B-17G 44-85734 Liberty Belle

Just a few sample pics of the B-17G 44-85734 Liberty Belle from my personal archives documenting the B-17s I have had the good fortune to see in person.


B-17G 44-85734 Liberty Belle

My son actually took a few of these shots while I was using the camcorder

Boeing Field in Seattle 2011


Gathering of Fortresses: Willow Run, Detroit 2010


Boeing Field Seattle 2009


Liberty Belle’s engine nacelles

These were under restoration at the Champaign Air Museum’s hangar, where the B-17 Champaign Lady is being built.

Champaign Air Museum / Grimes Field (Urbana) 2018


B-17G 44-85734 Liberty Belle being rebuilt

During a fantastic 2004 road trip through Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas, I had a chance to see where Liberty Belle is being rebuilt. Don Brooks met me at the airfield and gave me a personal tour of their fantastic little museum dedicated to the 63rd Army Air Forces Contract Pilot School that was established there just two months before the Pearl Harbor attack. In the hangar where work is being done, the Liberty Belle dominated the available space, understandably, there were also parts and materiel dedicated to the postponed rebuilding of 44-83790 Dyke Lake project.

Douglas, Georgia 2024