While we try to make regular updates on the Facebook page, a lot of people don’t care for Facebook. We understand that. So, here are some of the pictures featured on Facebook which show our progress since 2013.
Along with our pictures of our work on Lucky Thirteen are pictures of Liberty Belle (44-85734), on which we are rebuilding the rear half.
This will be the first of our gallery posts. Enjoy.
The newly zinc chromate-dipped pieces are attached to Station 4. Keeping with Second World War practice, the pieces are not spray-painted a similar color, but are actually dipped in the appropriate chemicals.
Screws hold everything in place until we can replicate the red stenciling that goes on the aluminum sheet.
Photos taken 23 February 2018.
The bomb-bay roof of B-17G 44-83316 is placed in the jig and marked to check alignment and notate placement. 44-83316 was used as a film set for the short-lived “12 O’clock High” TV-series (1964-1967).
Photo taken 13 February 2018.
Stations 1, 3, and 4 are test-fitted into the jig alongside the bomb-bay catwalk and outer compression struts.
Photo taken 13 February 2018.
Stringers mark the fuselage of Liberty Belle (44-85734). A piece of wreckage from Piccadilly Princess (44-83542) is visible replacing one of the missing areas. Liberty Belle was destroyed by a fire on 13 June 2011, making an emergency landing outside of Oswego, Illinois.
Photo taken 13 February 2018.
The bomb-bay roof is removed from the wreckage of B-17G 44-83316 for restoration. 44-83316 was used as a film set for the short-lived “12 O’clock High” TV-series (1964-1967). This area originally held a pair of life rafts.
Photo taken 4 June 2017.
Work begins on the bomb-bay’s roof structure.
Photo taken 15 January 2017.
The bomb-bay catwalk and outer-walls are test-fitted into the jig.
Photo taken 2 January 2017.
Working at the B-17 factory.
In the jig on the left is Liberty Belle (44-85734), comprising everything from Stations 6 to 10. In essence, this is everything between the radio and the tail gunner’s compartments.
In the jig on the right is Lucky Thirteen (42-3455), comprising everything from Stations 1 to Stations 6. In essence, this is everything between the nose and radio compartments.
Photo taken 1 January 2017.
Station 3 of the B-17 Lucky Thirteen (42-3455) begins to take shape. Station 3 is the back wall of the nose compartment.
Photo taken 14 March 2016.
Hangar Thirteen acquires a pair of bomb-bay doors.
Photo taken 14 March 2016.
The nose keel for Lucky Thirteen (42-3455) is placed in the jig.
Photo taken 15 December 2015 back in the Spartanburg workshop.
Working at the B-17 factory.
The pieces for replica bomb-bay catwalks are stacked. Catwalks are made for B-17s Liberty Belle (44-85734), Lacey Lady (44-85790), the Lake Dyke B-17G (44-83790), and the B-17C project.
Lucky Thirteen (42-3455) uses the catwalk from Piccadilly Princess (44-83542), having restored the damage incurred from a 1971 firebombing crash.
Photo taken 23 July 2013 back in the Spartanburg workshop.
Work begins on replicating the bomb-bay catwalk using a piece of wreckage from Piccadilly Princess (44-83542). Piccadilly Princess was badly damaged in a 1972 crash which included the bend you see in this catwalk tubing. The catwalk from Piccadilly Princess was restored for Lucky Thirteen (42-3455) and served as a pattern for several catwalk replicas.
Photo taken 28 April 2013 back in the Spartanburg workshop.
The bomb-bay catwalk from Piccadilly Princess (44-83542) is disassembled and cataloged.
Photo taken 28 April 2013 back in the Spartanburg workshop.
The bomb-bay catwalk from Piccadilly Princess (44-83542).
Piccadilly Princess crashed on 12 July 1971 but her catwalk was salvaged and restored for use in Lucky Thirteen (42-3455). This catwalk served as a reference for several replicas built for other restorations.
Photo taken 28 April 2013 back in the Spartanburg workshop.
The storage shelf area grows.
Photo taken 28 April 2013 back in the Spartanburg workshop.
Station 4 is mounted in the jig prior to restoration. Station 4 is the back wall of the B-17’s cockpit area.
Photo taken 26 February 2013 back in the Spartanburg workshop.
Ray begins work on Station 2. Station 2 sits in the B-17’s nose and is (roughly) the halfway point between the bombardier and navigator positions.
Photo taken 20 January 2013 back in the Spartanburg workshop.
This is the tail section of B-17G 44-85813. She was first used as an engine testbed for Curtiss-Wright, then as a tanker in the 1970s, until finally crashing on 16 April 1980. The rest of 44-85813 is currently being restored as Champaign Lady by the Champaign Aviation Museum in Urbana, Ohio.
Photo taken 13 January 2013. The door you see is the tail gunner’s hatch.
This is the waist section of B-17G 44-83542. She was used as a tanker throughout the 1960s until crashing on 12 July 1971. Partially restored for museum display, the rest of the aircraft can be seen as Piccadilly Princess at the Fantasy of Flight museum in Polk City, Florida.
Photos taken 1 January 2013 back in the Spartanburg workshop.
This is the bomb-bay of B-17G 44-83316, which was used as a film set for the short-lived “12 O’clock High” TV-series (1964-1967).
Photos taken 13 January 2013 back in the Spartanburg workshop.
Storage shelves. You can see on the top right a rudder assembly with its fabric removed. To the left are a pair of Curtiss-Wright R-1820 radial engines.
Photo taken 13 January 2013 back in the Spartanburg workshop.
Ray begins building the jig for Lucky Thirteen. This was Ray’s third B-17 jig.
Photo taken 13 January 2013 back in the Spartanburg workshop.