Aero Vintage Books

I visited an antique shop at the site of the old Asotin County Airport at Clarkston, Washington, yesterday. They had this photo of B-17F 42-6107 framed on a wall, and they were gracious enough to let me copy it. It's a view I have not seen before...most likely close to its arrival for educational purposes from the RFC circa November 1945. This airplane was rescued as a derelict by Bob Sturges in 1953, rebuilt, became N1340N, used as an air tanker, converted to turboprop engines, and crashing, while fighting a fire, in August 1970 with the loss of both crew.

I believe it is actually called " The Hangar Mall " Clarkston (AKA The Hangar Antique Emporium)

Note the different stencil styles on either side of the nose. Wonder when it got the cowboy nose art?

Did some digging through the Newspapers site and got a few hits:

The Spokane Chronicle, February 17, 1954


The Spokane Spokesman-Review, February 19, 1954



(both) The Spokane Spokesman-Review, February 20, 1954

A new detail: All the early references to '6107's arrival (which was in January 1947, a bit later than most) show it as being intended for use by the Lewiston, ID school system rather than Washington State University:

The Spokane Chronicle, January 11, 1947 (Zimmerly Airport and the Asotin County Airport are the same place)


The Idaho Falls Post-Register, January 14, 1947

So, a few more details to add to the story of 42-6107. While searching I also turned up the story of the sad fate of SSgt. James Farrar and B-17G 44-85692, but that's for another thread.

Great stuff. Thanks for digging this out. Much good details here.

What is interesting to me is that the B-17 was transferred from the RFC to the Washington State Department of Public Instruction at Clarkston, but the article speaks of an Idaho school. Could have been to facilitate but Sturges got it from the Washington entity.