Have You Heard the Story of Flak Bait?

[B-Man2]

While many of you are familiar with the nose art and painted A2 jacket “Flak Bait” do you know the history and the story of the aircraft that bore this name?

It’s an interesting story, so I thought that some of you who aren’t familiar with the history of this aircraft, might enjoy learning about it . Cheers

 

[flyincowboy]

some nice pics

 

[Micawber]

Yep

 

[ausreenactor]

Nup... but yep now.

 

[Dom]

Thanks for posting!

 

[Otter]

Didn't she have to be flown with something like 12 degrees of offset rudder as her fuselage had been so twisted ?

If left to the Smithsonian she will be stripped down to bare metal and repainted. Have they never heard of patina ?

 

[ES335]

Flak Bait may well have been built in Martin's massive Middle River, Maryland factory, a few minutes from my home in Baltimore. Some of the old assembly buildings still stand, but to the best of my knowledge are unused. The runway is still used by the Maryland Air National Guard flying A-10s. Gotta love that whistling miliary jet sound.

 

[Grant]

Couple years ago, I had the opportunity to get an up close and personal look at her as she was being preserved for eventual display. What a treat being able to look around and talk to the folks doing the work.

 

[Smithy]

That's awesome Grant, I'm pea green with envy!

 

[Grant]

Yeah, it was amazing to look at the insides and see things were left just as they were when the crew walked away from her last mission, cigarette butts and all.

 

[Smithy]

Yeah, it was amazing to look at the insides and see things were left just as they were when the crew walked away from her last mission, cigarette butts and all.

That's just awesome Grant, an absolute time capsule. I hope you took more photos than just the two above

 

[Grant]

I was such a dope and only took these. I was far too busy talking to the Smithsonian crew and listening to them tell stores of what they were finding. They showed me one recent discovery which was a line etched in the wood deck that led to what they thought was a German 7.92mm slug still embedded. Also, discarded cigarette packs and other debris left by her crew. Also, the many many hand cut patch repairs to the aluminum skin from flak.

 

[Goinghome82]

I can't wait to see her when she's fully assembled and on display. Always been a fan of the B-26 and its a shame more aren't around. Flak bait is a museum in itself!

 

[Grant]

Managed to get back to the Smithsonian. Flak Bait's two Pratt & Whitney R2800 engines and turret were on display. It's cool to see they're continuing preserving her as she was on her last mission. A true time capsule.

.

 

[Lorenzo_l]

A true time capsule. A while ago, I read an article in the "Air&Space Smithsonian" magazine about the restoration of Flak Bait. It said the restoration marked a paradigm shift in that, contrary to the old "replace and restore" approach to historical artifacts, a "stabilize and preserve" approach was used, whereby the idea was to stabilize the deterioration process that these objects go though with time and preserve them as close to their original condition, battle damage and all, as they were at the end of their service life.
In the case of Flak Bait, I understand that field patched-up bullet and flak holes are still present and have not been replaced, in keeping with this new preservation ethos.

The article in question, a very good read btw:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/hundreds-holes-iflak-baiti-180954662/

 

[Shanghai-Mayne]

Thank you Grant

 

[Grant]

And here's a completely different approach to restoring an aircraft. Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby looks like she had new fresh off the factory floor paint job. Shot from above it looks like King Kong's hobby bench.

 

[YoungMedic]

Here's the last I saw in May of 23, things are moving along.