This is heartbreaking

[Harlan (Deceased)]

She sat in a dank, dirty hangar about ten miles from me for the past twenty years Bob (Ft Worth)

The owner 'Doc' was bound to a wheel chair and it rarely flew due to maintenance needs late in his life.
The wing spar AD that all B-17's had to go through took forever to complete. (Huge job)

Doc wouldn't let anyone else fly as PIC and when it did fly he flew it right up until just before he passed away. (Wheel chair and all)
Doc bought the B-17 many years ago surplus and it was his to do what he wanted. 'Chuckie' is Doc's widow, which he named the plane after, and she sold it for an undisclosed sum as they had agreed to after he. 'Chuckie' Hosper is one of the nicest ladies I met in my years of being around warbirds and I'm happy everything worked out how they planned it.

A few years ago when they got her into the air again they attended an annual fly-in we had every year at LNC just south of Dallas. The last time I saw her fly.

It took me a minute to find these on my old hard drive -





The young lady 'bombardier' was all smiles as they prepared to taxi away for their short hop back to Meacham Field in Ft Worth


This was the last time I saw her fly as she passed over heading back to FTW


I'm happy Chuckie has found a new home with funding and dedicated crew to take care of her.
You better take good care of her Bob! I did my part for the past 15 years!

[Bob Womack]

Looks like Chuckie is a G that had surgery to make her look like an E. Wonder if she was used in the movie "Memphis Belle"? How will they find a chin turret. Wait... I think one just became available. They'll also need a ball turret and some other parts from the look of it. Rest assured - this bunch maintains their planes in museum condition - but flying. I bet they'll take her to a new level.

Bob

[Bill Hollinger]

And..... TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOS!!!

[xa-coupe]

How many airworthy B17s are there left? For all the thousands produced, I understand there is only one airworthy B29 ( FiFi ) left.

[jmoore]

If you need new parts I know a fellow making some. Even has a form for the nose "glass". Last time I saw him he was tooling up to make parts for the tail gunner's area.

[Harlan (Deceased)]

Yes, 'FIFI' is owned by the Commemorative Air Force (formerly known as Confederate Air Force) and it's the only airworthy B-29 in existence.

In the early years of the CAF they tried to find an example of one for years and the government reported that there were none remaining other than a few in museums. All of the others were thought to have been cut up and melted down years before. One day a member of the CAF was flying as a commercial airline pilot at high altitude and spotted what he thought was a lone B-29 in a remote desert area at China Lake. After investigation they found it really was an intact B-29 in a remote location and it was among other derelict aircraft that were being used as targets. The founding members of the CAF quickly contacted the government and struck a deal to save the aircraft and only had a small window to remove it from the area. They found that it was in pretty poor condition with missing gauges etc but they were able to patch it up enough to get it running and Lefty Gardner flew it back to Harlingen, TX under a special ferry permit.

There used to be an on-line account of the full story but it's no longer there, so I wrote an abbreviated account from memory -
The link was from the old B-29 squadron than maintained it in Midland, TX and it's recently been moved to a new squadron of the CAF located in North Dallas. I suppose the old squadron just closed it's web site. Here's a link to the new B-29 group -

CAF's B-29 / B-24 Squadron

Edit:
It looks like the new squadron has some of the history on their web site but you have to be a member to access it.
Their new site is polished and professional. The old story of finding FIFI written from the, then CAF Chief Check Pilot wasn't there.

[jmoore]

Apparently the CAF SBD has dramas. Just now got done looking at it. Looks like major oil leak coating the rear flight surfaces. Ailerons and some fairings are off. If it's in for repaint it'll be a little sad as it has a nice weathered appearance right now.

Friend did some photos. May be able to post a couple sometime soon.

[Bob Womack]

How many airworthy B17s are there left? For all the thousands produced, I understand there is only one airworthy B29 ( FiFi ) left.

I think there are 13 flying.

[Bob Womack]

There used to be an on-line account of the full story but it's no longer there, so I wrote an abbreviated account from memory -
The link was from the old B-29 squadron than maintained it in Midland, TX and it's recently been moved to a new squadron of the CAF located in North Dallas. I suppose the old squadron just closed it's web site. Here's a link to the new B-29 group -

CAF's B-29 / B-24 Squadron

Harlan, I was just reading the story you are referring to. You can find it HERE on Pelican's perch.

Cheers!

Bob

[jmoore]

---------- Post added at 12:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:37 AM ----------

The rarer they get, the more folk ought to consider building new. We did it with P-40's, making factory interchangable parts built up on factory sstyle jigs. But to effectively build new jigs, it's best to use existing good assemblies.

B17s are do-able. Egos are the biggest impediment.