Liveries - Work in Progress
Texas Raiders
The plane was delivered to the U.S. Army Air Forces as B-17G-95-DL 44-83872 on July 12, 1945. In 1967, it was purchased by the Commemorative Air Force's Gulf Coast Wing "Texas Raiders" group, which maintained and flew the aircraft out of Conroe-North Houston Regional Airport in Conroe, Texas. The aircraft was destroyed on November 12, 2022, by a mid-air collision with a P-63 Kingcobra at an air show at Dallas Executive Airport, Texas.
Over two decades, CAF worked to restore the plane to a B-17G configuration. In 1977, the plane was repainted in the color scheme of the 533d Bombardment Squadron of the 381st Bombardment Group. The livery was inspired by a real B-17G plane, Princess Pat (42-97503), including squadron code VP with call letter X, but using the actual tail number of Texas Raiders.
Sleepy Time Gal
Delivered Tulsa 24/2/44; Gr Island 3/3/44; Grenier 24/3/44; Assigned 532BS/381BG [VE-O] Ridgewell 6/4/44; 47+m Returned to the USA Bradley 29/5/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA) Kingman 18/11/45. SLEEPY TIME GAL.
Nine O Nine
The aircraft was a 74-year-old B-17 Flying Fortress, military serial number 44-83575 (variant B-17G-85-DL) with civilian registration N93012. During its military career, the plane operated as an Air-Sea Rescue aircraft until 1952.
By August 1986, N93012 was painted as a different B-17G: Nine-O-Nine, military serial number 42-31909 (variant B-17G-30-BO), which had been scrapped shortly after World War II.
Little Miss Mischief
B-17 42-97880 / Little Miss Mischief
Delivered Tulsa 23/3/44; 88BG Hunter 18/5/44; Dow
Fd 29/5/44; Assigned 324BS/91BG [DF-F] Bassingbourn 15/6/44; 50+m lost engine en route
Fassberg A/fd 4/4/45 with Edgar Moyer, on return crash landed base when u/c collapsed;
Repaired & transferred 600BS/398BG [N8-R] Nuthampstead; mission to French bridges 8/7/44, forced to bail out over Essex on return and crash landed Chelsworth, Suffolk; repaired and transferred 306BG 5/45.
Sentimental Journey
Sentimental Journey (44-83514) is the nickname of a B-17G Flying Fortress bomber. It is based at the Commemorative Air Force Museum in Mesa, Arizona, US. The aircraft is regularly flown to airshows throughout North America. The nose art features Betty Grable, the number one pinup girl of the World War II era. The aircraft's name takes after a song made very popular by Doris Day in 1945.
Although flyable, Sentimental Journey was not an accurate representative of the wartime B-17 bomber and in December 1981, the aircraft underwent an extensive restoration. Over the years, Sentimental Journey has performed across North America, as one of the most recognizable examples of the type, keeping the legacy of the B-17 intact.