WarbirdsNews has been following the saga of B-17G Lacey Lady for some time now. We paid a visit to our friends at the B-17 Alliance Group in September to check on her status. As most of our readers will know, this is the organization based at McNary Field in Salem, Oregon which is working on restoring the famous B-17G Flying Fortress known as Lacey Lady. The B-17, which sat atop a gas station in Milwaukie, Oregon for some six decades, finally came in from the cold last year, and is now safely stored inside. The B-17 Alliance Group has quickly established a small, but comprehensive museum in a room adjacent to the hangar, and is now hard at work preparing for the restoration.
The B-17 Alliance Group is coordinating their efforts with several other B-17 restoration projects, and have acquired a jig for the main fuselage in the process. They recently installed the fuselage in this jig, and now comes the hard graft of restoring the bomber. Wandering around the hangar, which is filled to bursting with B-17 parts and components, was a fascinating exercise. When you enter from the museum exhibition room, the first thing you see is the fully restored, forward nose section…
The cockpit section is already in its jig, and partially disassembled. This work occurred some years ago, but the task of restoration will soon become a priority again, now that the rest of the aircraft is securely in its new home.
As already noted, the restoration team recently fitted Lacey Lady’s main fuselage in a jig built up by the B-17 Alliance Group.
In going through the aircraft, it was fascinating to see how some parts had survived in nearly pristine condition, while others had clearly taken a beating from the elements, or other unfortunate problems. The rear fuselage in particular, showed some signs of the difficulty of the wet Oregon climate, as well as the results damage caused by a truck colliding with the fuselage when it once stood on the pilons at the gas station.
Overall, on a surface inspection at least, the wings look to be in much better condition than the fuselage, which is excellent news as the wings… like nearly every restoration project… will be what consumes most of the rebuild effort.
While it’s clear that this restoration represents a mammoth task involving many years of concerted effort, and certainly huge amounts of financial resources, it is also clear that the B-17 Alliance Group is capable of handling the task. They have moved forwards very quickly with the project. Just getting her down from her perch and indoors was a major accomplishment, but they’ve also established a viable museum and have a dedicated team ready for tackling this effort.
WarbirdsNews wishes to express our deep appreciation to Sean O’Brien for arranging our visit, and particularly to Bob Farmer for taking the time to show us around after a busy day at work. The B-17 Alliance Group has made remarkable progress in helping preserve this beautiful aircraft, and we wish them well in their endeavor to return her to flying condition. Please do consider donating to the project. To find out how you can contribute, please click HERE.
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Richard Mallory Allnutt's aviation passion ignited at the 1974 Farnborough Airshow. Raised in 1970s Britain, he was immersed in WWII aviation lore. Moving to Washington DC, he frequented the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum, meeting aviation legends.
After grad school, Richard worked for Lockheed-Martin but stayed devoted to aviation, volunteering at museums and honing his photography skills. In 2013, he became the founding editor of Warbirds News, now Vintage Aviation News. With around 800 articles written, he focuses on supporting grassroots aviation groups.
Richard values the connections made in the aviation community and is proud to help grow Vintage Aviation News.
Where is the museum and is there admission fee?
Ron,
I thought you should know that this article is being featured on our new website. The website is in its initial launching stages.
I hadn’t seen the article until now. Our website designer found it and connected it to the site. It is well done and we really appreciate the effort to help. If I had known you were coming for a visit, I would have enjoyed meeting you first hand and sharing the experience. We’re grateful that it was set up for you and glad Bob Farmer gave you the tour. He has been very helpful to B-17 Alliance.
Your photos are clear and concise and would be helpful in sharing our current progress. The wing section in particular. Our Crew has just about removed all accessory pieces from the first wing section. Your photo of the fuel tanks inside, etc. shares a remarkable difference as to how it looks now. I would like to make progress report photo charts utilizing your photos from the first stages.
I am requesting permission to use your photos to further the cause of B-17 Alliance.
Thank you for this great article and your support. It means a lot to our entire group.
If you would like an update, please contact the B-17 Alliance Founder & CEO Jayson Scott. His cell phone is 971-219-8292
When’s the next Fly-in? Missed the June event! WX was shitty!