Tom Reilly's Flying Tigers Warbird Restoration Page 2

This is the B-17G "Liberty Belle."  She is being restored by Tom Reilly's Flying Tigers Warbird Restorations in Kissimmee, Florida.  It's serial number is 44-85813.  It is painted in the colors of the 390th bomb group.  This is the same restoration experts that restored the Lockheed P-38F "Glacier Girl."  This is the only F model flying in the world!  This particular B-17 served as an Air Force test bed for a variety of engines that were installed in the nose of the plane.  It tested both turboprop and a R-3350 propeller design.  In 1980 it crashed while flying as an air tanker on a firebombing mission.  The aircraft was acquired by Flying Tigers Restoration after it had been destroyed again during a tornado.  This airplane was built in large part using the original parts as patterns and custom fabricating new parts from that.  All the sheet metal on the airplane is new.  There's over 1,000,000 rivets in the skin which cost $1.00 a piece.  That means this plane has over $1,000,000 in rivets alone!  The plane is painted and is finishing up restoration to begin flight testing in early August.  After the aircraft is flight tested it will fly to various airshows around the nation.  You can see some pictures of the original Liberty Belle here:  http://www.457thbombgroup.org/Fate/RLP095A.HTML

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