Lacey Lady

B-17G 44-85790 Displayed in front of Lacey's Bomber Inn and Restaurant, Milwaukee, Oregon. Lacey Lady is under restoration.
Photo by Flypast	Photo by Brian Nick

	This is a picture of the nose art that will eventually be painted on after restoration.
Artwork by Mark Utz

     44-85790 is a late production B-17G built at Lockheed's Vega  plant in Burbank, California. Too late to enter the war it was sent to Altus Army Airfield, Oklahoma for storage and eventually disposal along with thousands of other surplus bombers. Art Lacey owned a new gas station in Milwaukee, Oregon and was looking for something to attract customers to his business. He decided to display a surplus military airplane for that reason and as a tribute to those who served in the recent war. Mr. Lacey flew to Altus and paid the base commander $13,750 for one of the many surplus bombers. Art Lacey was a private pilot but had no experience flying B-17s. He spent five days preparing a B-17 for flight back to Oregon but on his fist test flight he couldn't get the gear down and crashed on landing. Undeterred by his accident he readied another one and set off for home, this time with friends who had B-17 experience. Lacey landed his bomber at Troutdale Airport on March 10, 1947. The B-17 was disassembled and transported by truck to Milwaukee, where it was reassembled and mounted on posts above Lacey's Bomber Gas.
     This B-17 is different from other surviving Fortresses in that it is completely original, because it has been mounted on posts since 1947.  It has not gone through the extensive modifications suffered by the others serving photographic, research and fire bomber duties. It has however suffered the abuse of vandals stealing internal equipment for souvenirs and leaving graffiti inside. Fifty years in the harsh Oregon weather has not been kind to the aluminum skins either. Suffering from corrosion and abuse from tourists, the Lacey Family has decided to restore the bomber. The nose section was removed in March 1996 and is under restoration at Aurora Airport, just south of Milwaukee. Current plans for the plane are to restore it in air worthy condition and to construct a building to protect it from the elements.