When was the last Civilian B-17 formation flight ( non wrbd)

[jmkendall]

I was remembering a large fire we had in California as a kid. It was on Mt Diablo in Northern Cal. This was in 1977. I can remember being in my summer job and hearing this loud noise. I went outside and above me were five or six B-17s in formation flying from ( I suppose) the old Santa Rosa airbase to Mt. Diablo.

Can anyone think of a larger flight? I'm sure it happened. Just curious as to what the largest flight was, and when.

thanks

Joe

[CH2Tdriver]

For me, the first and last time was at the Geneseo Airshow 1988. Six B-17s. I have photos that I really need to scan and post here from that show. What was good was that the formation was tight enough (2 Vic's of 3 each) that when I zoomed out to 70mm I got all in one frame.

Others here have been to Thunder over Michigan in 2005 when I believe they had 8 in the air but not in one formation.

Peter

[krlang]

Its tough to find 8 pairs of people formation qualified to fly anything these days, nevermind Forts. The boys did one heck of a job with the Missing Man at ToM. But they dont see each other often enough to practice that sort of thing.
I went to Geneseo in 90/91/92 and have pictures of the 5 Forts, the B-24 and the Lancaster flying in Formation with 4 mustangs passing overhead flying cover.


I cant wait for Columbus!

[Roger Cain]

Joe asked about non-warbird formation flights, and it reminds me of a picture that I saw of the Canadian firefighting company Air Spray with a line of Grumman TBM's in a stacked formation. Don't know the year though. Anyone else?

[Dan Johnson II]

I remember vividly seeing 3 B17s in formation fly over a Little League Baseball game I was playing in. This was about 1972. They were headed north to fight the fires in Northern Minnesota.

For a kid who grew up with the 12 O'Clock High TV show, it was a little bit of heaven hearing and seeing those 17s go over.

Dan

[SaxMan]

We used to live in Walnut Creek. I could see Mt. Diablo from my bedroom window. However, we had moved back east in August of '75. My father was in San Francisco during the '77 fire and he recalled "an endless stream of four-engine planes going back and forth". He recalled them (mistakenly) as C-130s. My father (a fairly good historian) probably couldn't fathom that B-17s would still be flying as working planes.

I do recall seeing one small brush fire on one of the foothills around Mt. Diablo in '74 or '75, but that one was taken care of with two passes from a Cessna. I also recall seeing C-119s flying overhead. I thought they were P-38s...or at least I wanted them to be P-38s!

[sledge39]

....flight of two....returning from a fire mission....

...Hemet...CA......29 Nov 1980.....


..."Tanker 22"....N207EV...

..."Tanker 65"....N5237V...






...more info....

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/b17regis ... 83785.html


http://www.warbirdregistry.org/b17regis ... 83868.html

[leo]

When I was a kid we used to see the "12-O-Clock High" B-17's fly out of Chino I think (we were in Ontario) during the summer headed for the San Bernardino hills. There was always a fire it seemed. Many times there would be 2 or 3 together. I remember them in OD and grey for the show.
The last time I saw more than 1 was a fire near Vacaville, Ca. in the late 70's. We rode to the top of the hills and looked down on 2 of them working a fire on the hillside.

[aerovin]

They didn't actually fly any B-17s for Twelve O'Clock High (the TV show) so those might have been Aero Specialties' B-17s after their role in Tora Tora Tora in 1968-69. Would that date fit?