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A-2 Donation idea
- Thread starter Andrew
- Start date
better duck
Well-Known Member
Having seen the result, I join the chorus: perfectly executed, my compliments to both Andrew and Ties. Most of all Andrew, for both idea and follow through were yours and yours alone.
I'm proud to have participated in this beautiful and symbolically relevant undertaking!!
I'm proud to have participated in this beautiful and symbolically relevant undertaking!!
Peter Graham
Well-Known Member
My sentiments entirely. Well said Marcel.dujardin said:
Steve27752
Well-Known Member
A big well done to Andrew and Ties for putting it all together.
TankBuster
Active Member
Steve27752 said:
Jacket and patch look great! Great work guys!
Andrew
Well-Known Member
Spoke to Ed on the phone today. He has the jacket and is very very grateful as expected. He wore it to the hanger yesterday and had a bunch of shots taken with the Lib and is forwarding them to me next week to share. I'll also post his letter to us. He says it's very much like the one he briefly had until the QM took it back. He's amazed by the actions of this little group and very moved. Mission successful.
siddhartha
Administrator
You should be very proud of yourself for making this happen!
Chris
Chris
Andrew
Well-Known Member
Apologies to everyone who contributed to this plan as it's taken me months to get to post some shots of the final result but I wanted to go and visit Ed myself first. I gotta say it was a load of fun to do and you are all very generous- you know who you are.
Well last week I made the pilgrimage out to see the restoration and more imortantly to meet Ed. He's the fittest and sharpest 92 year old I know and is an absolute joy to talk to. I could have spent all day there. He toured me through the whole workshop and inside the aircraft and you can only be amazed at the hive of activity the place is. There are old blokes everywhere working on all aspects of the rebuild and despite the shell apppearing unfinished all the components are well advanced and will be installed before too long.
The plane will never fly but the plan is to enable it to Taxi under it's own power once it and the WWII era Hangar it's housed in are completed. Unfortunately the urban sprawl is converging on this onetime grass emergency strip and it's easy to imagine the possible issues that will create in time for the operation of this magnificent Lib- the only one left of it's type here.
Ed Crabtree now and then. The GW is a pefect fit.
Me and Ed- both GW Dubows. Ed pointing out Fenton where the 530th were based. The longest flights they did were 1300 miles to bomb the oilfields at Balikpapan in Borneo and I think he said they were 18 hour flights. He loves his jacket but he only put it on for the shots as he felt a bit self conscious and it was "too cold".
The following are general shots of the resto and the Hanger.
They have two cockpit assemblies and Sperry ball turrets- the bottom left shot is a view inside one- my boys wanted to get in of course. The bottom right is a waist gunners posi.
Overall view, I have to admit I was impressed by its size. Bottom right is a "Billy cart" they made for fun- it's sensational.
General views of the bomb aimer and nose gunners positions
An absolute treat to meet Ed, he passes on his humble thanks, and the Museum is small but well worth a visit if you're in Melbourne.
Well last week I made the pilgrimage out to see the restoration and more imortantly to meet Ed. He's the fittest and sharpest 92 year old I know and is an absolute joy to talk to. I could have spent all day there. He toured me through the whole workshop and inside the aircraft and you can only be amazed at the hive of activity the place is. There are old blokes everywhere working on all aspects of the rebuild and despite the shell apppearing unfinished all the components are well advanced and will be installed before too long.
The plane will never fly but the plan is to enable it to Taxi under it's own power once it and the WWII era Hangar it's housed in are completed. Unfortunately the urban sprawl is converging on this onetime grass emergency strip and it's easy to imagine the possible issues that will create in time for the operation of this magnificent Lib- the only one left of it's type here.
Ed Crabtree now and then. The GW is a pefect fit.
Me and Ed- both GW Dubows. Ed pointing out Fenton where the 530th were based. The longest flights they did were 1300 miles to bomb the oilfields at Balikpapan in Borneo and I think he said they were 18 hour flights. He loves his jacket but he only put it on for the shots as he felt a bit self conscious and it was "too cold".
The following are general shots of the resto and the Hanger.
They have two cockpit assemblies and Sperry ball turrets- the bottom left shot is a view inside one- my boys wanted to get in of course. The bottom right is a waist gunners posi.
Overall view, I have to admit I was impressed by its size. Bottom right is a "Billy cart" they made for fun- it's sensational.
General views of the bomb aimer and nose gunners positions
An absolute treat to meet Ed, he passes on his humble thanks, and the Museum is small but well worth a visit if you're in Melbourne.
TankBuster
Active Member
Cool! The GW looks good on him.
CBI
Well-Known Member
Looks great and what a rebuild job on the B-24! Ed's Dubow is an older GW cowhide A-2 that I did the hot water treatment and a bit of redying, added wear. It had been put on eBay and "won" for the dontation project as noted earlier in the post. I think ties did the patch???
Peter Graham
Well-Known Member
Brilliant photos Andrew. Many thanks. That Lib is going to be a beauty when it's finished. The old hanger looks to be in good nic too. I feel very proud to have played a tiny part in this whole story and if I ever make it to Melbourne I'll be sure to visit the museum.
capt71
Member
Andrew,
Thanks for the beautiful shots! The jacket looks great on Ed (yours ain't bad either). That Lib is going to be a beauty when it's finished.
As for the Balikpapan missions, that 1300 miles was just getting there-- they had to fly back--making it a 2600+ mile round trip! BTW, the Balikpapan missions from Fenton were the longest of WW2--longer than Ploesti.
Bill
Thanks for the beautiful shots! The jacket looks great on Ed (yours ain't bad either). That Lib is going to be a beauty when it's finished.
As for the Balikpapan missions, that 1300 miles was just getting there-- they had to fly back--making it a 2600+ mile round trip! BTW, the Balikpapan missions from Fenton were the longest of WW2--longer than Ploesti.
Bill
