African Queen to go on Display at the National Museum of the US Airforce

[mkoloc]

Confirmed today, we are heading to the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton OH in October.  The Queen will be on display in the WWII Area alongside some famous aircraft like the Memphis Bell, Bocks Car etc. for a 6 month period.

Display starting at the end of OCT, (Which will give enough me to get her drivetrain together ) and running into the April timeframe.  The museum team will be visiting here on the 8th of October to view the Queen in all of her glory and to make any final adjustments to what we will be bringing for the display.  We are including the M-10 Ammo Trailer as part of the display along with extra Tombstone ammo cans. 

The display should include mannequin's dressed in period uniforms loading ammo cans off the back of the trailer, one along side the track with binos scanning the skies and a forth mannequin loading the weapons on the turret.

This is an incredible opportunity for our nonprofit, as the museum has hundreds of thousands of visitors annually which should provide us excellent visibility regards our mission, fund raising etc..

In addition we have an hour video produced in support of halftrack history, manufacturing and combat footage in the ETO with sound added by one of Sony Pictures best technicians.  This is a project i was involved with when I was recovering in the Wounded Warrior Unit at Ft Benning GA.   Never thought it might be viewed in the theater!

I will continue to provide updates and pics as we progress with this project.

Mark

[8683jb]

Holy cow Mark! That is awesome!!

[Smadge]

What a story too, bringing it back from Africa and all.  Well done!

[Tapper02]

Definitely a unique opportunity, and a great vehicle for them to use.  Hope they include the story behind her discovery and recovery as part of the display.  Way to go Mark!

-Tom

[spec4don]

Just Awesome!

Don G.

[RB-058]

That is great Mark! Please update with pictures once it's on display!

Rob

[mkoloc]

Air Force Museum team visited yesterday to do an onsight inspection of the Queen and M10 Trailer before shipping to museum at the end of the month.
They asked great questions, had a list of safety requirements and even brought a radiation detector to check things out.  My compass really lit up as did several items on my radios because of the iridium used back in the day.  Biggest issue there was any leaking from the liquid compass.  Can you say swab test ?

Will have to drain the fuel tanks and pull the batteries off track and turret once on display.  We will be there for a minimum of 6 months.  Sounding like it will be displayed along side  a C47 .. Will check out the potential site soon and post pics.

[brit plumber]

Sounds good, can’t wait to see photos.

[mkoloc]

Ran into a slight issue regards transportation set up with the AF, but that has been resolved.  However its pushed us to the right a bit regards pickup and movement to the museum, that exact date is still in flux.  Probably the1st week of Nov. 

In the meantime every day is being spent on doing little things that have been put off.  Grenades, new compas mount, Tombstones being labled (PIA Job), repainting spare barrels, through cleaning, fabricating spare light mount that sits in front of the carbines,  draining all of my fuel tanks but leaving just enough to get her around in the musem doing the work nesessary to get my IMA Replica weapons to fit into their holders like the originals, wiring up my center ring now that the conduit has been run etc. etc. etc..

Sharing some pics of my progress.

[brit plumber]

I’m afraid I’m going to have to steal your photos for my reference file. I love to see the guns in place and the other close ups. One day hopefully mine will look as complete.

[mkoloc]

BP ..please help yourself to any pics.

Word today from AF is that we load and ship the Queen on 17 Nov 2020.  I'll drive up early the 18 unload her and drive her into place in the museum,  drain the last bit of fuel, pull the battery, and then setup the display.  I'll take lots of pics and post.

[8683jb]

Sounds great Mark. Looking forward to it!

[coreyelliott]

Please do take plenty of pictures!  I can't wait to see this.

Corey

[Tapper02]

Pretty exciting stuff Mark!  Can’t wait to (virtually) see the display!

-Tom

[yd328]

That will make a great display, can't wait to see some pictures.

Gary