B-17 My gal sal

[runninwild]

Now that Sal's been hung up for display (and looking very sharp, nice job), will the bomb bay doors be kept open or closed?

(if they're closed, well, I guess you know where I'm going with this [cough-desert-rat-cough])

There was a lot of discussion about the bomb bay doors and the possibility of them being open with a stick of bombs coming out. The idea was nixed because there are 3 other aircraft that will be under "Sal". Visitors will be as close to any overhead display that I know of. Thanks for the positive replies.
You can please all people some of the time, you can please some people all the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.

[Pat Carry]

Runninwild, Exactly how was the B-17 lifted? A crane or some other lifting device? Hanging a B-17 for display has to be a first for any museum anywhere. I cant recall another Flying Fortress hanging anywhere.

[runninwild]

Runninwild, Exactly how was the B-17 lifted? A crane or some other lifting device? Hanging a B-17 for display has to be a first for any museum anywhere. I cant recall another Flying Fortress hanging anywhere.

The B-17 and all of the other aircraft are being hoisted by pneumatic powered chain falls, each with separate controls. I have plenty of pictures as soon as I am allowed to post attachments.

[Warbirdnerd]

A new pic from the Museum's Facebook page:

[Steve Nelson]

Interesting that the stainless panels around the turbos have been left unpainted. I know this is often done on flying warbirds to simplify maintenance, but I'm surprised to see it on a museum aircraft. Still great to see Sal in one piece though. How much equipment was removed before she was put on display? When I saw her in 2005, the interior was amazingly complete.

SN

[p51]

The Museum has over 100,000 artifacts in storage, including some that are very significant to the war.

Yeah, and as many as a dozen of them can see on actual display at any given time... I was uniquely unimpressed with the museum when I was there in September. It was like someone took a book on WW2, blew up several pages to various sizes, wallpapered an old factory's interior with it, and threw a few real artifacts into cases along with a LOT of reproduction stuff.
For people who collect or research the actual artificats of WW2, you're going to hear that as a consistent gripe. I have yet to meet a collector who feels the museum is a really good one.

[Steve Nelson]

Just ran across this link on a modeling forum..a cool time-lapse video of Sal and the other warbirds being assembled and hung in their new home.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0e3_1357341202

Oddly, the Corsair appears to be a -1, but has a four-blade prop. The P-51 looks like it may be a fiberglass replica, but I imagine with the value of even the most beat-up Mustang airframes these days, finding one for static display is next to impossible (at least an affordable one.)


SN

[Pat Carry]

The hanging aircraft are going to make a dramatic display! What if any aircraft will be displayed on the floor?

[Mike]

The Museum has over 100,000 artifacts in storage, including some that are very significant to the war.

Yeah, and as many as a dozen of them can see on actual display at any given time... I was uniquely unimpressed with the museum when I was there in September. It was like someone took a book on WW2, blew up several pages to various sizes, wallpapered an old factory's interior with it, and threw a few real artifacts into cases along with a LOT of reproduction stuff.
For people who collect or research the actual artificats of WW2, you're going to hear that as a consistent gripe. I have yet to meet a collector who feels the museum is a really good one.

I visited in September too, and came away with the exact same impression. The design and layout of the galleries, for a brand-new building, are most unfriendly too. I felt like I was in a dungeon, rather than a museum, for most of the time.

[APG85]

I've never been to this museum but it can take years for a facility to mature, evolve and become a first class attraction. You've got to start somewhere...

[pjpahs]

I agree with Steve Nelson that the P-51 is a replica , like the one at the Tennessee Aviation Museum. I found on youtube the manufacture of the P-51 on Great Planes and the wing is built as an assembly and has the 2 sides held by a lot of metal. In the video of the Mustang being put together in the WW2 museum before being hoisted, the wing has what looks to be a pipe connecting the 2 halves, and I don't see too many rivets. It museum looks great and I hope to visit it in the future. I also agree that a real Mustang would be of such expense that it drain the budget to acquire other stuff.

[runninwild]

The Museum has over 100,000 artifacts in storage, including some that are very significant to the war.

Yeah, and as many as a dozen of them can see on actual display at any given time... I was uniquely unimpressed with the museum when I was there in September. It was like someone took a book on WW2, blew up several pages to various sizes, wallpapered an old factory's interior with it, and threw a few real artifacts into cases along with a LOT of reproduction stuff.
For people who collect or research the actual artificats of WW2, you're going to hear that as a consistent gripe. I have yet to meet a collector who feels the museum is a really good one.

This site has got to be the biggest bunch of crybabies ever. Maybe I should call the waaaaaambulance. If you don't like the Museum, then don't come. Otherwise KMA! I'm outta here and won't be back.

[Dan Johnson II]

The Museum has over 100,000 artifacts in storage, including some that are very significant to the war.

Yeah, and as many as a dozen of them can see on actual display at any given time... I was uniquely unimpressed with the museum when I was there in September. It was like someone took a book on WW2, blew up several pages to various sizes, wallpapered an old factory's interior with it, and threw a few real artifacts into cases along with a LOT of reproduction stuff.
For people who collect or research the actual artificats of WW2, you're going to hear that as a consistent gripe. I have yet to meet a collector who feels the museum is a really good one.

This site has got to be the biggest bunch of crybabies ever. Maybe I should call the waaaaaambulance. If you don't like the Museum, then don't come. Otherwise KMA! I'm outta here and won't be back.

Leaving via the verbal high ground I see.....

[Jerry O'Neill]

I can't wait to see the new displays! I'll be down there during the Superbowl next month!
Jerry

[p51]

Leaving via the verbal high ground I see.....

I expected that result earlier. That museum has a cult going, people who think it's the best museum in the history of mankind and they don't take anything to the contrary as well. I've read from his ilk many times before. You dare not say anything negative about the place. It's really odd, because you don't see that from other museums.
It's just a matter of audience:
*My wife loved the place, and she's the target audience, in that she has a basic understanding and most of the info is new to her.
*But if you live and breathe the stuff and more so if you go to a museum to see historical items, it's not up to par to many other museums and therefore not worth the hype.
It's just a matter of what your interest level is going into the place. This will dictate your overall opinion.
But folks like Dan Museum Cultist the IInd simply can't see why people in the second category feel it's not worth all the hype (or the expense, it's it's NOT cheap to get in there). When I go to a museum, I don't need the multimedia experience, I wanna see stuff from the collection. And in that regard, the New Orleans museum fails msireably as very little of it is on display. And with people like ol' Dan backing their every move as if from the word of God, they'll never change.

Also, some of their docents give a new, scary definition to the word, "curmudgeon". One in particular shouldn't be allowed around the public. He said something to my wife when she asked a simple question that, had he been my age, I'd have knocked him flat. I seriously considered it anyway...