A Brief History of "Flak-Bait"

[@RoyalEnfields]

Excellent video. Very nice that a B-26 was preserved when so many of them were junked at the end of the war. Glad to see the Smithsonian featuring it.

[@logancody8841]

I had the honor of flying with Jim Farrel just before he retired from the corporate flying job we had. At his retirement party, he was surprised to find that a group of senior pilots at our company had worked with the F.A.A. to have an intersection on the VOR approach into HPN renamed for him. I believe it's the five DME fix to RWY 16, it's called JIMBO which was Jim's nickname. RIP Jim.

[@tomfarrell2614]

I have the plaque that was presented to my father by the FAA. This site won't allow me to post a picture. If you check your Jeppsen's for HPN you'll VOR DME-A, VOR 116.6, 9.0 DME is in fact named JIMBO.

[@logancody8841]

@@tomfarrell2614 Hi Tom, yes I was at your Dad's retirement party and read a poem I'd written for him. It was an honor and one of the highlights of my flying career.

[@tomfarrell2614]

@@logancody8841 Were you one of GE's pilots? I used to know all of them, then life got in the way.

[@logancody8841]

@@tomfarrell2614 Hi Tom, yes I was one of the pilots at GE, but your Dad retired about six months after I was hired. No, I don't think we were ever introduced. "Logan Cody" is really a combination of the names of my two Labrador Retrievers, my real name is Joe C. Sorry for the initials, but I don't trust these social media platforms. AT JIm's retirement party, Bruce A. was the master of ceremonies and Dick S. made the announcement about the naming of the "Jimbo" intersection. The poem I wrote was named "The Saga of Gentleman Jim."

[@tomfarrell2614]

I remember your poem but I don't remember you delivering it. Sorry....its been a few years.

[@jman890202]

Great video. I'd love to see one about the P-61.

[@marknelson5929]

Remarkable! Reminds me of a de Havilland Mosquito bomber which apparently has the highest number of missions for an allied aircraft at 213. She survived the war only to crash at Calgary in Canada in early 1945 during a Victory Loan Drive, taking the lives of its decorated crew. A great shame, she should have been preserved like Flak Bait.

[@NeonsStyleHD]

Finally something about the actual aircraft you exhibit!

[@ifmbm332b]

Please don't ever restore this. Seems obvious, but its amazing to me how many things like this are taken apart and completely redone just to make it pristine and new. So much of the vintage automobile scene has been taken over by people who completely redo everything to make it more valuable, and that history is wiped away forever. I ran into Jay Leno once and he said his favorite car in his collection is an unrestored Deusenberg. The car is completely original. The paint was made in the original formula the factory used and was applied by a real employee of the factory at that time, the tires were made with the original mold, the engine was built by people that were alive 80 years ago, and the leather for the seats came from a cow in Indiana in the 1920s, etc etc. Its only original once, and every scratch and mark tells a story just like this airplane. Once that originality is removed, it's gone forever.

[@tellmeitsnottaken]

They aren't restoring it.

[@sauercrowder]

They are restoring it, or they already did. You would probably be happy with what they're doing though, to some extent. The goal is preservation, the only things they are really "restoring" are parts that were damaged or changed after it became an exhibit (e.g. paint worn off in one area from visitors touching it). They are even removing a layer of paint that was added in the 1970s when it first went on display, because of exactly what you said - it was covering the original paint to make it look "new." Anyway, something like paint wear from touching is debatable but overall I doubt you'd be disappointed. There is a video up, "ask an expert live," where it's all explained.

[@rock3times]

I like the restoration to a flyable aircraft if possible.. what I prefer to keep it originals are its paint and flak holes.. it is unique pieces of history.

[@hman0007]

9 years later. What is going on with Flak-Bait? When can we see it on display?

[@JoseGonzalez-ew6zz]

They are still restoring it. I saw it two days ago

[@oceanic8424]

Remarkable.

[@julianbennett3772]

I was fortunate to know through a mate's marriage the late 'Rocky Eubank, who was one of her pilots. I asked him once about having a p** while on aission, he said they had a p** tube and saved it up until they were over German occupied territory...