Desert Rat B17 Flying Fortress restoration project. Aluminum Overcast in cockpit take off.

[Jerbod2]

Awesome project!

[jeepers2655]

wonder if Walter in Ohio had any parts for 1?

[thegenrl]

i would be willing to volunteer if you are in the NY/NJ area? id love to learn how to work sheet metal and be apart of this awesome project?

[53handyman]

Thumb up from France ! These icons deserve to be restored and take off again

[buzzy1147]

Look around and think about women building them. Saw a video once where midgets were hired to buck rivets.. they actually said "now look at the midgets go to work and they climbed right in the wing. It was the most politically incorrect thing i've ever seen. So tell me about this tube that you need boring bar work done on.

[ktc8308]

Will it be restored to airworthy condition?

[RideswithChuck]

@ktc8308 I believe that that is the plan and thanks for bringing the Chinese Air Museum to my attention.

[msrzordar]

Congratulations Mike Kellner by those efforts to make this legend return to flight. thanks.

[SirRobertofKnoxly]

Thanks Chuck...Mike, people like me value and appreciate people like you who work incredibly hard to keep history alive.

Well done, and thanks.

[SirRobertofKnoxly]

Chuck, great job. Well done to you and all of your volunteers. I can only send my good wishes.

[RideswithChuck]

@SirRobertofKnoxly Hi- I'm only the producer. Mike Kellner is the fellow with the airplane.

[kgs42]

I love you quiet can-do Americans ......

best from England!

[EIBBOR2654]

God I wish I could help you guy's out. I'm an aircraft machinist in the Air Force and I have loved the B-17 since I was a kid and watched the old movie 12 O'clock High. Heck, I would do the labor for free if my shop Chief would buy off on it, all I would need would be the material, blue prints and some lead time. The sadist part of this video is about the wing spar! It makes me so mad that they Men of the past could out do the men of today and that is part of the reason everything is from China!

[stubby692007]

This is the most EPIC restoration project I have ever seen. God speed gentlemen.

[MrTrimode]

Monster work to do, years over years. Real enthusiasts !!

Wish you all luck !!

[bullworth3040]

how can I help?

[TheTslam]

You guys should contact the Y-12 plant on Oak Ridge ,TN..The machine shop their help with parts for the Glacier Girl..Its a Govt plant but they often use the machine shop for stuff like this..Its a US DOE Plant..Hope it helps..

[ephenj]

Where is this amazing american Bad ass awesomeness being restored? (what state/city?) I'd love to help in any way that I can.

[RideswithChuck]

@ephenj The project is in Marengo, Illinois.

[TheBByamashiro]

you should restore some ww2 pacific heavy cruisers instead turning over scrap metal:( no offence....

[Poopingbotham]

If this is a B17 'E', then it has to be the oldest one in existence, with the exception of the sole surviving 'shark fin' Fortress

[madcitymcflyer]

By the looks of the cockpit (absence of working top turret mechanism and padded

interior), this has to be the EAA's 'Aluminum Overcast'. Of all of the world's flyable

remaining B-17's, it gets the most time in the air and seen by the most people.

'Desert Rat' will be a long-term and daunting task. Actually a converted XC-108, it was purchased by a auto salvage dealer in 1945 and hacked into pieces. It sat for

forty years before being recovered in 1985. Many components are unsalvageable.

[EIBBOR2654]

God I wish I could be a volunteer and help with your project! I've worked aircraft all my life in the US Air Force as a machinist. At one time I was stationed at Loring AFB working B-52s and KC-135s. And don't get me started on all the stuff that the US can not do any more because it is BS! The people in the US have become lazy and forgot their roots. Unfortunately I'm in AZ now with the AZANG working lawn darts AKA F-16s with the Air Circus Command. Damn I miss SAC! The best the AF ever Had!

[kidjim25]

Chuck, Thanks for showing the work we're doing on the "Rat"

James

(Desert Rat restoration Team)

[RideswithChuck]

@kidjim25 You are very welcome.

[sgt13echo]

Keep up the great work Mike!

[longhairbear]

Chuck, it is the Miss Angela,A B-17G-105VE.

You can find pics of it at the Palm Springs Air Museum website.

[RideswithChuck]

@longhairbear Thanks

[Busia1949]

Awesome undertaking and a worthy save. Thanks for recording this Chuck,

George

[RideswithChuck]

@Busia1949 You are welcome sir.

[Mullay2]

The Boeing Flight Museum here in Seattle has a flying B-17 which I believe is a G model. It regularly flies over Lake Washington during Seafair.

[longhairbear]

There is a flyable B 17 here at Palm Springs Air Museum. We have toured the inside.

[RideswithChuck]

@longhairbear Which B17 is that?

[Dieselolds]

Great video, i just love how they take care of the old hero.

[RideswithChuck]

@Dieselolds After many years of extreme neglect, It's nice that it was brought in from the cold.

[zzzdogutube]

I rode in the Fuddy Duddy. It was at the National Warplane Museum in Elmira NY. I think they had to sell it.. Those planes are so cool but they cost a fortune to keep air worthy. Thanks

[RideswithChuck]

@zzzdogutube Fuddy Duddy was my first B17 ride. It was sold.

[georgiahoosier]

I love this kind of restoration project, I hope you'll be following the progress of that beautiful bird until it's ready to fly Chuck!

[RideswithChuck]

@georgiahoosier There's still a lot of work there. I'll try to get out there more often.