Aero Vintage Books

I was wondering, other than Swamp Ghost, are there any Forts out there that have their original wartime turrets?

I'm not asking about authentic turrets, I am asking about the ones they left the factory with.

The only one that I can think of would be Lacy's Lady. Though I understand her turrets reside on other aircraft currently. I guess the point is that the turrets she left the factory with are still in existence. Also doesn't she have the most original, low time R1820s in the world? Now that has to be a record. She has to be the ONLY WW2 aircraft ( non-wreck!) in the world to have her original engines!

I guess that if someone got the Black Cat Pass Bird and brought it back and talked MARC out of the top turret they took out of her, then she might be a candidate as well.

Any others? How about some of the birds down South. Any of them supplied with their original power turrets?

The trivial things us B-17 guys will think of while bored.....

Joe

I think the B-17E My Gal Sal has its original turrets (and original engines). Not yet on static display, but a good candidate for static display.

The Memphis Belle has her original turrets down in Dayton.

Mustang driver, there is an article in Warbirds Illustrated about the Belle, from many years ago. In it there is mention that the restoration crew in Memphis had located an original type upper turret as the Belle at that time had a later replacement turret.

Joe

Here is the story I got. What was thought to be a later style turret installed on the belle was infact the original turret just with a modifcation done to it. SO the original turret remained, and it has been demoded to it's original WWII configuration by the NMUSAF. I will check .

The turrets are the original. The top turret dome is not. In combat, the Belle had a type 2 dome. During training, it received a type 4 dome. It was traded with Texas Raiders for a Type 3. The NMUSAF is modifying that back to the Type 2 since none are available except for fiber glass replicas.