“we enjoy being stored outdoors” serie:
From the back of a Mirage IV, Vautour II NF, Noratlas, Breguet Alize, Meteor and forlon french navy Dak:
Breguet Alize:
Once General De Gaulle’s personnal Caravelle:
Meteor:
Meteor again:
Met…nah, Canberra
Hurel Dubois 34:
and Mirage IIIE, Mirage IIIB and DC7:
Went through my files, and here is a picture showing the fifth engine in the process of being removed:
Laurent how is your lancaster coming along? Any new photos???
Hi Peter,
Well, we have just finish to sand blast the centre section:
Now, we need to clean it to prime it (and I will spend my Sunday-tomorrow- and next wednesday -thanks boss for my day off- to clean the hangar as everything is quite dusty in there now), and then a new structure will be built to be able to work in the bomb bay, which is still untouched.
One of our member is working on the heating duct in the nose:
what you see on the picture are the only components we have, so if anyone as more to help us, let me know. He is currently focusing on restoring those parts as they have badly bent, and he doesn’t know how to recreate the rest from scratch, finding original components would be great.
And finally, a pilot’s panel replica:
no real instruments on it, everything is resin or plastic! One of our members is an expert with sylicon and resine, and recreated all the instruments (with a picture of the real instrument covered by a glass, looks very convincing for most of them) and switches. It’s almost finished, and once completed, will be donated to an association of french navy former crew members, at Lann-Bihoue, in Brittany. I hope my boss will accept again to give me another day off that day.
Laurent
Hi Ross,
Looks like the same turret that I saw at the restoration faciliy in 1998 (considering the special fairings around the cartridges ejection holes):
But I don’t think it comes from 44-8889, as the plane was probably received without turrets, as I have found part of its history in an old french magazine.
Here we go:44-8889 came out the Lockheed-Vega factory on January 27th, 1945. Accepted by the AAF at Hunter Field, GA, on Jan.31st, flown to England on Feb.26th and assigned to the 8th AAF. After the war, the plane stayed for 3 years at the Oberpfaffenhofen Air Base, before being sent to Erding, near Munchen, on Nov 18th,1948, to have her armament removed, then returned to Oberpfaffenhofen Air Base, and flew some missions for a total of 162 hours. On April 8th, 1949, she was assigned to the 7499th Squadron, based at Furtenfeldbruck. On October 14th, she was modified to RB-17G standard. She flew a total of 1514.55 hours, before returning to the USA on Sept 13th, 1953. Modified to QB-17 standart on April of the following year, she was soon modified to fit the requirements of her new owners, the IGN, and flown to France of August of that year.
Still on the turret subject, one picture in that old magazine shows a B-17 received with her turrets (44-85718 AKA F-BEEC) in 1948, where are they now?
Laurent
Hi Todd,
This B-17 was bought by the IGN in August 1954, and flown by them until donation to the Musée de l’air in September 1976. Before that, the plane was assigned to the 8th AAF in the spring of 1945, and was probably stored in Germany post-war (I think the IGN bought most, if not all, of their planes there). I guess someone will give more info.
Some more pics, from 2002 this time:
Dewoitine D520 :
The museum have another one on display (in fact, it used to be in the Concorde hall, but since the other Concorde has been installed there, all the WWII birds are now stored in a hangar that is seldom opened to public), and this one was loaned to the Consevatoire d’Aquitaine a few months ago. Of interest, the loaned one has no landing gear, the displayed one has no engine. Maybe they could have made a very complete one with those before loaning one…
A sad looking Morane Saulnier 500, with an equaly sad looking Fouga Magister
An AERO 45
Some pics taken in January 2003:
A complete but dismantled F-84E (data block says that S/N is 51-1600). I think this one comes from the Nancy Museum that closed a few years ago, but I am not sure.
a couple of pictures of some of the planes stored outside:
The Caravelle in the background was the personnal plane of General de Gaulle, and an association was created to restore her to her former glory, but I had no news about them recently, all I know is that the plane is far more corroded than they thought, and that they were looking for a new wing.
Laurent
Thanks Merlin70,
I will try to post pics next week-end.
Regarding the B-17G, here is an old pic from 1986:
At the time the poor girl was displayed outside, and was moved in the storage area a few years later, stored in the open for a few years, and was moved in the hangar then, but not before some large areas of the underside of the wings and belly suffered from corrosion, such on this engine nacelle and cowling (and the engine itself, not to mention propeller…):
There is no plan to restore her for the moment, but when time comes, I hope they will restore her in full military configuration. They have a ball turret in store, and might have more as well. This plane probably flew some operational sorties with the (from memory) 305th BG, someone will correct me if I’m wrong, certainly.
Current projects are AD-4N Skyraider and A-26 Invader.
Laurent
Hello
The other plane is a french built Ju-52, and the name is then AMIOT AAC-1 Toucan, and there is no plan to restore this one for the moment, but at least, it is not stored outside, like too many others…
Regarding the Sandringham, it was displayed outdoors in the 80s, but was badly damaged by a storm near the end of that decade, and the right wing and rear fuselage were badly damaged. The airframe is being worked on, but at a very slow pace as it is not a priority. But like the AAC-1, it is not stored outside in the meanwhile….
Detail shot of the damaged wing:
Laurent
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