B-23 Dragon on ebay recently

[Steve Nelson]

Geez...I'd hate to hear what you think of the B-18. Good thing nobody has wasted thier time and money restoring any of those clunkers.

[red two]

Sorry if my comment went the wrong way. I meant by not historic it was not a contributor to WWII, and I do feel the plane would cost way more than its worth to get flying. It is sad, but these old birds are just sooo expensive to maintain now days... Only the most collectible aircraft are financially viable.

Can I give you a hint: most b-17's airworthy today did not see combat. The more you type the more you are stepping off in it in this thread.

[tom d. friedman]

Geez...I'd hate to hear what you think of the B-18. Good thing nobody has wasted thier time and money restoring any of those clunkers.

it would be interesting if somebody with the deep pockets, the resources, the $$$$ & the patient will to convert a current dc-3 / c-47 to a b-18 bolo!! would be great on the air show circuit!! i'm sure most of the parts are floating out their as the bolo bomber morphed from the 30's dc-3!! probably a pipe dream, but i'm confident it could be done!!

[hercules130]

Geez...I'd hate to hear what you think of the B-18. Good thing nobody has wasted thier time and money restoring any of those clunkers.

it would be interesting if somebody with the deep pockets, the resources, the $$$$ & the patient will to convert a current dc-3 / c-47 to a b-18 bolo!! would be great on the air show circuit!! i'm sure most of the parts are floating out their as the bolo bomber morphed from the 30's dc-3!! probably a pipe dream, but i'm confident it could be done!!

Think the Bolo was based on the DC-2. A flying Bolo would be awesome, as would for that matter be a flying XXXX (insert name of an airplane). It would stand to reason that a flying B-18 would be more likely than a B-23 (350 as compared to less than 40 machines) and post war use, however I am sure its not that simple. Man how neat would that be, make a beautiful formation partner for a certain DC-2!

[Steve Nelson]

According to Wiki, there are only six known surviving B-18 airframes. Five are in various museums, and the sixth is the well-known wreck in a Hawaiian ravine. Wiki says that one is owned by the Pacific Aviation Museum, and a recovery is in the works. So it appears all the surviving Bolos are spoken for. I'd love to see one fly myself, even though it's a clunky, ugly, pug-nosed machine. But then, I also love the B-24!

SN

[Canso42]

Lynn, thanks for the photo of a Dragon in motion. You dont' see many from its service days.

[eze240]

Interesting....some good info I think.....
Heres another question:
I did a bit little of research, it looks like the B-23 uses R-2600's like a B-25 and
I believe it has alot of accessory parts,such as landing gear, in common with the DC-3.
So, wouldn't that make it a bit easier to find parts for?
Of course structure parts- vertical fin,body,etc... would have to be fabricated,
if in need of replacement, but the stuff that wears out quickest?.....
I Admit, I don't know alot, but......
Seems that it wouldn't be the hardest warbird to keep in the air....
Or am I wrong?

[lmritger]

Just bumped into this pic entirely by accident while browsing pics from William Vandivert (LIFE photographer); this was in a photo essay called "Panama Cargo Trip", so it's likely that this bird was photographed in the Canal Zone. Serial appears to be 39-048.

[Nathan]

It's nice to see so many people liking the B-23.

I tried to search up B-23 units in the Canal Zone and could not find anything. I learneda few B-23's were redsignated UC-67's and its just my guess that this B-23 in the picture might be one of those.

Great find! Not many photos of OD B-23's out there. I love it!

Thanks,
Nathan

[PinecastleAAF]

I always liked the B-23 but then again I like the O-47 too. The 23 reminds me of a scaled down twin engine B-17, esp. the angle of that last picture. The executive interior on this one really turns me off, I think it would look better if all that junk were removed.

[airnutz]

Mike Bogues dragon...and a very very select few of you may know what the subject line is about!

?

How many 23's did Hughes own? PASM makes the same claim of their Dragon, James?

Hughes never owned ours. As far as I know we've never claimed he did. At least not in anything official, I've no idea what the volunteers might have been saying at some point.

James

True, not Hughes owned, but having Roscoe Turner as her first civilian owner is pretty neat.
Of the 10 known B-23 survivors...and calling the "Loon Lake" -23 a survivor is stretching it,
3 are former Hughes or PanAm birds. 39-031 PanAm(Ecuador), 39-033 Hughes(Bogue), and
Kermit's 39-057 PanAm.

[Nathan]

I got a good thread going over on my forum about the B-23:
http://usaircraft.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general

If interested.

Thanks,
Nathan

[Dan K]

Nate et al,

Great thread on the old Dragon.

Question: Did those converted to UC-67 still carry the glass nose?

TIA

[warbird51]

I always liked the B-23 but then again I like the O-47 too. The 23 reminds me of a scaled down twin engine B-17, esp. the angle of that last picture. The executive interior on this one really turns me off, I think it would look better if all that junk were removed.

I can't remember how many times we had the B-23 N747M at air shows and people would ask if it's a B-17? I guess most people don't find it so ugly as ellis_island_kid does.

[Obergrafeter]

What kind of single engine performance did the B-23 have? With all that stabilizer and rudder it had to have a slow blue line. Kind of reminds me of the "big tailed" Stinson 108-3. What is all that vertical for???