Spraying underway on the nose section of the IWM’s Boeing B-17G, 44-83735/F-BDRS, at Duxford on January 11.THE FUSELAGE OF the Imperial War Museum’s Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, 44-83735, was being given its first coat of olive drab paint in the spray booth in Duxford’s restoration hangar on January 11.

The repainting will be completed in three sections, the forward fuselage, the centre fuselage section and the rear section, with neutral grey being applied to the lower surfaces.

The work was expected to take two weeks. Since the B-17 was moved out of the American Air Museum (AAM) at Duxford in May 2011, four full-time conservation staff and 50-60 volunteers have been working on the restoration project, which has entailed anti-corrosion work on the wing centre sections and flap shrouds, outer wings and fuselage.

Various other skin repairs were due to be completed by the end of January. The undercarriage has also been overhauled, and the wheels are now ready, new inner tubes and tyres having been sourced and fitted. Details of the final markings, which will replace the Mary Alice nose art of a 401st Bomb Group aircraft that the B-17 has worn since its first restoration in the late 1970s, have not yet been announced. The B-17 will be moved back into the AAM and reassembled in spring 2012, as part of the latest redevelopment of the museum.