The "Memphis Belle" rolling out

CA-35

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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.


Travel-Trip-Memphis_Belle-Restoration_95638.jpg
 

DrumBob

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Great story and I'm very happy the Belle is finally being restored properly. She fell into disrepair for a while way back.
 

gjmalcyon

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I have a ride booked at the end of the summer on Witchcraft, one of only two airworthy B-24's. I'll be travelling with a photo of my dad's oldest brother, lost on March 22, 1943 when his B-24 "Maggie" (44th Bomb Group, 67th Bomber Squadron) ditched in the North Sea, damaged by flak, and finished off by a FW-190, during a raid on the submarine pens and docks at Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

He was in the tail gunner's turret on his final flight, which is where I hope to be.
 

CA-35

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I have a ride booked at the end of the summer on Witchcraft, one of only two airworthy B-24's. I'll be travelling with a photo of my dad's oldest brother, lost on March 22, 1943 when his B-24 "Maggie" (44th Bomb Group, 67th Bomber Squadron) ditched in the North Sea, damaged by flak, and finished off by a FW-190, during a raid on the submarine pens and docks at Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

He was in the tail gunner's turret on his final flight, which is where I hope to be.

WOW!!!! Great story. My best friends father, Jerome Burson, was also a tail gunner in the turret of a B-24. I will inquire about his group and squadron, maybe they knew each other.

Take a lot of pics and I cant wait to see them...............blue side up gjmalcyon.
 

adorshki

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Y'know, military machinery buff that I am, I never really thought about what all was going on inside those birds until yesterday when I wondered what if anything was in the fairings behind those radial engines.
Found a great cutaway (the later "G" model with the chin turret, but probably very similar in most other regards):
boeingb17g-cutaway.jpg

All those B17 movies and 12:00 High film clips and all we ever see is the waist gunner compartment or the cockpit and bombardier's station...
Here's another one, that seems to refute the old myth that the ball turret gunner was a goner if they ever had to make a wheels-up crash landing:
B17_Fl_4408_p059_rot_W.png

Maybe that applied if the turret was jammed or something...
 

adorshki

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I have a ride booked at the end of the summer on Witchcraft, one of only two airworthy B-24's. I'll be travelling with a photo of my dad's oldest brother, lost on March 22, 1943 when his B-24 "Maggie" (44th Bomb Group, 67th Bomber Squadron) ditched in the North Sea, damaged by flak, and finished off by a FW-190, during a raid on the submarine pens and docks at Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

He was in the tail gunner's turret on his final flight, which is where I hope to be.
Equal time for B-24's:

B-24-Labels.jpg

ball+turret+gwo.jpg

In a B24 the ball turret had to be retractable:
T-110.jpg
 

adorshki

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Thanks for that. About 1.2 million parts, and the most widely produced heavy bomber (and multi-engine aircraft) - 18,482 built.

I was about to say "Best of all, Yossarian flew one!" but when I went to look for a pic I discovered I was wrong.
It was a B25.
But he deserves an honorable mention anyway:
ghcatch22aw_20120106133140662412-420x0.jpg
 

gjmalcyon

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Wonderful !! Love stuff like this.

In researching the death of my uncle, I have discovered an enormous community here in the States and in Europe who are maintaining records and continuing to document and research WW II. For instance, I stumbled on a French diving site discussing (in French) diving on airplane wrecks in the North Sea, including possibly Maggie.That lead to the discovery of the identity of the Luftwaffe ace (20 kills) who shot him down, and the further discovery that the German pilot met his end at the hands of a P-47 Thunderbolt pilot in May of '44.
 

sailingshoes72

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In researching the death of my uncle, I have discovered an enormous community here in the States and in Europe who are maintaining records and continuing to document and research WW II. For instance, I stumbled on a French diving site discussing (in French) diving on airplane wrecks in the North Sea, including possibly Maggie.That lead to the discovery of the identity of the Luftwaffe ace (20 kills) who shot him down, and the further discovery that the German pilot met his end at the hands of a P-47 Thunderbolt pilot in May of '44.

