1st 25 Mission B-17

[Jack Cook]

All hail H*ll's Angels!!

[lestweforget]

Amazing picture. Wouldn't it have been nice if they had just wheeled her straight into a museum as a memorial!! Wishful thinking...

[aerovin]

Here it is a few years later at Stillwater, Oklahoma, waiting to be scrapped.

[mustangdriver]

Well at least one of the two 25 mission B-17's is still with us.

[lestweforget]

Could you have bought one straight from these scrapyards like Kingman or Stillwater and were there any conditions of purchase , and what was the average asking price ?

[mustangdriver]

The Memphis Belle was leased from the USAAF for $350.00

[lestweforget]

The Memphis Belle was leased from the USAAF for $350.00

Now where did I put Doc Browns number ? Said he had some fancy time travelling DeLorean!

[lowpass]

This is related to the question about buying one of those planes. A while back I read a story, don't remember where, about a B-26 crew in the ETO. The story was that at the end of the war the crew had grown quite close and dreaded having to disband and leave behind they're beloved plane, a B-26, behind. The Army offered the planes to the crews for something like $125.00. The crew was elated and knew they had plenty to buy the plane. They planned that they would open up a charter business or something of the like and all work together. Well, once they decided they would buy the plane, they found out all the extra costs that would be involved. There would be inspections, removal of all armaments and turrets, skinning over of removed turret holes, cost to ferry it back to the states, fuel, etc. The added costs made it impossible for the crew to make their wishes happen. So, the story ended rather sadly as they watched the B-26 that had delivered them safely to and from so many missions be destroyed. The plane was towed next to a long ditch, as were others, charges placed under the wings and kabom. Once the wings were blown off a bulldozer pushed it into the ditch and then ran it over. What a way to go out after serving your country.

Kyle

[aerovin]

The RFC offered War Vets preferential treatment for sales. The asking price for a B-17 from the RFC/WAA was $13,750 (about $160,000 in 2007 dollars) if you wanted the airplane for flying. In scrap lots of thousands or more airplanes it was by a bid process...usually about $500 an airplane or so. Some of the airplanes that were sold for scrap were later resold by the scrap dealer for flight purposes but in those cases the buyer had to make an additional payment to the U.S. government as the scrap deals held restrictions.

The government made just a fraction of a cent on the dollar for the airplanes but who wanted a four engine bomber? There were thousands of B-17s and B-24s and absolutely no use for any of them...just as memorials and few wanted them for that. A dozen brand new B-17s were sold to civil owners for flying between 1945 and 1948...that's about it.

Hindsight is 20/20.

[cadet77]

It is difficult to understand today that the then price for a used or in some cases new off the assembly line airplane with fuel was comparable to the price of a basic new car in 1946-1949. The once prized trainers, fighters, freighters and bombers of our production lines were now considered to be worthless. So much for the Bond drives and the endless hours of labor by women and men that went into manufacturing, building and maintaining a war time fleet of aircraft to defeat two fronts of the war effort. The treasure of our country was now obsolete and of little or no value.

One of the local stories that I have been told is the purchase price of a B-25 with full fuel tanks at $800.00. When the operation cost was too great, they were sold or scrapped.

Another story is of P-51s that were bought in lots and placed on barges for their last trip to be stripped of instruments, engines, propellers and the remainder scrapped. Times had changed, the war was over and the P-51s that were set aside and not scrapped by the buyers were sold back to the government at a premium to meet the shortage in the Korean conflict.

Chino Warbird Treasures Past and Present by Joe Cupido lists prices of $500.00 for a North American T-6 and $13,750.00 for a Boeing B-17. These prices are only for this particular field, but may be comparable to other reconstruction finance corporation facilities in the United States. No actual list of sales made in those days is given, and I doubt that it would give a real idea of aircraft saved from the salvage operations that were in full swing to provide work for those that returned from their tours of duty.

It would have been great to have more than one 25 mission B-17 set aside for future generations to see and maybe touch. How about saved example aircraft types such as the A-20, B-24, B-25, B-26, P-38, P-39, P-51, P-63 and all the others. We are left with reconstructing the remains of crash sites, burials or in rare cases making reproductions.

Part of our actions today need to be to preserve what we have and make sure that when aircraft are retired, good examples of each type are set aside and preserved or in some cases operated until no longer cost effective for the next generation to see, hear, smell and touch.

Fly fast, fly safe,

Larry

[sdennison]

My review of the photo indicates a crew of 12. I thought 10 was standard issue. Where does my "CRS" factor in here?

[ZeamerB17]

My review of the photo indicates a crew of 12. I thought 10 was standard issue. Where does my "CRS" factor in here?

Most likely some of the ground crew are in there - maybe the guys with upturned cap bills?