B-17 Memphis Belle?

[Harvardfan]

Greetings!
I was at an airshow  this past weekend and there was a B-17 there with the markings of the "Memphis Belle". I was told that it was not the real "Memphis Belle", and that the real one was in a tent somewhere in the southern states. Anyone able to clarify this for me?
Also, I thought I'd share this story with you all. I was able to fly to this airshow in the back seat of a Harvard (AT-6) and the pilot graciously allowed me to take the stick for a few minutes while flying in (a very loose) formation. Let me tell you, it is nothing like flying in a flight simulator. The movement of the aircraft, the subtle increase and decreace in speed as you raise or lower your aircraft was amazing to me. These aircraft are very responsive and any overcorrection can really throw you around up there as I soon found out. It was a very cool experience. I have a new found respect for formation and aerobatic pilots.

[visitor]

Harvard

http://www.memphisbelle.com/plane_legend/index.html


Lots to read!!!

X

[Wing Nut]

The Memphis Belle is now at 'Mud Island' a tourist attraction in Memphis, Tennessee.  It's a kind of a miniature amusment park thing and you'll have to pay $8.00 to see her.  Seeing the plane is free, but you have to pay admission to the park.

[Wing Nut]

I guess they have removed it for restoration.  It was at Mud Island for many years, if you check out the site, they have a few pictures of it there (the ones in the dome).

[HawkerTempest5]

I'm gussing that you went to Flying Legends at Duxford?
If so this is the B-17 you saw.

It's true identity is B-17G 44-85784 "Sally B" and it belongs to the B-17 Preservation Trust and is based at Duxford.
Ariving in the UK too late to see active service in WW2 it took part in some secret tests for the USAF with a couple of strang looking pods, one manned and one unmanned on each wing tip. The true nature of these tests is unknown. It spent some time in France before coming to the UK some 27 years ago. Run by volunteers and funded by donations it flys at shows all over the UK during the summer months.
The Menphis Belle markings are from it's role in the Memphis Belle movie.
Hope that helps a bit.

[flyboy 28]

I just finished reading the memiors of the pilot of the Memphis Belle, Bob Morgan. I met him at an airshow at NAS Willow Grove last Septemper. (That's where I got the book.) I kinda felt bad for him because all day he was doing book signings in a hanger next to a German Me-262. I bet after WWII he never wanted to see a swastika again. D'oh!

[HawkerTempest5]

I met Bob Morgan at Duxford last year. One of the great things about shows at Duxford is getting to meet these wounderful men who flew the planes we now admire at airshows. Over the years I've met James Edgar "Jonnie" Johnson, Alex Henshaw, Clarence "Bud" Anderson and this year I met German ace and NATO general Gunther Rall. It's just magic to meet these great men.

[Harvardfan]

Greetings again!
Sorry it took me so long to reply, but I took my family on vacation to Niagara Falls.
The B-17 I saw was at Geneseo, New York, and did not have Checkered engine cowlings like the one from Duxford. It was a beautifull aircraft even if not the original. Flyboy_28 wrote that he met Bob Morgan at Willow Grove last year. I will be flying to the Willow Grove airshow this September with the "Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association". Looks to be quite a good show.
Hope to see you there. (I fly with the association as part of the service wing.)