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AERO VINTAGE BOOKS

2018 B-17 NEWS

2018 B-17 News
2017 B-17 News
2016 B-17 News
2015 B-17 News
2014 B-17 News
2013 B-17 News
2012 B-17 News
2011 B-17 News
2010 B-17 News
2009 B-17 News
2008 B-17 News
2007 B-17 News
2006 B-17 News
2005 B-17 News
2004 B-17 News
2003 B-17 News
2002 B-17 News
1997-2001 B-17 News

We're including this page as an update point for B-17 news. We'll post information garnered from any variety of sources, and notate that source at the end of the item. If anyone has anything they'd like to add, please let us know.

B-17 Tour Information

• The Collings Foundation B-17G Nine-O-Nine, 44-83575 (N93012), is touring. For the most current information, jump to here for schedule information.

• The Liberty Foundation is touring using B-17G Madras Maiden. For the most current information, jump to here for schedule information.

• The Commemorative (ex-Confederate) Air Force's B-17G Texas Raiders, 44-83872 (N7227C), has schedule dates posted. Jump to here for show dates and ride information.

• The CAF's other B-17G, Sentimental Journey, 44-83514 (N9323Z), has no tour dates currently scheduled but offers rides on a pre-arranged basis from its Mesa, Arizona, base. The Airbase Arizona's page can be found here for the only Wing information posted for Sentimental Journey.

• The Experimental Aircraft Association's B-17G Aluminum Overcast, 44-85740 (N5017N), has a few 2018 dates posted. Check for the most current information here.

• The Yankee Air Force out of Willow Run, Michigan, operates the magnificent B-17G, 44-85829 (N3193G), Yankee Lady. Jump to here for their most current information.

• The Lone Star Flight Museum offers ride in its B-17G Thunderbird. For the most current information, jump to here.

May 2018

• Way Behind: Sorry to say that I have continued to neglect my webmaster duties. Unfortunately, too much stuff to do and too little time to do it and the website is pretty much at the bottom of the list. However, in the interest of hitting a couple of important items, here we go with something, anything, to spark some interest....

• B-17F Dedication at NMUSAF on May 17: This is not news to anyone following the restoration progress of B-17F 41-24485, better known as the Memphis Belle, but the airplane is being unveiled at a ceremony to be held at the NMUSAF at Wright-Patterson AFB on Thursday, May 17. This is a big deal for B-17 guys because this is probably the most famous surviving B-17 and it is a veteran of the air war over 1943 Europe. And, as an aside, this particularly B-17F has had a somewhat torturous existence since the end of World War II. It has finally been statically restored (maybe not completely yet) and will go on display in a protected environment in a place of honor at the world-renowned air museum.

  

  The museum is planning a three-day celebration that will include, at this writing, three flying B-17s: 44-85740 (N3701G), 44-83546 (N3703G), and 44-85729 (N3193G), plus a number of fighters and trainers to fly from the old Wright Field runway near the museum. Other events are planned for the three day celebration. The Memphis Belle display will include a larger collection of other World War II artifacts in an expanded display setting.

  

  Meanwhile, the B-17G that had been on display at the museum, 42-32076, better known as Shoo Shoo Baby, has been placed in indefinite storage awaiting movement to the National Air and Space Museum.

  More information from the NMUSAF website about the events on May 17-19 can be found right here.

• A B-17 Reborn: Opening the file drawer labeled "Make a Difference," we come to the long-neglected B-17G parked along Highway 99 near Tulare, California. Many people have driven by at 70 mph, myself included, who mentally or otherwise thought about what a shame it was to see a B-17 go that way. Hit by trucks, nested by birds and suffering near abandonment with rare spurts of tender loving care by the local AMVETS chapter, B-17G 44-85738 is well known for its situation.

  Enter Greg Stathatos, he of B-17 Archeology, who saw a neglected airplane and decided to do something about it. Long story short, he and a small group of volunteers have spent many hours over the past two months to bring the exterior of the B-17 back to a stunningly beautiful condition. The exterior was power-washed, the old markings stripped off, and then a crew go to work and polished the skin. It is surprising that the aluminum skin evidently corroded badly by the Central Valley smog could come back to such a high polish, but it has.

  

  

  New markings will be applied, though I can't say for sure what markings they will be. The airplane's most distinctive past was when it participated in Operation Crossroads in the summer of 1946, so there has been some talk about applying those markings. But, the airplane came to Tulare in 1958 due to the efforts of USAF Gen. Maurice Preston, who had a wartime history with the type. It has carried the name Preston's Pride for many years, so it may go back with that name. Hopefully, the markings will be applied correctly; the last effort in the airplane's past left a bit to be desired.

