There are currently a number of airworthy American heavy bombers operated by private individuals or organisations in the US. Mike Shreeve examines these surviving American 'heavies'.
Most of the surviving American heavy bombers owe their existence to use as firebombers or transports in the post-war, pre-warbird era, and so escaped the fate of many of their compatriots, which were melted down for aluminium ingots in the years following WWII. Today in the US, there are a number of airworthy ‘heavies’ being operated by private individuals or organisations.
In contrast to the UK, there are no government-funded bombers operated by military historic flights, but the greater freedom provided by FAA exemptions - in contrast to the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority regulations - allows operators to sell ‘flight experiences’ in the bombers, enabling members of the public to fly in them for a fee, and thus providing a funding opportunity for the operators. Several of the airworthy B-17 Flying Fortresses undertake annual tours, stopping off at cities en-route for two or three days to offer rides.
A dozen B-17s remain nominally airworthy in the US, although not all are necessarily active at any one time. The most recent restoration, Don Brooks’ Georgia-based ‘Liberty Belle’ 44-85734, was rebuilt by Tom Reilly’s team at Kissimmee, Florida from an airframe badly damaged in a tornado at the New England Air Museum in Connecticut in 1979. Operated by Pratt & Whitney as a turboprop engine test bed from 1947 to 1967, this particular B-17 was heavily modified with the nose section strengthened, the flight deck moved backwards by several feet, and a fifth engine fitted for testing. The work required to return the much-modified airframe back to stock configuration, along with repairs to the damage caused by the tornado (which included a broken fuselage) meant that this was a very extensive rebuild.
Flown after rebuild in 2004, it made the trip over to the UK in 2008 to appear at Duxford’s ‘Flying Legends’ airshow, and also flew over the former USAAF base at Framlingham (Parham) in Suffolk, where the original ‘Liberty Belle’ (on which Don Brooks’ father, Elton Brooks, had been tail gunner) was based in 1944. Interestingly, Don also has a second B-17, 44-83790, recovered from Dyke Lake in Labrador, pending restoration to fly by Tom Reilly.
Another active B-17, 44-83575, is operated by the Collings Foundation of Stowe, MA, as ‘Nine O Nine’, and painted in the markings of a B-17 based at Bassingbourn with the 91st Bombardment Group, which completed some 130 missions during 1944-45. This particular B-17 was operated as a firebomber until 1985, when it was sold to the Collings Foundation and rebuilt to WWII configuration, also by Tom Reilly.
The Midland, Texas-based Commemorative Air Force (CAF) operate two examples, ‘Sentimental Journey’, 44-83514 – another former tanker, operated by the CAF’s Arizona Wing, based at Mesa, and ‘Texas Raiders’ 44-83872, a former US Navy PB-1W Airborne Early Warning (AEW) conversion. The latter aircraft has been in the care of the CAF since 1967, and recently returned to the air after several years on the ground having an FAA-mandated main spar Airworthiness Directive (AD) carried out.
Evergreen’s example, 44-83785, is maintained in airworthy condition in their museum at McMinnville, Oregon, although it has not flown recently, and the same is true of the late Bob Pond’s ‘Miss Angela’, 44-85778, which has been grounded at the Palm Springs Air Museum since 2006. These two are still nominally airworthy. A similar situation applies to the former Bob Richardson B-17F ‘Boeing Bee’ 42-29782, which was flown across the Atlantic in 1989 to appear in the MGM movie ‘Memphis Belle’. It was passed to Seattle’s Museum of Flight on Richardson’s death soon afterwards, and although it has been restored to flying condition by Boeing, and is stored by them pending display at the museum, it has not flown now for more than a decade.
Two airworthy B-17s have changed hands in recent years.The former National Warplane Museum/Wings of Eagles example from New York State, ‘Fuddy Duddy’ 44-83563, is now with General Bill Lyon in his new museum at Orange County near Los Angeles, and the ex-Doc Hospers ‘Chuckie’, 44-8453, was recently acquired by Jerry Yagen’s Military Aviation Museum in Virginia, and flew there earlier this year.