That's great that you were able to discover some of the history of your uncle's wartime service and the mission that he was on when his plane was shot down. It is important to keep the memory of these WW II heroes alive... and in particular, these kind of individual stories with family connections! Thanks for telling us about your uncle.

And what a cool opportunity to fly on a restored B-24. You'll have to post some pictures after your adventure ("or it didn't happen"). :angel:
 
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fronobulax

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I recall a fascination with WW II bombers from my youth. I think the Doolittle Raid captured my imagination as a kid (B-25). The TV show "12 O'Clock High" was also an influence (B-17). Much, much later I met a man who had been a navigator in a B-24, eventually being the squadron navigator. Since no one else was doing so, he wrote his unit's history and I have a copy in my library. Perhaps because I never saw one "in person" as a kid, I am amused to note that in the past several years I have finally made it to several aircraft museums and have seen at least one of each. Is a fascination with WW II aircraft a defining feature of an age group? The only other aircraft enthusiast I know is in his 30's and his fascination is Cold War era Soviet aircraft, although if it was military and flew then he is interested.
 

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Sadly, it seems history is no longer relevant and being taught in public schools these days. But, then again, history starts the day the snowflakes were born.
 

fronobulax

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Sadly, it seems history is no longer relevant and being taught in public schools these days. But, then again, history starts the day the snowflakes were born.

We probably don't want to follow that too far because as soon as you ask "whose history?" and add "public schools" you are well into modern American Politics.

Skirting the edge of that crevice it, has always amused me to compare notes on the American Revolution with people who were in elementary school in the 1960's. In upstate New York (or maybe central if there are real upstaters around) Saratoga was a local battlefield and everything taught about the revolution pointed to Saratoga. We won the revolution at Saratoga and Yorktown was just an afterthought. Friends who were educated in Virginia were "Washington this and Washington that". Yorktown was the only significant event. South Carolina educated folks could tell you more than you wanted to know about Nathanial Greene who single-handedly won the Revolution without winning a major battle. And everyone who had a television thought they knew something about Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion.
 

CA-35

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Sadly, it seems history is no longer relevant and being taught in public schools these days. But, then again, history starts the day the snowflakes were born.

+1

We need to extol and never forget the 16 million Americans who were called to arms, the 1 million casualties, and the 576,000 dead. They were all brave men, and they went without a whimper.

America....land of the free because of the brave.
 

adorshki

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We probably don't want to follow that too far because as soon as you ask "whose history?" and add "public schools" you are well into modern American Politics.

Skirting the edge of that crevice it, has always amused me to compare notes on the American Revolution with people who were in elementary school in the 1960's. In upstate New York (or maybe central if there are real upstaters around) Saratoga was a local battlefield and everything taught about the revolution pointed to Saratoga. We won the revolution at Saratoga and Yorktown was just an afterthought. Friends who were educated in Virginia were "Washington this and Washington that". Yorktown was the only significant event. South Carolina educated folks could tell you more than you wanted to know about Nathanial Greene who single-handedly won the Revolution without winning a major battle. And everyone who had a television thought they knew something about Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion.

Out here in California we learned about Valley Forge, von Steuben and Lafayette.
And perhaps not insignificantly, the Boston Tea Party.
:biggrin-new:
But nothing was ever said about it actually being a global conflict.
See the link to "the usual source" for a recap of all the consequential conflict between England, France, Spain, the Dutch and even Mysore in India resulting from the "American Rebellion".
A compelling demonstration of how the disciplines of geography and history are mutually entwined.
It's been mentioned here before that understanding the history, including the causes , of the First World War is essential to understanding the current geo-political map of Europe and the Middle East, and the same could be said about World War II in regards to southeast Asia and modern Europe for that matter too.
I was going to veer into trade being the other major world-shaper by mentioning the Silk Road but it's getting a little far afield, no pun intended.
I'll just toss it out there for history freaks like myself.
 
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