menards2 wrote: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.