B-17G 44-83884Eighth
Air Force Museum, Barksdale AFB, Bossier City, Louisiana.
Displayed as 483884, Yankee Doodle II.
Photo By Brian Nick
Photo By Brian Nick
The 8th Air Force Museum's B-17G 44-83884 rolled
off the Douglas Aircraft Company's Long Beach assembly line on 19 July
1945. It was the second to last of approximately 3,000 B-17s built by Douglas.
Accepted by the USAAF in August 1945, the aircraft was transferred to the
US Navy and modified for service as a sea search and submarine patrol aircraft
and re-designated as a PB-1W.
Retired from military service in 1956, it
was modified into a borate bomber and was used to fight forest fires. In
its 38 years of active flying, the aircraft accumulated more than 3,800
flying hours. Partially restored by its owner, Aero Union, the aircraft
was painted with the markings of the 303rd Bombardment Group of the 8th
Air Force, which flew out of RAF Molesworth during World War II. The aircraft
was delivered to the museum on 11 April 1978.
If you have any comments or have found information on my page that
is incorrect, please e-mail
me! If you know of a surviving B-17 that is not on my page, please let
me know!
