Author Topic: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICS  (Read 1214 times)

Offline TwinEng

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The B-17 "Texas Raider"  has been fully restored to flight capability after 250,000 man hours of labor at a cost of $600,000 ( not including the volunteer labor ).

Here is a photo taken of the plane during the restoration process:




And here is a photo of it now back in flight:




Checkout the complete news story from yesterday's news about the old warbird's restoration here:

http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2010/03/24/conroe_courier/news/b-17032510a.txt


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Offline 007Rusty

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Re: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICS
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2010, 03:24:27 PM »
sweet  :aok
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Offline Wolfala

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Re: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICS
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2010, 03:44:54 PM »
Only 600,000? He'll I've seen Fighter restorations that cost more. Hell Bodhi bills out a sixth of that for an engine


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Offline xNOVAx

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Re: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICS
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2010, 04:50:03 PM »
Only 600,000? He'll I've seen Fighter restorations that cost more. Hell Bodhi bills out a sixth of that for an engine

Must have been pretty well intact when the restoration started?


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Offline curry1

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Re: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICS
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2010, 06:48:47 PM »
Only 600,000? He'll I've seen Fighter restorations that cost more. Hell Bodhi bills out a sixth of that for an engine
was thinking the same thing
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Offline debuman

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Re: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICS
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2010, 11:39:46 PM »
TwinEng - are you a CAF member?  Did you actually get to work on the restoration?  That would be so cool to be a part of something like that.

Offline Slash27

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Re: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICS
« Reply #6 on: March 26, 2010, 12:22:34 AM »
Must have been pretty well intact when the restoration started?

She was airworthy not that long ago.

Offline bcadoo

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Re: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICS
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2010, 12:26:54 AM »
250,000 man hours seems excessive.  (Thats 125 guys working 8 hours a day for a year)
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Offline TwinEng

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Re: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICS
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2010, 11:27:40 AM »
This was just a news story that I happened upon earlier this week.

I have to admit that these figures in this news article do sound suspect.   The man hours seems real high, and the cost is not that great.  Perhaps the reporter made a typo on the hours. 

If the plane was in pretty good shape before the restoration began, then the cost is understandable.

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Offline firbal

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Re: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICS
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2010, 11:36:06 AM »
Where is Tomball? Near Houston? If so, we'll take a trip to she her. I think she was at the Wings Over Houston last year. I remember the name.
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Offline TwinEng

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Re: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICS
« Reply #10 on: March 26, 2010, 11:45:35 AM »
Where is Tomball? Near Houston? If so, we'll take a trip to she her. I think she was at the Wings Over Houston last year. I remember the name.

Yes, Tomball is just northwest of Houston.

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Offline Bodhi

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Re: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICS
« Reply #11 on: March 26, 2010, 12:10:27 PM »
250,000 man hours seems excessive.  (Thats 125 guys working 8 hours a day for a year)

Seems very excessive.  We put 30k hours into some badly messed up wrecks.  Never heard of 250k in hours.  Plus, not counting volunteer hours, that's about $2.50 an hour.
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Offline Grayeagle

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Re: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICS
« Reply #12 on: March 29, 2010, 10:17:52 PM »
The actual numbers probably did not seem newsworthy enough .. LOL.
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Offline Guppy35

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Re: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICS
« Reply #13 on: March 30, 2010, 02:32:45 PM »
Texas Raiders had been grounded for repairs and due to an FAA concern with corrosion in B17 main spars if memory serves.  All the flyable 17s had to have the inspection and repair if needed.  It had flown for many years previously and is just getting back in the air.  It wasn't a ground up restoration this time, just a time where they grounded her to make sure they got her in good shape to continue flying for years to come. 
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Offline ACE

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Re: B-17 Fully Restored After 250,000 man hours and $600,000 - PICSl
« Reply #14 on: March 30, 2010, 02:36:38 PM »
glad to see it flying



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