Souvenir hunters removed almost all of the interior components. Eventually, no instruments were left in the cockpit, and virtually every removable piece of the B-17's interior had been scavenged, often severing the wiring and control cables in the process.
Boeing B-17F
Memphis Belle
The Belle was flown to Memphis in July 1946 and stored until mid-1949. Then she was placed on display at a National Guard armory near the city's fairgrounds. She sat out-of-doors into the 1980s, slowly deteriorating from weather and vandalism.