Me 'an Travis had St. Louis Covered Saturday and Sunday !!!!!

Yeah, Wow. B-17 DNA, that's good stuff.

Jealous. Very jealous!

Great photos KIm. Looks like you and Travis
had perfect weather, and Miss Beth must be
some kind of angel.
Happy for ya.
Bob

Nice pics Kim!

That catwalk is a tight squeeze... or at least it was for me. I don't remember it being that tight when I was younger LOL.

Some interesting things that I know....

The Memphis Belle is a B-17F
The Movie Belle is actually a B-17G

Memphis Belle has a Blue dress on port and Red dress on starboard.
Movie Belle had the same, but is now Gold dress/port and Blue/Starboard.

Memphis Belle is block lettering
Movie Bell is cursive lettering

Movie Belle is missing the (2) .50 Cal for the Bombardier.

Here is something you won't find in the history books... the names  at the different posisitions like "Virginia" were not put there by the original crew, as per the left waist gunner I had met years ago. It was graffiti put on the Belle after it came home and did the War Bond tour.


Below, I'm the 4th from the left in the group picture

Your a lucky duck my man!

I hope you had a great time.

Very Nice guys Thanks for sharing your adventure , Looks like loads of fun!!!  

OVERLORD wrote:That is unique!!! A beautiful picture of the Gateway To The West. That brings back memories of my holiday trip to the US in 1990 when I stood next to it.

Does that bomb hatch still closes or is that a ventilation opening? It must have been very scary though during the night flying over Germany. Did you sit in the bottom gun turret?  Thanks for the breathtaking pictures.

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I think the bomb bay doors ARE functional. The guy that briefed us warned that if we dropped our glasses or cap going across the catwalk NOT to climb down after them, but to wait 'till we were back at the airport.

According to him, the doors were designed to only support their own weight when closed so that, in the event of a bomb coming unshackled with them closed, they'd allow it to drop free.

And ended with, "We want to return with the same number of passengers we departed with." !!!!!!!!!!

The bomber got fairly warm inside while sitting on the ground, but there was PLENTY of ventilation during the flight...what with all the various hatches open.

Nope, I'd need some pretty drastic surgery even to come CLOSE to fitting in that belly turret !!!!

The bomb bay doors are functional. They were designed so that if a bomb fell off it's rack, it would let the door open and allow the bomb to fall out of the plane. They had them open when the plane was open for tours on Saturday.

In 1993 I could fit in the ball turret Your knees nearly touch your ears. This pic was taken in the real Memphis Belle.