March 2018
The Mesa, Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force brought the gleaming Sentimental Journey to the LA County Airshow. The nose art features Betty Grable, the number one pinup girl of the World War II era, and the name takes after a song made popular by Doris Day in 1945. Built by Douglas Aircraft and delivered in 1945, this B-17 saw a variety of postwar roles such as photo-mapping, air-sea rescue, and lastly as a DB-17P drone for in-flight exposure to atmospheric nuclear weapons testing. Pulled out of a boneyard in 1959, she flew 18 years as a fire bomber before donation to the CAF in 1978. A 1985 restoration completed the transformation back to her wartime configuration. Nikon D7100 w/18-200mm.