How was The B-26 Flak Bait Saved

[The Inspector]

.....and B-17 '5 GRAND' was set aside for, and offered to Seattle after the war. In it's ingrown penchant for short sightedness, the city officials refused to even attempt to rise the modest amount asked for the airplane by the WAA so it's now your grandmas oatmeal pot....................DUMMAZZES!!!

[whistlingdeath77]

some planes were sent state side for war-bond tours. Some great planes with lots of kills probably were too old or destroyed by other pilots when the actual ace was done with it. Guy Bourdlen's,( sorry for the spelling!) ace corsair was destroyed by accident by another pilot i believe.

Many people didn't even think that those planes would be what they are today. Just like all you guys who had a nice muscle car back in the 70's and maybe sold them. Bet you wish you had that old chevelle ss back!

[Cherrybomber13]

I posted this before in another thread. Flak Bait will always be one of my favorite warbirds. The jacket was hand painted my myself this past winter.

[Pat Carry]

Nice jacket! When the Memphis Belle is finished maybe the NMUSAF should get Flak Bait so it will go on display sometime in my life.

[mustangdriver]

I would love to see it Pat. I really love SHootin' in too, but yeah Flack Bait would be sweet. Could you imagine a museum building that has Memphis Belle, Swoose, Flack Bait, Strawberry Bitch, and Bockscar in it? That would be sweet. I think that the NASM will end up putting Flackbait together and on display eventually. I get sick even saying that eventually part. It should have been one of the first aircraft on display in the new building. I admire the NASM, and understand their battle, but I think enough is enough and this plane needs to be put back together no matter what.

[mustangdriver]

I posted this before in another thread. Flak Bait will always be one of my favorite warbirds. The jacket was hand painted my myself this past winter.

I too love the jacket. The pilot of Shootin' In actually visited the museum and donated his A-2 Jacket to the museum. The Jacket is on display in a case right next to the plane.

[Garth]

Could you imagine a museum building that has Memphis Belle, Swoose, Flack Bait, Strawberry Bitch, and Bockscar in it?

Sure, especially one that happens to be about 30 miles outside of Washington DC and on the Dulles Airport reservation.

Of course, with it already having Enola Gay, Bockscar could stay right where it is ...

[mustangdriver]

Well...being that all but one of those aircraft are at Dayton, I think it would be easier for The NMUSAF to display them.

[Garth]

Well...being that all but one of those aircraft are at Dayton, I think it would be easier for The NMUSAF to display them.

But it would give NMUSAF valuable experience in how to disassemble aircraft. Without using Sawzalls.



(running for cover now ...)

[mustangdriver]

Haha and for the record they didn't

[Shay]

Came across these on Flickr......
From: D. Sheley, SDASM & MuseumAndy








I dunno about the NMUSAF getting FB. Look at the pictures above, the NMUSAF as great as place as it is is going to want to strip all that away and make it look factory fresh with "Flak Bait" painted on the side. You would lose all those brush strokes and untaped lines that some one of a completely different era applied. To me it sure does seem like it would be a terrrible loss. To some degree i kinda like how the NASM has is some cases just simply assembled and carefully cleaned airframes and placed them on display.

Seems to me you would lose an awfull lot of the human element by stripping and reskinning Flak Bait.
Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[mustangdriver]

Just about any museum out there would understand that FB is a time capsule aircraft and not restore it. Very cool stuff.

[APG85]

Also the B-29 Bockscar as well. I have been told that the B-29 was VERY close to being scraped and some one recnoized it and step in at the last moment, is that true ?

BocksCar and The Great Artiste were often confused as the bomb carrying aircraft on the Nagasaki mission. Bockscar was in storage at DM with the markings of The Great Artiste on her. She was slated to be scrapped when somebody realized the error and had her set aside for preservation. I talked to a guy once who worked in the boneyard in the time frame and he told me that the plane was actually towed to the area where they cut them up (can't verify how true this is). I believe she actually flew to Wright-Patt with The Great Artiste's call numbers on her side and nose (but with her correct nose art)...

[Shay]

Just about any museum out there would understand that FB is a time capsule aircraft and not restore it. Very cool stuff.

I hear ya Chris, but name me one "Time Capsule" at the NMUSAF that was not retired off of Active Duty. Even those are subject artistic liscense after some time. The Swoose is the closest thing to a preserved aircraft from that time, but even that will be redone.

It's a shame that the nose hasn't been better protected from the paint stripping touches of the visiting populace. Maybe when reassembled some creative touch up will fix the damage to the paint without looking too fake.

So what is the hold up with Reassembling Flak Bait? Space?

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[Steve Nelson]

Great FB pics..more to add to my growing collection! The inflight shot is interesting. I have a photo (posted by someone here a few years ago) of one of her wings in storage, and much of the OD paint is gone. I thought it had flaked off during her years in storage, but it looks like a lot of it was gone before she finished her operational career.

I read somewhere that Martin got some sort of exemption from using exterior and interior primer at the factory. That might explain why the paint adhered so poorly (of course, I'm sure 200+ missions in all kinds of weather didn't help!)

Being a modeler I tend to be (admittedly overly) nit-picky about paint and markings accuracy..one thing that bugs me about the NMUSAF B-26G (aside from the fact that it's painted as a B) is that it the inside is painted "interior green" (AKA tinted zinc chromate) nose to tail. As FB shows, the insides of Marauders were almost completely unpainted, except for the bombay, which was neutral gray on camouflaged machines. Of course, the Marauder is one of my favorite warbirds, and I'm thrilled to see any preserved or restored..and I realize the interior color is pretty trivial in the larger scheme of things.

As for the NMUSAF not preserving WWII aircraft as "time capsules," up until recently even the NASM didn't. When most of the NMUSAF's warbirds were acquired/restored, the standard practice in most museums was to strip aircraft down and rebuild them to "showroom" condition..mainly because they were either badly deteriorated, or had been "civillianized" or otherwise modified. The only reason some of the NASM's warbirds have been preserved/conserved in more or less original condition is because they sat around for so many years waiting to be restored. Most of the NASM's WWII restorations have been comprehensive rebuilds, i.e. the Fw-190, J1N1 "Irving," and Corsair. The He-219 is getting similar treatment.

I'd love to see FB at the NMUSAF, for purely selfish reasons..Dayton is only a four-hour drive away, and I usually manage to visit once or twice a year. I've only managed to get to D.C. twice, and the first time was long before U-H was even a glimmer in anyone's eye.

SN