Champaign Aviation Museum

The Champaign Aviation Museum is a small museum located in Urbana, Ohio, some distance off the freeway between Columbus and Dayton. I visited because I'd read about the B-17 that they were restoring, the Champaign Lady.

Upon arriving at the museum, I found that this "restoration" looked a lot like scratch-building a B-17 using a few parts from various vintage B-17s, including parts recovered from at least one crash site. There was a good-sized crew working on the bomber, a mixture of retirees and younger metalworkers, working on the various parts of the B-17.

When I visited in 2014, the fuselage was separated (or perhaps was "yet to be joined") into a front section from approximately the radio compartment forward and an aft section, from the waist gunner positions aft. While structural and exterior work was still going on, various interior equipment (such as ammo boxes and the Norden bombsight) had already been installed. Other aircraft assemblies, such as the ball turret, tail gunner's position, and engine nacelles were located (in various stages of completion) around the hangar.

It was quite the sight!

The museum also has a B-25 and a C-47, the latter in civilian livery.