  

  There is going to be a dedication of the polished airplane on site on Saturday, May 12, right there in Tulare alongside Highway 99. It will be an all day event so if you are in the area it might be worth your time to see the old girl in her new colors. If I did not have a prior engagement I'd be there.

  I'll note here that Greg Strathatos and B-17 Archaeology first turned its attention to the March Field B-17G, 44-6393 in 2017 before turning northwards to the Tulare airplane. One has to hand it to the volunteer group for taking the initiative in doing something to help preserve B-17s, especially some of the somewhat forlorn static ones out there. Kudos and double kudos to the effort.

• And Yet Another War Memorial B-17 Surfaces: Nick Veronico comes through again as he found an article in the L.A. Times from March 1946 that details the assignment of a surplus B-17 to the Orange County Council of the Boy Scouts of America for use by Air Scouts at Huntington Beach, California.

  

  As can be seen, the article states that the B-17 was, at the time of the writing, located at Boeing Field in Seattle but it was to be flown to Huntington Beach in the near future. Interesting stuff as this airplane has not, to my knowledge, surfaced before. There was no notable airport in Huntington Beach that might have handled a B-17 in 1946 so it is not known where, or even if, this airplane was ever delivered to the Boy Scouts. This is a good little research project as some digging in local records might turn up more information. Thanks to Nick for another great find.

January 2018

• Another War Memorial B-17 Surfaces : Nick Veronico was doing some newspaper searching for some B-24 stuff and instead came up with an unknown-to-me B-17 being used as a war memorial at Cumberland, Maryland, a town located about halfway between Baltimore and Pittsburgh. The article Nick came up with comes from the Cumberland Evening Times and is dated Monday, April 15, 1946. It relates a community open house showing the airplane with over 1,200 people signing the register after viewing the airplane.

  There is a fuzzy photo that goes with the article but little is revealed by it. The airplane is unmarked, appears to be natural metal finish. It is most likely a B-17G...hard to say as no turrets appear to be installed but it does have a right side cheek window installed in the middle nose window position.

  

  I would suspect another of the stateside B-17G trainers. The article states that a formal dedication of the airplane would occur when "the big ship is moved to a permanent location."

  However, it suffered the fate of other such war memorials: it never found a permanent home, went downhill over the next few years to derelict status, and was eventually scrapped.

  Yes, there is an article dated May 7 1948, in the same newspaper. It notes that during the scrapping of the war memorial B-17, an acetylene torch ignited one of the wing fuel tanks of the partially scrapped airplane, starting a small fire that was quickly extinguished by the local fire department. Thus, it was a short-lived memorial. It does remains unidentified. Perhaps some diligent detective work will add information. Best chance would be a photo taken by a local at the airport in the 1946-1948 period. Any takers?

  These previously unknown RFC war memorial B-17s continue to surface. And, if anyone is worried, I have indeed added it already to the growing listing of RFC B-17s found right here. Thanks to Nick for his diligent research.

• March Field B-17G: Douglas Birkey sent in some recent photos of the refinished March Field B-17G, 44-6393. This airplane was adopted by the group known as B-17 Archeology and it was stripped and repainted over several months earlier in 2017. It is now marked as it was in the middle of 1945 when it returned from duty as the personal transport of Gen. Ira Eaker, then commander of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces. When assigned to Eaker, it carried the name Starduster.

  

  

  Due to environmental restrictions, the paint was applied with paint rollers and the individual markings applied based on available historic photos.

• A B-17F Trainer: Tony DiGirolamo sent in a few photos of B-17F 42-5165 that he found in his late father's effects. It is not known where or when or by whom the photos were taken, but it would appear it was possibly during an war bonds tour or at some public event.

  

  

  According to Osborne (that would be David Osborne's part of Freeman and Osborne's The B-17 Flying Fortress Story), 42-5165 was delivered in October 1942, was used as a trainer, and was last based at La Junta, Colorado, where it suffered a incident or accident worthy of a write-off in January 1944.

• Yep, Books are Selling: A reminder to those reading these pages that, yes, the fifth edition of Final Cut is available and actually selling quite well, thank you very much.

  

  It is the fourth update of a book originally published in 1990. Good stuff: get one before your neighbor does.

2018 B-17 News
2017 B-17 News
2016 B-17 News
2015 B-17 News
2014 B-17 News
2013 B-17 News
2012 B-17 News
2011 B-17 News
2010 B-17 News
2009 B-17 News
2008 B-17 News
2007 B-17 News
2006 B-17 News
2005 B-17 News
2004 B-17 News
2003 B-17 News
2002 B-17 News
1997-2001 B-17 News

Updated: