Behind the Scenes at the National Museum of the USAF part 1

I took a Behind the Scenes Tour of the restoration area of the National Museum of the USAF. The Restoration Division tour takes you through three hangars on Wright-Patterson AFB. The big attraction going on right now is the restoration of the Boeing B-17F Memphis Belle. This plane was saved from being scrapped after WWII to be displayed in Memphis, but because of deterioration over the years it was decided that it should be moved to and fully restored and displayed at the Air Force Museum.










This is a full inside and out restoration.










A small section of the paint is left for the time being, although this is from a paint job in the 1980's. When it comes time to paint, a photo projection of the original will be used to make sure it is fully accurate.












Many of the sub-assemblies are being worked on in a smaller room in the hangar. To give you an idea of how much work is involved, just the tail gunner section had a four page list of missing parts at the start of the restoration. Many of the parts have to be duplicated on site, using factory drawings, photos, and reference from other B-17s.








Parts of the aircraft have writing etched into the aluminum. During the war bond tours after returning to the states people were encouraged to write on the plane, and also it suffered from vandals when on display in Memphis. Replacing the skin would make the aircraft less original, sanding them out would leave it too thin, and the marks are also part of the history of the Memphis Belle, so these will be left in place.




The ball turret in the blue frame is for the museums B-24, and the other is from the Memphis Belle. They are the same turret, but mount differently since it needs to be retracted on the B-24 for landing. The B-24 is missing it's ball turret, so they acquired one, which after research turned out to be the original from the museum's B-24.














Also in the restoration area is the B-17D The Swoose. Three combat veteran B-17s exist, The Swoose, Memphis Belle, and the museum's B-17G Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby. After the Memphis Belle is completed, Shoo Shoo Shoo baby will be going to the Smithsonian.