Warbird Information Exchange

So, you gave me an interesting idea. I searched the United States Patent and Trademark Office office records, but the only trademark I was able to find was, 76,237,797, which was filed in 2001 for toy gliders. However, according to the NYPL, the database only covers dead trademarks since 1984. A quick search of Google Books for "Flying Fortress" and "Trademark" found me the 1938 edition of the Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which had the original trademark, 400,587, for "airplanes and structural parts thereof", on page 441:

It is worth noting that while the public rollout of the B-17 was on 16 July 1935, Boeing only claimed usage since 2 December 1937. So it took them a year and a half to actually start using it. The delay wasn't a result of legal red tape either, as the trademark was filed only six days after first usage. It would be interesting to see if there were any materials that were published by the company on the 2nd.

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

From Curtiss Aircraft 1907-1947 by Peter M. Bowers, 1979, 637p. from page 471, photo of YC-76 Caravan in flight. A little more info and specs are on the next two pages, not shown here. Randy