Further airworthy examples are operated by the Willow Run, Michigan-based Yankee Air Museum (‘Yankee Lady’ 44-85289), and the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) (‘Aluminum Overcast’ 44-85740). The Lone Star Flight Museum’s B-17 ‘Thunderbird’ (44-85718) was operated as a survey aircraft by the French Institut Geographique National (IGN) for many years, and spent some time with Doug Arnold’s Warbirds of Great Britain collection as G-FORT before returning to the US via a sojourn at Duxford in summer 1987. The late David Tallichet’s ‘Memphis Belle’ (44-83546) is another ex-firebomber, and was also flown to the UK in 1989 for the MGM movie of the same name, and has remained airworthy since, in spite of the recent death of Tallichet.
So, as can be calculated from the above, the current tally is ten aircraft currently airworthy and actively flown in the US, with another 3 maintained in airworthy condition. In addition, a number are under restoration to fly, including ‘Piccadilly Lilly’ (a veteran of several movies and TV series in the 1960s) at the Air Museum Planes of Fame at Chino, California. Paul Allen’s Seattle-based Flying Heritage Collection has rare B-17E 41-9210, recovered from Bolivia by the Whittington brothers in 1990, but it is not believed to be under active restoration at present.
The legendary ‘Swamp Ghost’ (41-2446) was recently recovered to the US from a swamp in New Guinea, after much controversy. It is currently at Chino (with the forward fuselage on display) but no firm plans for its future have yet been announced. A B-17E later converted to XC-108A staff transport specification, 41-2595, is under slow-time restoration by Mike Kellner and his team in Illinois as ‘Desert Rat’, and 44-85813 ‘Champaign Lady’ is being rebuilt at Grimes Field in Urbana, Ohio.
The B-17’s less famous compatriot, the B-24 Liberator, fares less well, with only two examples currently airworthy. The CAF operate an early-model B-24A Liberator, now known as ‘Ol’ 927’ (after its original RAF serial number AM927), and previously known as ‘Diamond Lil’. This aircraft was modified for use as a C-87 transport aircraft during WWII, and was later used as a civilian executive transport in the US and Mexico post-war. This aircraft was recently the subject of a restoration back to bomber spec, led by the late Gary Austin.
The other airworthy Liberator is a later B-24J model, 44-44052, recovered from India by Doug Arnold in 1982, and sold to the Collings Foundation in 1986. They had it restored by Tom Reilly at Kissimmee, Florida, flying again in 1989. Since then, it has been touring the US along with the Collings B-17 ‘Nine O Nine’ mentioned above, although it is noticeable when visiting tour stops that the B-17 is more active, a sad reflection on how the much more well-known B-17 overshadows the legacy of the more numerous, and just as important, B-24.
The other extant airworthy WWII-era US heavy bomber type is the B-29 Superfortress. The sole airworthy example, ‘Fifi’, 44-62070, is operated by the CAF and recently returned to the air after several years grounded due to engine issues. Now being operated in conjunction with the Cavanaugh Flight Museum (who provided some of the funding for the engine work), ‘Fifi’ should be seen at events across the US during 2011. A further B-29, ‘Doc’, 44-69972, is the subject of a long-term rebuild to fly at Wichita, Kansas with Tony Mazzolini’s United States Aviation Museum. Both of these examples were recovered from the US Navy weapons range at China Lake, California.
In addition, a single US heavy bomber remains airworthy outside the US. This is B-17G 44-85784 (G-BEDF), another ex-IGN aircraft, operated by B-17 Preservation since 1975 from Duxford in the UK as ‘Sally B’. Against all the odds, this group of enthusiasts has managed to keep the aircraft in the air as a memorial to the US 8th Air Force for what is now its 37th season. A further ex-IGN aircraft, 44-8846 ‘Pink Lady’, was operated until recently in France as F-AZDX, but was recently grounded and installed in a purpose-built hangar at La Ferté Alais to the south of Paris.