Rebuild of B-17F 42-3455 "Lucky 13"

[Lucky 13]

384thBG, you can come any time you want, just give me a call, (864) 590-8338, I am here 7 day's a week

[Lucky 13]

here is the photo again, do not know why it said it was removed.

[384thBG]

Ray, I understand that the photo hosting site Photobucket now requires a monthly subscription for hosting and linking the pics to other sites. They post these pleasant reminders if you haven't paid and pic links that you previously posted have been lost until you pay their fees. Now that just plain sucks!

[terveurn]

well photobucket officially sucks

8 pages of crap

[Lucky 13]

I got the photobucket account, about 8 years ago when it was free, I don't know how they can legally take my photos off, when I posted them when my account was free and you could post to a 3rd party, they are telling me now that I have to pay $400.00 a year now, maybe some of you guys can tell me how they can do this, I am upset over this, as much as y'all are, I could see if I posted them after there new policy was infect!

[FoCoB17G]

I got the photobucket account, about 8 years ago when it was free, I don't know how they can legally take my photos off, when I posted them when my account was free and you could post to a 3rd party, they are telling me now that I have to pay $400.00 a year now, maybe some of you guys can tell me how they can do this, I am upset over this, as much as y'all are, I could see if I posted them after there new policy was infect!

It's very rude of the company, but they CAN legally do it. I believe somewhere in the contract (The "I agree to the terms and conditions" button you clicked when signing up) they must have a clause that allows them to update the terms and conditions, voiding any previous terms.

Even if this wasn't their plan, it makes sense to add this so that small changes to keep them up-to-date can't get them sued. Of course, in this situation, they certainly took advantage of it.

I'm more surprised they didn't charge something like $10 a year... They would make more money. By charging $400, everyone just left and very few paid, whereas I might consider the $10 (even if I am grumpy about it).

[Dave]

You can post as many as you like on my B-17 cockpit project page, what I have is good, but what you are doing is fantastic

[OldBillB17F]

Good to see that Photobucket has revived long lost photos.

[OldBillB17F]

Good to see that Photobucket has revived long lost photos.

[GBlume42]

Okay, this is my first post on AeroVintage.

My name is G. A. Blume. I am a historian from Aiken, South Carolina.

I met Ray some years ago working on a nearby B-25 project. Ray had done me a favor by coming down and trying to motivate everyone to do something other than talk. It was a terrible experience and for a long time after I put off doing restoration again. While none of the B-25 people listened to him, Ray had been very gracious to me and I told him that one day I wanted to be of some help to him and his work.

Well time went by (my wife and I built a house) and I called Ray again to see if he could use a hand - after all, he was working by himself. While I knew nothing about metal work, that wasn't gonna stop me from being part of a B-17 rebuild. I offered him my research skills and, since I come from a family of carpenters, I also became his de facto carpenter.

I've had a blast so far as Ray and I think a lot alike in terms of what we want to achieve. We both are stringent in our desires for accuracy and it has been fun doing the research to see what is right and what is wrong.

I started working with Ray last year and he has asked that I post some of my work here for you guys to see.

Hope you like it.

-G

[GBlume42]

My initial project for Ray began on my 31st birthday. He gave me some wood pieces recovered from a crash site and asked that I replicate them in threes. Here's what I had:





Going through the blueprints, I discovered that the first piece is a portion of the tail-gunner's crawlway. The second piece is the floor for the lavatory bucket.

The plywood is Douglas Fir and the stringers are Spruce. The Fir had to be special ordered as the only wood in abundance around here is Pine, which so far, I have not seen listed in any Boeing blueprints. It took some time to locate the correct screws and washers as I had never encountered Tinnerman washers before and flat head screws are now rather rare.



Inspecting the stringers on the floor piece, we discovered they were in fact steamed layers of plywood rather than solid pieces. As such, we built a homemade steamer and did the same. While this was easy work, it was time consuming and messy.





The lavatory floor was much easier. At first we were a bit perplexed by the gaps in the stringers but original photos confirmed their existence.



Rather than three we built four of each, that way we have a pattern in case somebody else wants any. Ray loved them and they fit perfectly.





I had tried to secure a donation of a B-17 chemical toilet but the guy sold it after leading me for a few days. Oh well, can't win them all.

-G

[GBlume42]

Another piece Ray gave me was a seat plate to one of the bomber's posture chairs.

These were provided by Cramer Inc., which is still in business out of St. Louis, Missouri. I contacted the company and asked for some advice and they put me in touch with Robert Wehner, who worked there during the war. Mr. Wehner sent me detailed instructions on how to replicate the chair's stitching.

Corresponding with B-17 guru Karl Hauffe, as well as researching Boeing blueprints, I found that Lucky Thirteen will need three four-leg type Cramer posture chairs. These chairs should look like this:





I was particularly surprised by the second picture, which confirms the blueprints' statement that F models did not use a swivel on the navigator's seat. Fascinating.

Much to my surprise, it seems that a great many of the surviving posture chairs come from B-29s. You see, B-29 chairs had OD canvas cushions on black metal frames. I cannot find any photographs of B-17 chairs with said makeup. Rather, it appears they were upholstered with a dark green leather or vinyl.




I ordered some fabric that I color matched to what documentation I had.



Unfortunately, we have been waiting on the arrival of a complete four-leg type Cramer chair that Ray can use as a model. Once I have a backrest sample, I can take the fabric and Mr. Wehner's instructions down to have the upholstery done.

-G

[pogmusic]

Absolutely wonderful work!

[Chris Brame]

A couple interesting shots there; 42-102955 was listed as delivered to Cheyenne on April 22, 1944, two days after these pictures were taken; but it already has the cheek guns installed. Flew 72 missions as Chatterbox II and ended up at Kingman the week before Christmas, 1945.

[terveurn]

A couple interesting shots there; 42-102955 was listed as delivered to Cheyenne on April 22, 1944, two days after these pictures were taken; but it already has the cheek guns installed. Flew 72 missions as Chatterbox II and ended up at Kingman the week before Christmas, 1945.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still using Osborn as a reference I see......

Was not delivered to Cheyenne on 22 April 1944, but on 30 April 1944.

Was delivered from Boeing on 22 April 1944 -- so these pictures were taken on the Boeing production floor.

according to the 351st BG web site, she flew 71 missions not 72.

This picture does confirm that Boeing started the cheek packages around 42-102800

ended-up at South Plains on 1 June 1945.