41-9234: A Very Unusual B-17E

[Steve Birdsall]

Thanks for posting these Antonio, a nice update.

[hang the expense]

Things are really starting to go missing off the bird.Someone cut out the skin that had the serial number on the cockpit side.Also the tailgun has grown legs and walked off more than a few feet away.They are just tearing that plane apart little by little.What a shame.

[Steve Birdsall]

I’m a bit rusty on the Liberators these days but I believe that this photo shows Brigadier General Kenneth N. Walker of 5th Bomber Command formally greeting Major Philip J. Kuhl of the 319th Bomb Squadron. Kuhl was commander of the 319th when they brought the first of the 90th Bomb Group's B-24s to Australia, landing at Amberley on October 23, 1942.

It's a pretty historic photo by any measure, but the fact that the B-17E in the background with the unusual paintwork is almost certainly 41-9234 adds greatly to its charm - for me anyway.

[Steve Birdsall]

I think that I’ve finally been able to confirm three of the last combat missions that 41-9234 flew with the 28th Bomb Squadron of the 19th Bomb Group.

The pilot on those three missions was Lieutenant Vincent J. Roddy and his co-pilot was Lieutenant Jay Zeamer, Jr.

On October 29, 1942 they took off from Seven Mile Strip at Port Moresby before midnight and completed a nine-hour night mission against shipping in Tonolei Harbour, returning to New Guinea early in the morning of October 30.

On October 31 Roddy and 41-9234 left Port Moresby in the afternoon and flew to Milne Bay, a couple of hours away. Later that night they took off from Milne Bay and headed for Tonolei’s shipping again, returning to Port Moresby in the morning of November 1.

The third mission was a daylight attack on a Japanese convoy south of Gasmata on November 2.

Somehow Zeamer also managed to squeeze in a Rabaul mission on the night of October 30, flying as navigator for Captain Ken McCullar in Black Jack!

Roddy and his crew returned to Mareeba, Australia in the afternoon of November 3, 1942.

[Raedin]

What would it take to get this plane in to the U.S?
I've spent countless hours researching this plane and looking at pic's of it, what it would take to restore it, looked at already restored B-17's to see how hard it would be to fix it, and personally, I don't think it would be that hard to repair where it's broken, I think the hardest thing to find would be the engines, I don't think that the engines that are there would still be fixable/safe to put back on the plane, the 2 that were disabled be anti-air fire that caused the crash in the first place are almost for sure dead.

Any info that you know of on how I could get this out of there would be very helpful, or if it's even possible to do it.
This plane is so far is the best condition wreak I've seen that's not under water.

Thank you.

[hang the expense]

Welcome to B-17 world.That bird would be cool to recover but would cost a ton of money not to mention the trouble of getting it exported.Had it been recovered when MARC got the top turret out of her back in the early 70s then a rebuild to fly would have been doable.Today between all the fires and parts cut out of her wrecking whatever good area was left not so much.She would make a great static just the way she is these days in her current condition.We all had the same idea back when we were kids in the early 70s.Those of us that have the vision and the skill to rebuild something like that bird are getting scarce as time keeps marching on.The B-17s we are working on now will finish us off.I'm glad to see younger people taking an interest.

[cfin2001]

Such a beautiful machine, such a sad fate. Maybe one day, hopefully not to far in the future, 41-9234 will at the very least be put into a local museum, rather than in this sad state of affairs. This airframe has been on my mind since I first caught the "Warbird Bug". I had no idea about the modifications, or the fact that part of her is attached to N3703G! The little things I never knew, I suppose!

(Also, apologies for reviving a decade-old thread, had to pitch-in my two cents on the matter!)

Edit: Forgot to add, but in theory if you were crazy enough to take on restoring her.. Would it be even remotely possible to purchase or acquire the dismantled 44-83718 for parts? It seems a bit crazy, but the idea of restoring 41-9234 itself is a bit crazy.

[terveurn]

Edit: Forgot to add, but in theory if you were crazy enough to take on restoring her.. Would it be even remotely possible to purchase or acquire the dismantled 44-83718 for parts? It seems a bit crazy, but the idea of restoring 41-9234 itself is a bit crazy.

With todays technology advances, it would be cheaper to manufacture new parts.

Except for a static "as is" preservation, any type of rebuilding would envolve taking this airframe apart - R/R as needed.

Even a static build is going to need a lot of mx - look at the trouble and the expense with 41-2446 just for the crew that recovered her gave up and donated it to the Pacific War Museum

[cfin2001]

With todays technology advances, it would be cheaper to manufacture new parts.

Except for a static "as is" preservation, any type of rebuilding would envolve taking this airframe apart - R/R as needed.

Even a static build is going to need a lot of mx - look at the trouble and the expense with 41-2446 just for the crew that recovered her gave up and donated it to the Pacific War Museum

True enough; that new-build B-17C was on my mind when I wrote that message. I do believe she deserves to be preserved in a museum though, even if she's just a wreck diorama. Too unique and interesting to be left to nothing.

[Steve Birdsall]

Since there’s been some renewed interest in this thread I have restored the images which were lost when I switched ISPs a few years ago.

I also thought it might be interesting to add this composite of several Richard Leahy photos “stitched” together by Jack Fellows. It shows what 41-9234 looked like in 1953.