Hangar Thirteen Foundation

08/26/2026

Hope everyone enjoyed the video!

We have to make some more now. No pressure...

But in the meantime, I wanted to share a few minor updates.

First and foremost, I wanted to express thanks to our supporters, as our recent call for the last needed Cramer chair steel backrest was answered. It is on the way now!

In the same spirit, we thought we might put out another call -

With the power assembly complete, I am now restoring the ball turret's Azimuth Bell Gear. This piece served as a go-between for the Azimuth Power Drive, Azimuth Support Gear, Azimuth Hand Crank, and Azimuth Position Drive. The latter is where we have an issue.

You see, our Azimuth Bell Gear has two drive connectors: one for the gunsight and one the position indicator dial. The problem is that the Type A-2 Ball did not use this dial. As such, it should only have one drive connector. Because of the way this piece is designed though, you cannot simply remove one of the connectors and it match - they were just too different.

Asking around the turret community, it appears that this is a common problem. Now, I should note that this is not earth-shattering - everything else is identical - this is just a matter of trying to be as accurate as possible.

You never know what may be out there. So, I thought we'd ask -

Does anyone have, maybe as a piece of wreckage, a single drive Azimuth Bell Gear? It need not be the whole gear, it could simply be the teardrop piece which holds the drive connectors.

While the Azimuth Position Indicator is a neat looking piece, it really doesn't apply to our 1943 turret.

In other news, the hardware is completed for the ball turret's switch box. And I am happy to report that we were able to find the correct master fuse for the turret. So, it is ready for wiring.

Going back to the Cramer posture chairs, the stencils are now on the backrests. These were standard on B-17 posture chairs, and while the wording stayed the same, the layout of the letters varied considerably. To be safe, we copied ours directly off the blueprints.

Ray has been working on the turtle deck above the bomb bay lately, having to pause work on the aft fuselage while waiting for a part to come in. Will post airframe progress pics when the opportunity arises.

Keep the show on the road!

08/22/2026

As promised, our first longform YouTube video is now live!

Check out our video on the restoration of Lucky Thirteen's Type A-2 Ball Turret motor assembly.

The power assembly for Lucky Thirteen's Type A-2 Ball Turret is now...

08/17/2026

83 years ago today, "Lucky Thirteen" flew her third combat mission: Schweinfurt.

The 17 August 1943 dual strike on Schweinfurt and Regensburg remains a landmark in military history. 60 bombers were lost out of a force of 376. USAAF planners based their replacement rate on 4% per sortie losses; this day saw the 8AF lose 17%.

But it was a turning point. The period between 14 June 1943 and 14 April 1944 saw the US Strategic Air Forces in Europe conduct a sustained counter-air campaign against the Luftwaffe. Air supremacy had to be achieved before the D-Day landings. With our without adequate es**rt, it had to be done. And when it was all over, they had achieved their goal. This campaign remains the bloodiest period in aviation history.

Today there are no surviving bombers from the US counter-air campaign. "Homesick Angel" at Offutt AFB is the only one of similar age, but the USAF will not part with her - believe me, we tried. But that is okay. "Lucky Thirteen" is being rebuilt using original wreckage, as well as wreckage from more than a dozen other Forts. She may not be a veteran in the traditional sense, but when completed, she will be the most accurate B-17 seen since the war.

It is our goal to honor the sacrifices made over places like Stuttgart, Regensburg, Munster, Berlin, and yes, Schweinfurt.

Check out our old write-up on the events of that day here:

https://hangarthirteen.org/17-august-1943/

And please consider supporting our work.

Keep the show on the road.

77 years ago today, Lucky Thirteen flew her third combat mission. This is going to be a long one… 17 August 1943 VIII BC No. 84 Ramrod 206 384BG No. 17 The US 8AF launches 376 Boeing B-17s, es**rted by 240 Republic P-47s with 75 gal droptanks, against Regensburg and Schweinfurt, Germany. Additiona...

08/12/2026

We have some big news for today -

Hangar Thirteen has started a YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/

To begin, we have posted a short video of the newly-completed and fully-operational motor assembly for the Type A-2 Ball Turret.

This is new ground for us, so we are feeling things out. The plan is to begin with two videos on the ball turret motor: one short, that simply shows everything in action, and one long, that explains what all the pieces are and how they work.

The idea is to see what kind of content everyone likes best.

The short video is now up and we plan on having the longform ball turret video up in the next few days. (Got a new microphone and am practicing my best speaking voice.) We hope everyone who supports our work will Like and Subscribe to the new YouTube channel.

And we sincerely hope that our works makes you proud - as we could not do it without you.

Keep the show on the road!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/10KtaWhbLew

Welcome to our new YouTube channel. To get things started, we are...

08/07/2026

How about another unusual need -

Does anyone have soft (O) aluminum in .090?

2024 or 7075 would be preferable.

Size needed is small, 24” square would do it.

This would be used for the bands which mount the oxygen tank to the ball turret. We have one original strap that we are using as a pattern.

08/02/2026

This movie had a huge impact on me growing up. In fact, it premiered on my birthday, 12 October.

Kudos to the folks behind that film, for introducing me to vintage aviation and military history. It’s been a wild ride.

07/30/2026

A quick update –

One of the current projects underway for Boeing B-17F “Lucky Thirteen” are the aircraft’s posture chairs. These were made by Cramer of St. Louis, who are still in business today. The number of these chairs installed depended on variant, with late-Fs like “Lucky Thirteen” having three: one each for the bombardier, navigator, and radio operator.

Most surviving aircraft Cramers are from Boeing B-29s. The big differences being the number of chair legs (four vs. three), the color of the seat frame (green vs. black), the height adjustment mechanism (bolt-in insert vs. welded-in), and the upholstery material (green vinyl vs. olive canvas). So, as with everything, we are putting in the extra work to get it right.

Recently we were able to get a late-F bombardier seat from our friends at B-17E “Desert Rat.” The late-F’s bombardier seat was unique. Up through the early-Fs, the bombardier had a large bucket seat, not unlike the pilots, with an armor plate on the back. And in the Gs, the Cramer was redesigned to sit close to the floor, giving extra headroom for the chin turret’s gunsight. The bombardier seat on the late-F had a hinged back, allowing for the bombardier to waddle on and off his seat as necessary.

The seat from the Rat had some unusual modifications which Ray was able to remove and restore back to wartime standard. He did a phenomenal job. I recreated the Cramer chair labels and cut the stencils which will go on the backrest arms. And Bob Jacoby has been working on the chair legs for the navigator and radio operator positions (they were identical) as well as the height adjustment mechanism. He's due for a surgery tomorrow so he'll be off recovering for a while - everyone say a prayer for a Bob!

We do have one request – hopefully someone can help with this:

It is our belief that the older Cramer chairs had steel backrests rather than pressed aluminum ones. So far, we have two for “Lucky Thirteen,” so we need one more.

I know there are a plethora of Cramer posture chairs out there. So, if anyone has a steel type backrest, please let us know! If necessary, we can trade a pressed aluminum backrest for a steel one.

Keep the show on the road!

07/24/2026

Some awesome pics from Ray showing his work on the turtle deck of "Lucky Thirteen."

The 'turtle deck' was the raised portion of the B-17 that comprised the cockpit windscreen back to the roof of the radio compartment.

The area being worked on here is the section above the bomb bay, which held the aircraft's life rafts. Our turtle deck is original and was, for a time, on loan to another project to serve as a pattern.

Now that it is back home, it is being restored while we await a few small pieces needed to wrap up the ongoing rear fuselage.

Photos taken 15 July 2026.

07/24/2026