The B-17 & B-25 had a great weekend despite the cloudy and rainy weather in Boca Raton. Our volunteer stop organizers Abe Wilen, Bruce Herman, and Irwin Stovroff worked hard for many weeks to get the word out and to prepare for the visit... even through some obstacles prevented us from arriving on an originally scheduled Thursday afternoon slot due to the ramp at Boca being full of corporate aircraft from a local economic conference. As always we had a terrific turn-out of veterans to tell their stories and had a great turn out of local school children today (Monday) before the aircraft departed late for Sebring, FL.
Progress on the B-24 is coming right along and here are some shots from the work over the weekend... hot off the presses thanks to photographer Tom Royal!
On February 24th, 2005, the Collings Foundation's B-24 Liberator emerged from the paint shop at TIMCO in Lake City, FL looking much different than she did a few weeks ago. After 2 weeks of stripping, prepping, and painting she was rolled out just after noon on the 24th with her base coat of olive drab green, gray underside, and red trim. With just the basic paint applied, the B-24 departed in the afternoon for New Smyrna Beach, FL where the crew at American Aero Services will apply the nose art, markings, and the donor names that have been a part of the B-24 since restoration. Here are some pictures::
Photos above by TIMCO and Jim Harley.
+ 2 - 1 | § ¶Tamiami & Fort LauderdaleIf you are ever in the Miami area, make sure to check out Wings Over Miami Air Museum at Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport... the Wings of Freedom Tour did on Feb 16 through 18! Organized by Collings Foundation Plane Sponsor and Wings Over Miami director, Walt Orth and new museum Director Denny Moore, the visit was one of the most successful that we have ever had at the airport. The gang from Wings Over Miami also provided a little company on the flight up from Marathon as they dispatched some "little friends" consisting of an AT-6 Texan, T-28 Trojan, and a Nanchang CJ-6 to fly with the B-17 & B-25 into the airport!
T-28, B-25, CJ-6, and AT-6 in flight. Photo by Jim Harley.
B-25 "Tondelayo" over the Florida Keys. Photo by Jim Harley.
On Feb 18th we moved the Wings of Freedom Tour to Banyan Air Service at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport and began our annual weekend visit to the area as hosted by organizer and veteran Howard Collins. Howard has been an organizer for 14 years with the Collings Foundation and each year it seems to get better and better! Joining the B-17 & B-25 was our newly restored Chance-Vought F4U-5NL Corsair and everyone loved the assortment! Veterans gathered on Sunday afternoon for the annual Gathering of Eagles event where veterans get together and discuss and speak with the crowd about their experiences in combat in WWII. It is always a wonderful event and truly ties the aircraft in with "our boys" and what they did to preserve the precious freedom that we enjoy. All weekend we had great crowds and the planes were flying quite a bit too! Thanks to everyone that made Fort Lauderdale a great success again! Next stop: West Palm Beach, FL + 5 - 1 | § ¶Marathon, FL to Tamiami, FL
The B-17 & B-25 left Marathon, FL in the Florida Keys today on their way to the Wings Over Miami Air Museum in Miami, FL at Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport. The visit to Marathon was the first visit in several years and the first time the B-25 has travelled to the area. Local Volunteer Coordinator Betty Vail did a great job of getting the word out and we enjoyed a great many visitors and flight participants. For those of you who have been following the Wings of Freedom Tour for many years, you may know of former full-time volunteers Bill and Dee Strawn... well, they came down and helped out for a few days and commemorated their first meeting in Marathon so many years ago when Bill flew in with the tour in the early 90's. Thanks Marathon for a great visit!
B-17 departing Marathon Key. Photo by Jim Harley
+ 3 - 1 | § ¶B-24 Liberator Repaint ProcessThe B-24 Liberator is nearing the completion of the first step in the repainting of the aircraft to the scheme of "Witchcraft" at TIMCO Aviation Services in Lake City, FL. Pilots Rob Collings and Caroline Lindgren joined by flight engineer Steve Swift brought the aircraft to Lake City on January 30th for the last time as "Dragon and His Tail" and immediately the aircraft was brought into a hangar to begin the preparation for repaint.
Over the next week, the aircraft started its chemical stripping process to remove the old paint. Note that the B-24 was not a bare aluminum aircraft but rather had a silver paint applied to protect it originally. This will be the first time the aircraft will have been stripped completely since the original restoration! Below is a picture of the aircraft with its first coat of stripping agent in the TIMCO hangar.
Next comes paint at TIMCO and then the plane will be flown to American Aero Services in New Smyrna Beach, FL for the application of details, markings, and nose art!