CA-35
Senior Member
The Memphis Belle took off from England on the morning of May 17, 1943, with a wave of 159 B-17s to drop bombs on the concrete Nazi submarine shelters at Lorient, France. When it landed unscathed that afternoon, the 10 men aboard already were celebrating; they had just become one of the first bomber crews of the war to survive 25 missions at a time when most weren't making a dozen.
On Thursday, the 75th anniversary of that final mission, the lovingly restored Memphis Belle, with the leggy, swimsuit-clad pinup girl freshly repainted on the nose, will be unveiled at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton.
The public opening of the exhibit in the World War II Gallery represents more than a dozen years and 55,000 hours of fastidious work by staffers and volunteers to renew one of most celebrated planes of the war.
"I hope I don't break down and start bawling, but that's a possibility," said Dr. Harry Friedman, the Memphis neurosurgeon who has worked for decades to have the plane restored and displayed.
On Thursday, the 75th anniversary of that final mission, the lovingly restored Memphis Belle, with the leggy, swimsuit-clad pinup girl freshly repainted on the nose, will be unveiled at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton.
The public opening of the exhibit in the World War II Gallery represents more than a dozen years and 55,000 hours of fastidious work by staffers and volunteers to renew one of most celebrated planes of the war.
"I hope I don't break down and start bawling, but that's a possibility," said Dr. Harry Friedman, the Memphis neurosurgeon who has worked for decades to have the plane restored and displayed.