B-17, serial number 44-83690 moving to Museum of Aviation.

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11324

Saw it there on Thursday. Everything arrived safely. Very little corrosion in evidence. Other than the missing internal components it would be easily restorable I think.

hang the expense · **Posted:** Sat Aug 29, 2015 12:43 am

I wonder how the rivits have been holding up after all those years of exposure. Going to be some work for sure but I am so glad they finally have a B-17.

TAdan · **Posted:** Sat Aug 29, 2015 7:49 am

Anyone know why the Miss Liberty Belle nose art was painted over for the move? I presume it is because the new museum wants to give the plane a new identity / make it their own. Just found it odd that the existing was painted over, the fresh paint certainly stood out. Either way, happy to see it is moving indoors and will be receiving some TLC

mustangdriver · **Posted:** Sat Aug 29, 2015 9:02 am

She has a significant amount of corrosion. For year the plane was displayed in a tail level attitude and the water would just lay in the belly. In the Bomb bay, key parts of the aircrafts structure has rotted off of the aircraft. Also there is corrosion actually poking through the outside from the inside. It's going to be a few years before she's together.

Chris Brame · **Posted:** Sat Aug 29, 2015 7:02 pm

hang the expense wrote:

I hope that whomever executes the disassembly of the airframe does not cut the trailing edge off the wings.The railroads have well gons for double stacking containers that would take inboard wing panels with ease.I would imagine the old grissom base had tracks onto the property and I'm sure warner robbins still does as well.Door to door service would be the way to go.JMO

Museum of Aviation Facebook photo of the inboard wings:

Do they look cut, or just dismantled?

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11324

mustangdriver wrote:

She has a significant amount of corrosion. For year the plane was displayed in a tail level attitude and the water would just lay in the belly. In the Bomb bay, key parts of the aircrafts structure has rotted off of the aircraft. Also there is corrosion actually poking through the outside from the inside. It's going to be a few years before she's together.

Maybe so, I wasn't in the bomb bay but from what I could see on the outside corrosion was isolated.

In an aircraft of this age, any outdoor exposure will result in some corrosion. Nearly pristine compared to Swamp Ghost, and far less effort to restore than many of the B-17s currently under restoration.

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11324

More photos showing details.

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11324

I don't know much about aircraft, but the corrosion seemed minimal to me in the areas I observed and photographed.

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11324

hang the expense wrote:

I hope that whomever executes the disassembly of the airframe does not cut the trailing edge off the wings.

You'll be happy to know they were drilled off. They must have taken your advice!

mustangdriver · **Posted:** Mon Aug 31, 2015 2:15 pm

Yeah she is rough inside. I would say the radio room, bomb bay, and belly took the worst of it. If you look around the radio room, you can see corrosion poking out.

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11324

I'd still take her! ;-)

Would convert into a nice motorcoach. :lol:

hang the expense · **Posted:** Tue Sep 01, 2015 1:22 am

Nice pics there BDK.The compression channels are toast that run external of the Bomb bay at the top of the wing joint.I am making those now (along with the Bomb bay bulkheads)because more than a few airplanes channels have issues. Might can do a repair in place which would save a ton of work.I hear the catwalk at 4 is toast and I bet it delaminating significantly.Hey BDK, call me when you can.

mustangdriver · **Posted:** Tue Sep 01, 2015 8:42 am

The catwalk and the gusset plates at 4 and 5 are so bad that they corroded off of the airplane.

hang the expense · **Posted:** Tue Sep 01, 2015 6:31 pm

Oh boy.Thats going to be a significant amount of work to repair.They got a B-17 and that is the main thing.

Pat Carry · **Posted:** Wed Sep 02, 2015 4:55 pm

hang the expense wrote:

Oh boy.Thats going to be a significant amount of work to repair.They got a B-17 and that is the main thing.

yes and another B-17 comes in from the cold!

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B-17, serial number 44-83690 moving to Museum of Aviation.

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