LAST - B-17 Pathfinder in Existence - Erickson Aircraft Collection - Madras, OR
N 44° 40.224 W 121° 08.963
10T E 646691 N 4948002
This WWII vintage aircraft is housed at the Erickson Aircraft Collection located at the Madras Airport.
Waymark Code: WMPC7C
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 08/07/2015
Views: 3
The
Erickson Aircraft Collection relocated approximately 20 aircraft to the Madras Airport in 2014. This collection of mostly WWII vintage planes were previously housed in a military hanger at the Tillamook Air Museum (NW coastal town in Oregon).
The following verbiage is taken from the Erickson Aircraft Collection website to describe its history:
Boeing B-17G Bomber (Flying Fortress)
NARRATIVE
The B-17 was employed by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in the daylight precision strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial and military targets. The United States Eighth Air Force, based at many airfields in southern England, and the Fifteenth Air Force, based in Italy, complemented the RAF Bomber Command's nighttime area bombing in the Combined Bomber Offensive to help secure air superiority over the cities, factories and battlefields of Western Europe in preparation for the invasion of France in 1944. The B-17 also participated to a lesser extent in the War in the Pacific, early in World War II, where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields. From its pre-war inception, the USAAC (later USAAF) touted the B-17 as a strategic weapon; it was a potent, high-flying, long-range bomber that was able to defend itself, and to return home despite extensive battle damage. It quickly took on mythic proportions,[ and widely circulated stories and photos of B-17s surviving battle damage increased its iconic status. With a service ceiling greater than any of its Allied contemporaries, the B-17 established itself as an effective weapons system, dropping more bombs than any other U.S. aircraft in World War II.
SPECIFIC HISTORY
The Museum’s B-17G Bomber was manufactured by Lockheed-Vega and delivered to the U.S.A.A.F. on October 16, 1944. It was modified to be a “Pathfinder” B-17, equipped with the latest ground scanning H2X radar for nighttime bombing. It was used purely stateside in a training role during WW II before being dropped from the U.S.A.F. inventory in May 1959. In 1961, Albany Building Corporation purchased the B-17 and used it for hauling freight, before selling it in 1963 to Donthan Aviation Corp. who used the airplane as an agriculture sprayer. In 1979, Doc Hospers of Fort Worth, Texas purchased the airplane and restored it to flying condition. The airplane was then sold to Jerry Yagen at the Military Aviation Museum in 2009 before being purchased by Erickson in 2013. Of the B-17 “Pathfinders” that were built, it is the only one left in existence.
This particular aircraft has an inventory page at Warbirdregistry.org here.
Each aircraft contains its own interpretive display and I've included a picture of it which contains additional info on this aircraft. This display also notes this 'Last-of-its-kind' reference.
This collection is definitely worth the visit for any aircraft enthusiast.