Memphis Belle taking shape again in restoration

U.S. Air Force photos

The Memphis Belle sits in the restoration hangar at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Crews from the museum have been restoring the World War II B-17 Flying Fortress, aiming to have the plane back on display by 2014.

U.S. Air Force photo

The Memphis Belle first took flight in the summer of 1942. After the war, it wound up in an Oklahoma junkyard before being rescued and brought to Memphis.

For nearly seven years, the Memphis Belle has been hidden in Ohio, sitting in pieces after being disassembled and carted from her longtime home on Mud Island.

But the Belle hasn't been forgotten, left to rot away in some dank hangar on the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

Instead, crews from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force have been lovingly restoring the World War II B-17 Flying Fortress with an eye to having her back on display by 2014.

"We're going to do whatever is required for the airplane," said Greg Hassler, restoration supervisor for the museum, which is in Dayton.

Built at a Boeing factory in Seattle at a cost of about $314,000, the Belle first took to the skies in the summer of 1942.

She was given her name by pilot Robert Morgan, who at that time was the boyfriend of Memphian Margaret Polk.

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Memphis Belle taking shape again in restoration