Memphis Belle

Are you sure? More like a different airframe that will/might be called Liberty Belle or Liberty Belle II.

It’s being rebuilt the same way many (most?) recent Spitfires and Mustangs have been.
With all due respect to the talented workmen…and the guys writing the checks…a fighter crashes on a beach. It’s buried by sand. 50 years later its dug up and restored to flight.
It’s heralded in FlyPast as a return to flight. Really, how much of that airframe is being re-used?
Like old race cars where two have been known to carry the same serial because wreckage was used to build two cars…rebuilding warbirds has a huge leeway of definition.

Why preserve the nose art? As I already pointed out, to the best of my knowledge, it’s not from the period. Probably from the 80s….

while the Liberty Belle is being rebuilt

Are you sure? More like a different airframe that will/might be called Liberty Belle or Liberty Belle II.
Following the much consuming fire, there was naff all left of use of Liberty Belle’s main core, including fuselage and inner wings etc to actually rebuild from.

Having looked at the article, I was curious as to why a picture of a 323rd BS Fortress was included in it?

I wonder if they intend on leaving the port side Memphis Belle artwork on the nose as it is shown on a couple of the photos?

So at what point does it become a replica then,maybe a facsimile ? I just think it is a shame it has lost some of it’s “personality” .

Nice photos.If that is Memphis Belle i find it quite a shame she has been rebuilt to such a “new” look standard.

The airframe needed a lot of corrective work having been on display outside for 60+ years and had been repainted several times so there was no original finish to preserve.
I saw it a couple of years ago looking like she does in some of the posted photos. You wouldn’t believe the amount of work the aircraft needed.

It’s not finished yet so any comments about what it will look like on final display are premature.

Some exhibits are the NMUSAF look factory fresh, others less so, but IIRC, they don’t go for an intentionally scruffy look with the faux patina favored by some.
Most displays at the larger collections look better than they did in service…as do most flying aircraft (including the BoBMF).

The ” ‘Movie’ Memphis Belle” has come through this are for the last two years selling rides while the Liberty Belle is being rebuilt, and it certainly looked like a well-used in service example. Up close you could see the faded paint and fabric, bug splats and massive oil stains. Yes, it looked authentic…but I wonder if any non-flying museum (especially a publicly funded one) would want an aircraft looking THAT worn on display?
Some (many/most?) visitors might go away thinking “Is that the best they can do?” Remember, a national museum like that is there to educate the non-aviation public, not to cater to the whims of pedants.

Hi All,
Would be nice to see her in the mottled camouflage in stead of the usual Olive Drab, but many thanks for the pictures.

I’m sure it will look like she did in the original documentary complete with that finish, which IIRC, was applied post factory.

Hi All,
Would be nice to see her in the mottled camouflage in stead of the usual Olive Drab, but many thanks for the pictures.:eagerness:

Geoff.

Nice photos.If that is Memphis Belle i find it quite a shame she has been rebuilt to such a “new” look standard.

Have only seen William Wylers Memphis Belle

that was a good one too…

Amidst all the Dambusters celebration over here in the UK I’m glad this was picked up – 70 years ago today from Bassingbourn… 17th May 1943.

Although the generally accepted history is that the crew flew their 25th today, the Belle was two days behind flying hers on the 19th May 1943 as has already been discussed.

To Bob and the rest of the crew – we remember you.

Have only seen William Wylers Memphis Belle

Define ‘the whole crew’ – according to the records at least 35 people took 41-24485 into combat

The crew as shown in W.Wilders Memphis Belle film,who were presented to the king,and then flew her back to the US.
According to Wikipedia(if you trust it) the crew flew 29missions,the a/c did 25.. and according to the museum of the USAF the Lorient mission was the a/c,s 24th,her 25th was to Kiel on the 19th May,with another crew…

Presumably the “crew” that got paraded in front of the US media and did the factory tours.

that’s right ,and it was the whole crews 25th on 17th May,

Define ‘the whole crew’ – according to the records at least 35 people took 41-24485 into combat

I’ve read that B-24 41-23728 “Hot Stuff” of the 93rd BG was probably the first to reach its 25th (7th Feb 43) but had an unfortunate coming together with an Icelandic mountain on the transit flight back to the US with only the tail gunner surviving, not really the home coming of the first crew that the US media would have wanted to print.

I thought Memphis Belle’s 25th mission was on the 19th may, Captain Morgan’s 25th mission was on 17th may.

that’s right ,and it was the whole crews 25th on 17th May,

For the pedantics. (Robert Morgan makes clear HIS last flight was on 17th)

Captain Robert Morgan’s crew flew 29 combat missions with the 324th Bomb Squadron, all but four in the Memphis Belle. The aircraft’s 25 missions were:
7 November 1942 – Brest, France
9 November 1942 – St. Nazaire, France
17 November 1942 – St. Nazaire
6 December 1942 – Lille, France
20 December 1942* – Romilly-sur-Seine, France
30 December 1942 – Lorient (flown by Lt. James A. Verinis)
3 January 1943 – St. Nazaire
13 January 1943 – Lille
23 January 1943 – Lorient, France
14 February 1943 – Hamm, Germany
16 February 1943 – St. Nazaire
27 February 1943* – Brest
6 March 1943 – Lorient
12 March 1943 – Rouen, France
13 March 1943 – Abbeville, France
22 March 1943 – Wilhelmshaven
28 March 1943 – Rouen
31 March 1943 – Rotterdam, Netherlands
16 April 1943 – Lorient
17 April 1943 – Bremen, Germany
1 May 1943 – St. Nazaire
13 May 1943 – Meaulte, France (flown by Lt. C.L. Anderson)
14 May 1943 – Kiel, Germany (flown by Lt. John H. Miller)
15 May 1943 – Wilhelmshaven
17 May 1943 – Lorient
19 May 1943* – Kiel (flown by Lt. Anderson)
* Sources disagree on which two of these three missions the Memphis Belle received mission credits for.

I thought Memphis Belle’s 25th mission was on the 19th may, Captain Morgan’s 25th mission was on 17th may.

And of course the famous (if untrue) story that links the two…

Whilst Guy Gibson is on his lecture tour of the US and Canada after the raid, someone mentions the Belle and it’s 25 missions, then asks how many he has done. “174” replies Gibson….

The RAF seemed to be like the Luftwaffe….you were in for life…or the end of the war, whichever came first.

And of course the famous (if untrue) story that links the two…

Whilst Guy Gibson is on his lecture tour of the US and Canada after the raid, someone mentions the Belle and it’s 25 missions, then asks how many he has done. “174” replies Gibson….

:highly_amused:

And of course the famous (if untrue) story that links the two…

Whilst Guy Gibson is on his lecture tour of the US and Canada after the raid, someone mentions the Belle and it’s 25 missions, then asks how many he has done. “174” replies Gibson….

wow, that’s an incredible coincidence. I had no idea! Must have been a real propaganda shot in the arm for the allied air forces.