COBI Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress Memphis Belle - Executive Edition Set 5749

COBI's B-17F Flying Fortress Memphis Belle Executive Edition is built from 1,376 blocks, 49.5 cm long with a 66 cm wingspan. The propellers and ailerons move, the landing gear folds, the bomb bay doors open, and two pilot figures with detailed prints are included. A brick display stand with a black nameplate completes the set. No stickers.

Twenty-five missions

An American bomber crew in 1942 and early 1943 had to complete 25 missions over Europe before being rotated home. The number sounds modest until you look at the loss rate: in that period roughly one bomber in twenty did not come back from a given raid, and the arithmetic of repeating that twenty-five times meant most crews statistically would not finish.

The Memphis Belle finished. She flew her 25th on 17 May 1943 and her crew went home — among the first to complete a tour intact.

The Army Air Forces knew exactly what it had. The aircraft and crew were sent on a bond-selling tour of thirty-one American cities, and William Wyler, a Hollywood director serving in uniform, made a colour documentary about the final missions. Two of his cameramen were killed filming other aircraft. The film was shown to the American public in 1944 and made the Belle the most famous bomber of the war.

She was restored over two decades and has been on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton since 2018.

In the COBI range

Set 5750 is the later B-17G Mary Alice, with the chin turret the F did not have.

Specifications

Pieces: 1,376 · Figures: 2 pilots · No stickers · Display stand and nameplate included
Model dimensions: 49.5 × 66 × 13 cm (19.5 × 26.0 × 5.1 in)