WWII ‘Memphis Belle’ B-17 to be displayed at National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

By

The Associated Press

FILE – This 1943 file photo shows the crew of the Memphis Belle, a Flying Fortress B-17F, poses in front of their plane in Asheville, N.C. Standing from left to right: tail gunner John P. Quinlan of Yonkers, N.Y.; nose gunner Charles B. Leighton of East Lansing, Mich.; co-pilot James Verinis of New Haven, Conn.; pilot Robert K. Morgan of Asheville, N.C.; bombardier Vincent Evans of Buellton, Calif.; radio operator Robert J. Hansen of Billings, Montana. Kneeling from left to right: waist gunner C.A. Nastal of Arlington Heights, Ill.; ball turret gunner Cecil H. Scott of Iselin, N.Y.; waist gunner C.E. Winchell of Barrington, Ill.; and navigator Harold P. Lock of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The most celebrated American aircraft to emerge from the great war rests these days in a cavernous hangar at a southern Ohio Air Force base undergoing a loving and fastidious restoration _ from its clear plastic nose cone down to the twin .50-caliber machine guns bristling in the tail. (AP Photo, file)

DAYTON, Ohio — Officials say a famous World War II aircraft will be on public display next year at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton after more than a decade of restoration.

Museum curator Jeff Duford says the Memphis Belle, an Army Air Forces B-17F Flying Fortress bomber, will be unveiled on May 17, 2018. That date will be the 75th anniversary of the crew’s 25th mission over Europe.

memphis belle

A replica of the B-17 “Memphis Belle” on display on Sept. 1, 2014, in Roanoke, Va. The original “Memphis Belle” is scheduled to be on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force next year after more than a decade of restoration.
Photo Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The aircraft will be the centerpiece of a large-scale exhibit on strategic bombing in the World War II gallery. A museum spokesman says a B-17 will be moved out and eventually transported to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

Work to restore the Memphis Belle has been underway since 2005.

About 

The Associated Press