Rebuild of B-17G 44-85734 "Liberty Belle"

[Lucky 13]

Here are some photos of the work, I am doing on the tail of Liberty Belle hope y'all enjoyI want to say a special thanks to Don for letting me be part of the rebuild of Liberty Belle and now y'all know why I have not made a lot of progress on Lucky 13

[aerovin2]

Thanks Ray, for posting those photos. Shows the progress in great detail.

[menards2]

SO what will be the ultimate outcome here? Is the Liberty Bell going to be rebuilt? Or are the leftover bits from the Liberty Bell being rebuilt and will assume another identity as another bird? With all that scratch building that is needed...I mean why not make two? or five? or an even dozen? make it a bakers dozen. After all the laws of economics say u'll make up the cost with volume right?

[DryMartini]

Problem is you need to find people with disposable cash.

When we run extrusions, we typically get buy-in for 4 or 5 planes
worth of material. Costs per extrusion per plane can be between $1200 and
$5200, depending on the extrusion. Then, understand that there are 25
main extrusions, plus dozens of others. Adds up quickly.

And don't forget the interested parties who, when they find out that
a B-17 project costs more than $25,000, lose interest altogether.
They think that there are dozens sitting in Arizona somewhere.

[aerovin2]

SO what will be the ultimate outcome here? Is the Liberty Bell going to be rebuilt? Or are the leftover bits from the Liberty Bell being rebuilt and will assume another identity as another bird? With all that scratch building that is needed...I mean why not make two? or five? or an even dozen? make it a bakers dozen. After all the laws of economics say u'll make up the cost with volume right?

My understanding is that Liberty Belle is being rebuilt from the usable parts of the burnt airframe and will fly again as 44-85734. Hopefully we will get our Douglas, Georgia, correspondent (Chuck) to chime in here with an update sooner or later.

And, as noted above, there is much cooperative effort going on among several restoration groups to coordinate part production, a short but not exclusive list being: B-17E 41-2595 Desert Rat, B-17G 44-85790, B-17G 44-85734 Liberty Belle, the B-17C project, and B-17F 42-3455 Lucky 13.

[Chuck Giese]

Hi all,

Part of my job is the procurement of parts. Since the summer of 2011, I've been instructed that any time we have parts, extrusions or tubes made or purchased, I am to buy sufficient for two airplanes. The intent is to have both Liberty Belle and the Labrador B-17 restored, first priority being the Liberty Belle.

[menards2]

Hi all,

Part of my job is the procurement of parts. Since the summer of 2011, I've been instructed that any time we have parts, extrusions or tubes made or purchased, I am to buy sufficient for two airplanes. The intent is to have both Liberty Belle and the Labrador B-17 restored, first priority being the Liberty Belle.

Did the Liberty Foundation have the Liberty Bell insured?

[Chuck Giese]

Did the Liberty Foundation have the Liberty Bell insured?

You would have to ask the Liberty Foundation that question. I don't speak for them on financial or operational issues. All of my restoration work is for Brooks Aviation.

[Lucky 13]

Here are some photo's of the work I have been doing on Liberty BelleAs one can see I have been busy!!

[Dave]

Brilliant

[Chris Brame]

As one can see I have been busy!!

That's the best kind of busy! Thanks for the update.

[TAdan]

Thanks so much for the update. Really coming along nicely.

[Lucky 13]

Here is a update[URL=http://s956.photobucket.com/user/384-13 ... s.jpg.html][URL=http://s956.photobucket.com/user/384-13 ... t.jpg.html][URL=http://s956.photobucket.com/user/384-13 ... p.jpg.html][URL=http://s956.photobucket.com/user/384-13 ... g.jpg.html][URL=http://s956.photobucket.com/user/384-13 ... q.jpg.html][URL=http://s956.photobucket.com/user/384-13 ... s.jpg.html]

[OldBillB17F]

Below is the link to the Twisted Piston blog that is documenting the restoration of Liberty Belle. It is updated regularly. Looks to be the GA location for this project, and not the SC location as documented in this thread.

http://thetwistedpiston.com/b-17-libert ... arch-2018/

[cvairwerks]

Hope they can get the site up soon. It appears to have gone down right after you posted.