the Enola Gay was stripped away as well to show the original letters as the appeared on August 6th. If they can do that, I would think they can strip around nose art...