Moses Lake B-23/UC-67 has flown

[Robbie Stuart]

Rob, you know I have a special interest in B-23's, I must be a dumb as$, because, I was not aware of this project. Please provide a link.
Thanks
Robbie

[JohnB]

I saw it in its hangar a couple of years ago. it looked healthy, but not much sign or recent work.
Considering its rarity, I'm glad it's up and about.

[airnutz]

Ya'll correct me if I'm misremembering...but isn't this one the one that was picked up by Carmacks a few years back. The other most likely to fly relatively soon, would be the former Bogue Dragon, IIRC...picked up by Pissed Away Ltd? Yes...link please Rob?

[maxum96]

Link?

[BK]

https://www.facebook.com/10000430564107 ... 069714710/

[Michel Lemieux]

Wow...tks Rob & BK for the info and link.......

Where is it going?

Hoping it may appear in the circuit for a while.

Michel

[Neal Nurmi]

My thanks for this also. I am quite fond of B-23s too, after having spent time around the World Airways/Mike Bogue example when it was active. The B-23 is a very neat airplane.

[Robbie Stuart]

Outstanding! Watching that Facebook cilp sure brings back some memories.
Robbie

[SaxMan]

To me, no aircraft exemplifies the Art Deco styling of the late 1930s than the B-23. It looks like it came right out of a Saturday morning serial.

[Michel Lemieux]

So let's do a count of potential or near / airworthy

Sorry if I doubled a few.

- Moose Lake: airworthy. Who owns it now and where is it going?
- Kermitt's: resto needed
- There was one with the Sanders brothers. Where is it now?
- Ex CAF with HAG
- Ex Howard Hughes AC...where is it now?

What have I missed?

[SaxMan]

Wiki lists 9 B-23 airframes as still extant and a fairly complete wreck of a 10th airframe. That's pretty remarkable for a production run of 38 airplanes that predated World War II. Obviously, there was something special about this aircraft that made people want to hang onto them.

Here's the breakdown:

Ecuador

On display

UC-67

39-031 (HC-APV) - Ecuadorian Air Museum, Quito.[3]

United States

On display

B-23

39-0036 - McChord Air Museum in McChord AFB, Washington.[4]
39-0051 - Pima Air & Space Museum adjacent to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona.[5]

UC-67

39-0047 - Castle Air Museum at the former Castle Air Force Base in Atwater, California.[6]

Under restoration or in storage

B-23

39-0033 - to airworthiness by Pissed Away N747M LLC in Bellevue, Washington. (Moses Lake - now airworthy)
39-0037 - for display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.[8]
39-0038 - for display at the 1941 Historical Aircraft Group Museum in Geneseo, New York.[9]

UC-67

39-0057 - in storage at Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida.[10]
39-0063 - to airworthiness by Carmacks Commercial Corp. in Anchorage, Alaska.[11]

Wrecks

B-23

39-0052 - largely complete wreck at Loon Lake, Idaho.[12]

[airnutz]

Something is haywire with your list Saxman. 39-0033 is the natural metal finish one Neal posted pics
of up above...ex-Bogue, now with Pissed Away in Bellevue Wash. which is not Moses Lake.

The Moses Lake bird is the white one in the flying video...39-0063 the last UC-67 on your list. Carmacks of Alaska bought it years ago but it never physically moved from Moses.

Turns out I didn't have to strain my CRS node last night...Scott has a good list of the survivors in the Warbird Registry.

Edit...Oh, and the Loon Lake bird had various bits sawn out of it years ago by the USAFM for their projects and it's not really all that intact these days.

[airnutz]

Hmmmmnnn, something is hinky here. Has Pissed Away picked up both of these Dragon's?

[Michel Lemieux]

So which bird was with the Sanders brothers?

[Flying Pencil]

What happened to the one in CAF?
Oh, that may be B-18