FlyPast – August 2018

8 FLYPAST August 2018

NEWS THE LATEST IN AVIATION HERITAGE

Restored ‘Memphis Belle’ completed for display

The Memphis Belle, arguably the

most famous Boeing B-17 Flying

Fortress of them all, returned to

public display on May 17 at the

National Museum of the USAF in

Dayton, Ohio – 75 years after her

last mission.

The bomber, B-17F 41-24485,

which served with the Eighth

Air Force’s 91st Bomb Group at

Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire,

was the fi rst Flying Fortress to

accomplish 25 combat missions

over Europe and return to the US.

Formerly on display at Memphis,

Tennessee, she moved to Dayton

in 2005 for restoration, which has

taken a 100-strong team of mainly

volunteers 14,000 hours to complete.

Now in ‘factory-fresh’ condition,

Memphis Belle features in a new

strategic bombardment exhibition at

the museum, which will include fi lm

of her missions retrieved from the

National Archives. The collection’s

B-17G 42-32076 Shoo Shoo Shoo

Baby will meanwhile be moved to the

Smithsonian’s National Air and Space

Museum in Washington, DC.

NORMAN WELLS

An archive image showing the crew of the ‘Memphis Belle’ after completing their fi nal mission

in May 1943.

The starboard nose art on ‘Memphis Belle’.

The aircraft is offi cially unveiled on May 17 in Dayton, Ohio.

Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress 41-

‘Memphis Belle’ on display at the National

Museum of the USAF. ALL NATIONAL MUSEUM

OF THE USAF