I think I found a B-24

[T Bolt]

Wile killing time looking on Yahoo maps at various airports I was looking at the airport at Fort Collins CO and saw this and thought it sure looked lone a B-24 wing.
The first picture is of what I saw first. The gear bay was even in the right place and size.
The second picture is an angle shot from Google and it defiantly looks like a Liberator wing.
The third shot is from Bing from the opposite direction and the forth shot is a zoom of the third. It looks like both wings, the forward fuselage section, and maybe the rear fuselage section is there too.

Anyone know anything about this B-24?

 

[meatloaf109]

Sure looks like one!

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I live close to there and fly into FNL all the time. Chances are that wing is from a PB4Y.

 

[GrauGeist]

Dang, good eye there!

Be interesting to know what's going on, perhaps it's one of those projects that fell by the wayside and has become somewhat forgotten?

 

[Lucky13]

Dammit!! I thought that I'd hidden it well enough....cr*p!
Oh well...been caught now, haven't I and me new private 'jet'....

Nice find!

 

[T Bolt]

I've been looking at a lot of reference photos of B-24's lately for my group build entry and you just can't miss the shape of that Davis wing. There has to be a story behind it. I can't believe it's just laying there forgotten.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Actually I stand to be a bit corrected. Fort Collins Downtown isn't in operation anymore, but I have flown into it when it was still operating. There's Fort Collins/ Loveland a few miles away where I'm continually flying in and out of. I believe what you have is a PB4Y wing from an aircraft that was once flown by Aero Union and scrapped somewhere close by (I don't know if a PB4Y could land at the old downtown airport). From some folks I work with they believe that was a yard from an old salvage company.

 

[GrauGeist]

Well from the looks of it, Joe, there's quite a bit of the aircraft in that pile...do you suppose it might be for sale?

* Hey, just checked and found this:
LB-30
AL557 - in storage in Fort Collins, Colorado .[25]

According to wiki's list of surviving B-24 liberators

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Well from the looks of it, Joe, there's quite a bit of the aircraft in that pile...do you suppose it might be for sale?

* Hey, just checked and found this:
LB-30
AL557 - in storage in Fort Collins, Colorado .[25]

According to wiki's list of surviving B-24 liberators

I don't know how long ago those yahoo map images were taken. I drove past the old airport in March or April and there didn't see to be a lot of activity there. I believe the city wants to make it an industrial business park.

As far as the LB-30 storage? A possibility for sure but remember there were two airports at Fort Collins.

 

[Airframes]

Interesting find Glenn. Be good to know more about it.

 

[T Bolt]

Did a goggle search for Fort Collins LB-30 and came up with this site among others. Warbird Information Exchange • View topic - Status of the LB-30/B-24 in Ft. Collins???
Apparently it is an LB-30 recovered from a crash site in Alaska. The second picture looks like it was taken from the same place as the satellite pictures. Those satellite pictures were from 3 different sources, Yahoo, Google and Bing so I don't think it can be too old.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Ah, hell yeah T-Bolt! Good find you spy you!

 

[GrauGeist]

Will ya' look at all those bullet holes in the fuselage?

I have never understood why people have this overwhelming urge to shoot the hell out of objects in rural settings.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

WOW!

 

[GrauGeist]

Those satellite pictures were from 3 different sources, Yahoo, Google and Bing so I don't think it can be too old.

Next time you check the sat images, look at the lower portion of the image at that particular resolution, it shows a copyright/date notice. Different resolutions have different dates, like here in Redding, if I zoom in on our shop using Bing, they're images from 2010.

May help give an idea of how recent those pics are

 

[Airframes]

This is starting to ring bells. I recall seeming some pics, taken on the ground, showing the fuselage etc, dumped between two hangars, or other buildings, not that long ago (maybe a year or two). But I can't remember if it was here, on the forum, or in a magazine.
It looks to be in a fairly delicate condition, probably with a lot of corrosion, but not beyond a re-build to static display I would think.

 

[Gnomey]

Interesting find! Good eye to spot those from the images in the maps...

 

[T Bolt]

I had another look and the copyright date is 2013 wile the watermark on the pictures is 2012. Also found a good street level shot with a picture date of July 2012 so I'll bet she's still laying there. Some better pictures below along with the street shot.

 

[Crimea_River]

Good eye Glenn.

If I ever forget where I parked my car, I'll call you!

 

[GrauGeist]

Found a little more info on it:
Warbird Registry - Consolidated Liberator/Privateer Al 557

She was known as the "Maid of Athens" at one time