B-17 Flying Fortress/44-83735 ~ the Duxford resto thread

[bomberflight]

Just a quick post this time with the central console between the Pilot and Co-pilot .....













We'll move across to the Co-Pilot's area next time ..... Stay Tuned

[bomberflight]

Time to look at the Co-pilots area of the flight deck .....











Turning the corner of the control panel







Controls located on the right hand fuselage side .....



















And finally ~ a look at the superstructure that supports the seats .....









The armored plate between the seat back and the seat support is something I haven't seen in any of the current airworthy B-17's !

Another update coming soon

[B-17 guy]

Nice pics, thanks again for these.

[390BG]

You will see the armor plate on a flying B-17 when Champaign Lady takes to the air. Our "armor" is aluminum rather than steel. I think the armor plate was removed from the production line at some point - probably minimal value for the weight. We chose to include it to save wear and tear on the seat backs when you climb up into the seats from behind. (Grab the armor and pull yourself up, rather than the seat itself).

[B-17 guy]

Hey 390th, where in OH is your B-17 located? Closest major city?

[390BG]

Urbana, Ohio - between Dayton and Columbus. See link below:

http://www.champaignaviationmuseum.com

[bomberflight]

Thanks for the link 390th ~ I hope to stop by and pay my respects to you guys one of these days

I've just got a few "progress" pixs from Hangar 5 to share today .....

The Chin Turret undergoing paint removal



The inner wing sections are coming along nicely .....







While many hands make light work of cleaning some of the smaller components



Another update soon !

[bomberflight]

With nature providing a dramatic backdrop to the American Air Museum today ~ we best get ourselves into the Conservation Hangar before the rain arrives



The working title for this post is "flaps and taps" ......

I've arrowed the under wing sections we're going to look at ~



lets start with the inner wing fuel cell







A quick look at the reverse side of the access panel



Next we look at the fuel booster pump ~ located under the tear drop shaped fairing







The best I could do to record the data plate



And to the right of the the booster pump is another access door .....





I think this is a water drain on the bottom of the fuel cell ???



Another update coming soon !

[the330thbg]

These need to be archived.., what a f-n great resource these photos are.

Brilliant joB!!!

[RAMC181]

Great shots as ever Peter.

I'll try to get back down there sometime soon so see how things are progressing.
I have a good lead on the interior lamps that the team were after.

PB

[The Inspector]

WOW! That's a boxcar load of slotted screws installed in that center wing panel!!

[Vulcan Rigger]

This thread is fantastic, as is the work that goes on at Duxford.

I take my hat off to you all. Peter, congratulations on getting involved in the work.

[bomberflight]

As the Inspector said ......

WOW! That's a boxcar load of slotted screws installed in that center wing panel!!

And every single one has to be cleaned so there's no lingering grease or grime prior to painting !





And that includes all the screws that hold removable access panels .....





The importance of careful labeling as parts are removed can't be overstated



Having seen all those rivets and screws in the underside of the inner wing section ~ lets remind ourselves of what the top looks like



The outer surface skins are actually welding together into a single piece ~ resulting in a lot less riveting.
I'm told this section was therefore not repairable if combat damage was extensive ......

You may have noticed too that the two leading edge air intakes have been removed ~ so let's take a closer look



Well ok then ~ we can get a bit closer still

This is one of the oil coolers that is normally hidden by the ram air intake





And viewed from the reverse angle



And a glimpse or three of the oil pump







I'll finish up today's post with an image showing how cracking in the skin was dealt with at some point in the airframes history



By drilling holes at each end of the crack ~ it's been prevented from spreading any further.

Stay tuned for another update soon

[B-17 guy]

Good close up of the landing light perhaps?

[bomberflight]

B-17 guy wrote .....

Good close up of the landing light perhaps?

So that's located on the left hand side of the wing section in this image



Viewed before the plexiglass was removed ......



The reverse angle taken after we had undone all the retaining screws & nuts



As far as we could tell ~ you would have to do this every time the landing light bulb needed changing

Because the access panel on top of the wing ......



doesn't provide sufficient to undo the lamp securing screws



Maybe there's a trick to changing the landing lamp bulb that we haven't figured out ......

Coming soon ~ we're going to be exploring some more access panels on the wing section