CAPE MAY, NJ USA — Like a champion prizefighter, Yankee Lady, the meticulously restored Boeing B-17, spends the offseason strengthening and conditioning. The B-17 will be visiting Naval Air Station (NAS) Wildwood Aviation Museum at the Cape May, NJ airport June 10, 11 and 12, 2013. She has been nestled in her hangar since late October receiving attention from her handlers under the watchful eyes of Yankee Air Museum’s B-17 Crew Chief Norm Ellickson and Chief Mechanic, Paul Hakala. Together with teams of volunteer craftsmen and master mechanics they spend countless hours through these winter months to keep this Flying Fortress in top-flight shape.
Virtually every inch of the World War II four-engine heavy bomber is inspected and touched in preparation for the flying season beginning in April. There is a specific schedule for routine maintenance and overhauls, but this ground crew pours over the finest details to keep Yankee Lady in the award winning condition her fans have come to expect.
“Since the Yankee Air Force completed the nine year restoration of this B-17 in 1995, we’ve clocked about 2500 hours of flight time at an average speed of 150 mph,” said Ellickson. “That’s about 375,000 miles, or nearly 15 times around the world, without any serious problems.”
Ellickson explained that every autumn, after completing an FAA certified inspection and comprehensive maintenance list of more than 500 items, Yankee Lady is typically stored for the winter. This year, for the first time ever, the Yankee Air Museum has a full time mechanic and the plane is in the heated Hangar 1 at Willow Run.
“This is huge,” exclaimed Ellickson. “A heated hangar and full-time mechanic means we can get at some projects we couldn’t ordinarily do in winter. For example, we’ve been able to repaint the vertical stabilizer and wing tips, we’re overhauling the main landing gear, replacing all brakes and much more.”