A man in Marengo, Illinois, has the mission of fully restoring a B -17 bomber from the First World War – a project on which he has worked with diligence in a barn on the roadside for 40 years.
An aviation enthusiast for life, Mike Kellner began his trip to high school after hearing that a maine dumping up was trying to unload the abandoned remains of the historic bomber. The price requested was “$ 7,000 or the best offer” for a collection of disassembled parts. Kellner instructed the 75-foot aluminum giant on a house trailer (he had to extend it by about 10 feet) and transported it halfway across the country with a van. He has been lived in his barn since. Kellner shared the history of the decades of his catering project With the local WGN outing Earlier this week.
And unlike many relics on the roadside of the First World War, it does not only collect dust. Kellner has spent countless hours working to restore the plane to its old glory, perform your own repairs, add finishing keys and follow a range of rare and difficult to find parts. The word of its efforts has spread, attracting other aviation enthusiasts who have made time over the years to help catering. Kellner documents the entire process on a Facebook pagewhich includes thousands of update messages dating from 2010. He does not want the project to be something pretty to watch – he wants him to fly.
“It's a piece of history, and I would like to drive it,” Kellner told WGN. Popular science contacted Kellner for more details but has not heard.
Rebuild a “flying fortress”
The B-17 was the the most emblematic bomber used by the American army During the Second World War. Its origin traces in decade earlier at 1934, when the Army Air Corps approached Boeing with a design request and developing a massive plane capable of transporting bombs to 10,000 feet and for more than 10 hours. The soldiers wanted a new breed of bomber which would be able to travel beyond enemy lines at great distances and drop the bombs with precision. It had to be able to reach altitudes high enough to fly outside the enemy anti -aircraft artillery range. The possible B-17 included an ultra Norden BOMBSIGHT To maintain precision even at extreme altitudes.
The first versions of the B -17 fell into production in 1937, but the manufacture was considerably accelerated after the United States officially entered the Second World War in 1941. The bomber who finally piloted the missions behind the enemy lines presented four engines – a major upgrade of the then, the upper rusing – and was equipped with a booty of the nose, including those of the nose, including those of the nose, and tail. This abundance of ammunition, combined with the size of the gigantic aircraft, earned it the nickname “Flying Fortress”.
The B-17 currently resurrected in the Kellner barn would have two names. One, “Desert Rat”, is painted in daring yellow letters outside the plane. The other, “Tangerine”, was discovered later, scribbled somewhere inside the fuselage. It is not clear how much Kellner will need to make his dream of pilot the desert rat a reality. The task seems to be an intimidating for someone who works part -time on a stop budget, but there again, little would probably have predicted that he would have succeeded until starting. You can follow all Kellner's progress by Following his official Facebook page here.
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