B17 Mary Alice

If I recall, all four engines were removed from the Hendon Fortress when it reached it’s destination after the trans-atlantic ferry. Flew in formation with Sally B on arrival at Duxford – first time I’d seen two Forts in the air together. 1982 – I think. I recall the engines were very low-houred, and would be wasted on a static aircraft, so two were hung on Sally, and two on Mary Alice ready for when Sally needed those. Two static and two nearly time-expired engines went down to Hendon. !!

Very close…as I believe it was 83.
Eng No’s 1 & 2 were indeed changed the same year and 3 & 4 were swapped on M A as spares for the future.
However not all the Hendon engines were low houred and I believe No.1 was immediately swapped again the following year in the winter of 84.

I have a recollection of one of Sally’s spares on Mary Alice might have been used during “Memphis Belle”, but unless I’ve got the dates wrong that would be seven years later, so if true the engine would have needed a bit of work!!

Again you are very close as it would actually be 6 years based on the dates involved.

Bomberboy

An engine was swapped around, and here’s the engine that was on the film aircraft, being refitted to Mary Alice. I think this was late June 1989 which is when I visited Duxford to see the filming. Notice the different olive drab of the cowl gills.

I believe the engine refitted, was from the late Bob Richardsons B-17F, which actually arrived at duxford with the #4 engine knackered.

I seem to recall an eng survey to both M A’s No.s 3 & 4 prior to the filming to ascertain their servicability if needed.

I also believe that the first week of filming saw two out of five of the assembled ‘bomber force’ out of service with ‘shot’ engines, both requiring an engine change.
The trials and tribulations must have been similar to the experiences of all the bomb groups during the war itself, but was only the start of things to follow!!! :(:(

Bomberboy

Pink Lady blew a cylinder, and the cowling peeled off and hit the tailplane, I was at the waist window when it flew past, got the old heart pounding a bit.

Indeed…..and nearly hit a certain Mr Grey in the process. 😮
All looks very familiar!!!
IIRC, me and big-bro were in the sharp end at the time and suddenly saw the #1 eng cowls fly off followed very quickly by the prop being feathered on M & C.

Bomberboy

The B-17 that would become Mary Alice was originally purchased from IGN as a source of spares to keep Sally B flying, before being sold on to IWM in 1978 I think

You are correct, according Scott Thompson’s epic work on B-17 survivors, Final Cut.
BTW: The book is now out in its new fourth edition.

Found them

One of the planes threw a cylinder off during the filming which lead to an engin swap. IIRC, the police bought the cowl back the next day after it was found in some farmers field? Can’t remember which aircraft, but it had a dent in the leading edge of the horizontal from the cowl hitting it.

Pink Lady blew a cylinder, and the cowling peeled off and hit the tailplane, I was at the waist window when it flew past, got the old heart pounding a bit.
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Live sex

I’ve just added some interesting historic images from Mary Alice’s past to the thread on WIX ~ with thanks to Tony Clarke for sharing them 🙂

God I look young….

It was 22 years ago; we were all less wrinkly, and probably a good few pounds lighter back then!

Well you certainly won’t want to look at that thread I started with some old Dx photo’s….

God I look young in that photo (thats me in the blue T shirt)
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Pattaya property

……..I have a recollection of one of Sally’s spares on Mary Alice might have been used during “Memphis Belle”……

An engine was swapped around, and here’s the engine that was on the film aircraft, being refitted to Mary Alice. I think this was late June 1989 which is when I visited Duxford to see the filming. Notice the different olive drab of the cowl gills.

I’ve just posted another update on the WIX thread 🙂

I felt the need to comment on the quality of that patch on the flap.. 😮

:diablo:

Someone at Dx needs to invest in the some of these guages:

Available here:
http://www.aircraft-tool.com/shop/detail.aspx?PRODUCT_ID=AE1007

I have a recollection of one of Sally’s spares on Mary Alice might have been used during “Memphis Belle”, but unless I’ve got the dates wrong that would be seven years later, so if true the engine would have needed a bit of work!!

One of the planes threw a cylinder off during the filming which lead to an engin swap. IIRC, the police bought the cowl back the next day after it was found in some farmers field? Can’t remember which aircraft, but it had a dent in the leading edge of the horizontal from the cowl hitting it.

I’ve just posted another update on the WIX thread 🙂

If the roof was sealed on the inside it could cause condensation problems which would make the place very damp. At a guess I suspect that the unsealed concrete may be designed to soak up a certain amount of the moisture from the air to cut down condensation.

I think thats parts of the problem, moisture is absorbed by the roof, gets contaminated with salts from the concrete & then ends up being released again when it gets dry inside the building…?

Has any parts been robbed/borrowed to keep sally B flying?

Wasn’t an engine pulled off for another B17 during Belle filming?

In RAF Germany we used to do it with two cars (normally Minis) and pass them through a tractor tyre whilst having a BBq and several barrels of natures finest 🙂

The article was circa 1981-82 and featured the creation of the crew door amongst other things. Its worth bearing in mind that this restoration was done a long time ago and corrosion somewhere on an airframe would not be that much of a surprise.