Aero Vintage Books

I'm waaay overdue on posting pictures of the Labrador (Dyke Lake) B-17. We've been working from bulkhead3 back towards the Bomb Bay, and forward to the nose.

Here's a taste of the current state of the restoration:





Flight Deck and Bulkhead 3



Chin Turret Well (Rough cut)



We'll spend the rest of the year getting the nose closed out.

Chuck you guys are doing a fine job and thanks for the help on mine.

Beautiful! You are so darn lucky! Oh, and talented....lol...don't let the ego get too inflated...and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Nice pics Chuck.More are needed for this important rebuild.

One more shot of the nose, window frames are in place, just waiting on the cheek windows to rivet it together.



Chuck

Outstanding. Cannot ever remember a time when so many B-17s were being restored/rebuilt/built from scratch.

On a side note - I always thought this was going to be rebuilt as a B-17F? Not the case, obviously. No worries...you can never have too many B-17Gs around! Looking great!

OUCH! Fast as I can boss,fast as I can.

I love the special clecos by the way.

KnockoutDropper wrote:
On a side note - I always thought this was going to be rebuilt as a B-17F? Not the case, obviously. No worries...you can never have too many B-17Gs around! Looking great!

When we reached a point where we had to commit to a F or G nose, the boss said to make it a G.

Chuck

Chuck,
How much of Liberty Belle are you using in this, or is everything from 790 so far?
Great work

Dave

Dave wrote:Chuck,
How much of Liberty Belle are you using in this, or is everything from 790 so far?
Great work

Dave

Everything is from either the Labrador B-17 or blueprints. Nothing from Liberty Belle has been used.

Chuck

Fantastic work. Is bulkhead 3 new build or from the Dyke Lake a/c? Is there a diagram online somewhere that shows the various bulkheads?

Bulkhead 3 is a combination of the Labrador B-17 and new build parts.

I don't know of an online diagram, but I'll look for one in the blueprints. I've even seen logbooks that refer to them incorrectly.

Bulkhead diagram (low quality scan) from the Structual Repair Manual:



Bulkhead 1 is where the nose glass attaches
Bulkhead 2 divides the bombardier and navigator section of the nose (Pre G model)
Bulkhead 3 is the doorway to the nose
Bulkhead 4 is between the cockpit and bomb bay
Bulkhead 5 is between the bomb bay and radio room
Bulkhead 6 is between the radio room and the waist section
Bulkhead 7 is in front of the tail wheel
Bulkhead 8 is the horizontal stabilizer forward carry through / vertical stabilizer forward attach
Bulkhead 9 is the horizontal stabilizer rear carry through
Bulkhead 10 is the vertical stabilizer rear attach
Bulkhead 11 is where the tail turret attaches.

Chuck

Thank you sir! Bulkhead 3 looks like the largest and most complicated by far. That probably goes without saying but i'm fascinated by B-17 construction after watching the progress on Desert Rat/Tangerine.