@ Virginia Beach, VA
May 2012
Back in 2012 this immaculate B-17G was part of the Military Aviation Museum collection located in Virginia Beach. A Stateside WWII veteran, this Lockheed-built B-17G was equipped with bombing radar and configured as a bombing pathfinder aircraft before conversion to a TB-17G for weather recon/electronic countermeasures duties. Later on she was converted again, this time to a ETB-17G and used for electronics experiments. One last active duty conversion was to a JB-17G, where a turboprop powerplant replaced the nose of the B-17! Retired in 1959, she was a freighter, and then an agricultural sprayer aircraft before a crash in 1976 ended that career. Rescued by the Vintage Flying Museum in Texas, she was restored to a wartime configuration and named “Chuckie”. The Military Aviation Museum bought Chuckie in 2011 and put a chin turret back on to finish the restoration to a B-17G. In 2013 this aircraft became part of the Erickson Aircraft Collection and was renamed to “Madras Maiden”. Later on, the chin turret was removed and she now wears the livery of “Ye Olde Pub”. Nikon D7000 w/18-200mm.
