Subject: Bomber Series--Boeing B-17 Fortress (26 of 27)

From: [email-masked] (joseph.f.baugher)
Date: 15 Sep 94 00:29:46 GMT

There were a few B-17s that were converted for use as commercial 
transports during the immediate postwar years.   

Following the end of the war, a surplus B-17G-105-VE serial number 
44-85728 was purchased by Trans World Airlines for conversion as an 
executive transport.  Following TWA's purchase of the surplus B-17G, 
it was ferried to Boeing's Seattle plant for the conversion.  Since 
Boeing had by now used up all the letters of the alphabet for 
sub-variants of the Model 299 series, the company had to start through 
the alphabet all over again in designating later versions, and the 
conversion was assigned the company designation of Model 299AB.  All 
of the military equipment was removed and the fuselage was fitted out 
with additional seating, and additional windows were cut into the 
sides of the fuselage.  

The first civil registration assigned to the Model 299AB was NX-4600, 
but this was soon changed to NL-1B, the L being a new symbol 
introduced in the immediate postwar years to designate former military 
aircraft that had been converted to commercial uses.  These sorts of 
conversions were given a limited type certificate of LTC-1, since they 
could not qualify for the standard licenses that purely commercial 
types were given.  One restriction of the LTC-1 type certificate was
that these conversions were not allowed to fly paying passengers. 

TWA used the Model 299AB for survey and liaison work in setting up its 
routes in the Middle East.  So far as I am aware, it never flew paying 
passengers.  At the end of 1947, the machine was given to the Shah of 
Iran, and the Iranian registration was EP-HIM, where the HIM stood for 
"His Imperial Majesty".  The Shah's B-17 was scrapped for spares at 
Creil, France in 1970.

Bolivia used a total of 26 B-17s in their civil aviation fleet by
several different operators.  Most of them were acquired from
the civilian market, but eight B-17s were transferred to Bolivia
directly from USAF surplus stocks in 1956.  These planes were assigned
Bolivian civil registratins between CP-620 and CP-627.  Hamilton
Aircraft of Tucson was contracted to prepare the aircraft for delivery
to the Bolivian government.  An additional seven B-17 airframes were
supplied to Hamilton Aircraft for scavenging for spare parts to
keep the remainder flying.

USAF serial    Bolivian serial	Disposition

41-9210		CP-753		ex N9720F.  Returned to US as N8WJ for
				restoration.
41-24434	CB-79-->CP-579  ex N60475.  Destroyed Dec 1958.
42-3360		CB-70-->CP-570	ex N67974.  Destroyed Sept 1955.	
42-3470		CP-633		ex Nicaraguan AN-AMI.  Sold to Colombia
				as HK-580.  Ultimate fate unknown.
42-6073		CP-686		ex-N7942A.  Destroyed Nov 1968.
42-30921	CB-71-->CP-571	Destroyed Jan 1962.
43-37650	CB-97-->CP-597  ex-N66570 - Destroyed Sept 1955.
43-38322	CB-80-->CP-580-->CP936  Destroyed Feb 1972.
43-39307	CP-625		Transferred to Bolivia from UsAF in 1956.
				Destroyed Nov 1957.
44-6332		CB-88-->CP-588 	Destroyed May 1963.
44-6393		CP-627-->CP-891 Returned to USA in 1981 for display
44-6556		CP-624		Transferred to Bolivia from USAF in 1956.
				Destroyed Feb 1963.
44-83750	CP-623		Transferred to Bolivia from USAF in 1956.
				Destroyed 1958.
44-83809	CP-626		Transferred to Bolivia from USAF in 1956.
				Destroyed 1959.
44-83858	CP-742		ex-N5226V.  Destroyed Feb 1965.
44-83859	CP-767		ex-Peruvian OB-R-623.  Destroyed April 1967.
44-83861	CP-741		ex-N5227V.  Destroyed Oct 1965.
44-83875	CP-640   	ex-N5231V.  Destroyed August 1967.
44-85774	CP-621		Transferred to Bolivia from USAF in 1956.
				Returned to USA in 1968.  Destroyed 1973.
44-85806	CP-762		ex-N117W.  Scrapped Dec 1964.
44-85817	CP-622		Transferred to Bolivia from USAF in 1956.
				Destroyed Feb 1957.
44-85824	CP-694		Ex-N9347R.  Destroyed Dec 1963.
44-85840	CP-620		Transferred to Bolivia from USAF in 1956.
				Returned to USA in 1968 as N620L.  Destroyed 
				July 1973.

There was one place where the B-17 did fly paying passengers--Sweden.  
During the war, sixty-eight B-17s flying over Germany had been forced 
to divert to Sweden when their crews found that they were unable to 
return to England.  Since Sweden was neutral, these planes had to be 
interned and their crews sent to camps.  An exchange program was
worked out in late 1944, and the crews and other interned Americans
werre returned to England.  The US government agreed to let Sweden
purchase nine of the interned Fortresses fo $1.00.  Swedish    
authorities converted seven of these planes into commercial transports 
for the SAAB airline, stripping them of their military equipment and 
installing airline-type seating.  The nose windows were removed and 
the length of the nose was increased in order to make room for more 
passengers.  These B-17 airliners were operated for several postwar 
years before being replaced by more conventional airliners.  

The following is a list of interned B-17s converted as commercial 
transports in Sweden: 

Swedish registrations 	Designation 		Ex-USAAF Serials 

SE-BAH 			B-17F-75-DL 		42-3543 
SE-BAK 			B-17F-115-BO 		42-30661 
SE-BAM 			B-17G-5-BO 		42-31163 
SE-BAN 			B-17F-70-DL 		42-3490 
SE-BAO 			B-17G-40-BO 		42-97115 
SE-BAP 			B-17G-35-BO 		42-32076 
SE-BAR 			B-17G-35-DL 		42-107067 

SE-BAR and SE-BAP were sold to the Danish air line DDL in late 1945 
as OY-DFE and OY-DFA respectively.  In 1948, OY-DFA was sold to the
Danish Army Air Corps under the serial number 67-672.  In 1949,
it was transferred to the Royal Danish Navy, and in 1952 it was
transferred to the Royal Danish Air Force.  It opperated with the
RDAF under the serial number ESK-721 and was used for transport,
mapping, and communication.  It was placed in storage in late 1953. 
In 1955, the Danish Air force finally sold the aircraft to the
French Institut Geographique National (IGN), which added the plane
to its fleet of B-17s that flew world-wide photographic and 
geophysical survey missions.  Its French civil registration number
was F-BGSP.  It eventually ended up derelict, sitting out in the
open as it was slowly scavenged for spare parts.  In 1972,
the USAF Museum purchased it and returned it to the US.  It was
restored in its original markings (with the nose art "Shoo Shoo
Shoo Baby") and put on display at the Wright-Patterson AFB museum
at Dayton, Ohio.

Source:

  Boeing Aircraft Since 1916, Peter M. Bowers, Naval Institute
  Press, 1989.

  Final Cut--The Post-War B-17 Flying Fortress: The Survivors.
  Scott A. Thompson, Pictorial Histories Publishing Co.

Joe Baugher			**************************************
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