B17 Passenger Variant?
Posted by racer187x@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 26 comments
Watching an old Japanese movie (“The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice” about 3/4 of the way through). Saw this airfield shot and it looks like a B17 in the background. It looks like all armament is off it. I could only find a couple things online about Sweden using some for commercial use and Bolivia as well. This one has an American flag on the tail. Maybe it was still in service by the AAF/USAF at the time? This movie was made in 1952.
Worldly_Mix_8904@reddit
Surplus bombers were dirt cheap, but not economical to operate compared to higher first-cost surplus transports. So, for a time,
Also, as an aside, there was a 33 pax Boeing B-307, which was the world's first airliner with a pressurized cabin. But due to the war, and the need for B-17s only 12 were built (the prototype that crashed, 3 for PAA, 5 for T&WA, one for Howard Hughes and 3 for the USAAC [C-75] which also took the PAA aircraft).
The 7 passenger liners used by Sweden's SILA were converted from interned USAAF B-17s. TWA's conversion was a unicorn for execs. (And their C-117s were company parts haulers.) For a time Bolivia and Wyoming were meccas for B-17 conversions. Passenger, general cargo, and railed meat carcass haulers; and water bombers respectively; until more efficient types became inexpensive enough to replace them.
SportTawk@reddit
It's a B377
Raguleader@reddit
Nope, B377 has the "double-bubble" fuselage and a rounded nose without the stepped cockpit (similar to the B-29 it was based on). Also, a B377 has tricycle landing gear unlike the plane in the photo, which is a tail-dragger.
SportTawk@reddit
Well here's the actual aircraft, no double bubble and not a tail dragger
Kanyiko@reddit
VB-17G - note the USAF roundel visible just behind the outboard engine.
Even though the B-17 was no longer used as a bomber by the USAF after World War II, it soldiered on in a number of other duties. SB-17G's were used for search and rescue tasks well into the mid-1950s, and VB-17G's were used both for VIP transport and photo mapping duties by some secondary units of the USAF.
The last B-17s in USAF service actually bowed out as late as 1959.
Raguleader@reddit
Also, apparently the Coast Guard kept their Flying Fortresses in service slightly longer, with the last PB-1G being retired in October of 1959, a few months after the last USAF DB-17P (a drone control aircraft) was retired.
waldo--pepper@reddit
The Internet Movie Plane Database has a little to say about the B-17's.
https://impdb.fandom.com/wiki/Ochazuke_no_aji
racer187x@reddit (OP)
Thanks for that. Had no idea there was an Internet Movie Plane Database wiki! Down the rabbit hole I go…
waldo--pepper@reddit
You have my most sincerer apologies for wasting countless future hours of your time. And you're welcome.
StGenevieveEclipse@reddit
My wife and I watched The Crown last year while our baby was in infanthood, amd both the plane and car versions were very good for that show. The VC10 is a new fave of mine
waldo--pepper@reddit
Congratulations.
keller_1103@reddit
One for firearms aswell
civilized_warbirds@reddit
There are but this one likely isn’t.
You can see a roundel on the fuselage and a tail number under the flag. Still in service but making USAF markings on the nose like some VB-17’s got. Could be 44-8997
cnhn@reddit
there were a bunch of passenger and cargo versions in th US military. the c-108, the CB-17, and the VB-17. This is probably a vb-17g
pumpkinfarts23@reddit
It wouldn't have been USAF or Coast Guard with the big flag on the tail, and unlikely State Department, since they could generally get something better than an old B-17. So almost certainly ex-surplus civilian freighter.
cnhn@reddit
the VB-17Gs were the last 17s to be withdrawn from service. they lasted till the mid 50s some even as late as ‘59, years after this movie. As an example, the link above shows a vb-17g in services till ’56. They served through out the Korean War sometimes being rearmed To protect the VIPs
pumpkinfarts23@reddit
If you can find a USAF B-17 with a flag on the tail, I'd believe you. But I've never seen it. They only ever used the roundel AFAIK.
On the other hand, civilian US aircraft (like the foreground 377) commonly used a flag as ensign on the tail at the time. You could buy a surplus B-17 for almost nothing and find a qualified B-17 pilot anywhere. It was a golden time for freight and charter startup airlines, many of which only lasted a few years and are now forgotten.
cnhn@reddit
you can see what sure looks like the roundel on the hull under the wing.
Here's a VB-17G with no roundel on the tail. no american flag either, but did maintain the roundel on the hull.
matteam-101@reddit
In that time frame, B-17s were used in Florida to spray for fruit flies. Was neat to see a B-17 flying along Palm Beach.
pistaroti@reddit
Bolivia used some of them, taken out the rear turret and loading from the back ......light poles !!. Ideal arrangement !!!
redhornet919@reddit
It’s a 377 stratocruiser. Based of the B-29 airframe.
cloudubious@reddit
Background.
zevonyumaxray@reddit
The wing in the bottom right of the photo is another B-17. You can tell by the air intakes in the wing between the two engines. So perhaps a civilian and military mixed use base?
MagnesiumOvercast@reddit
I have a coffee table book about old WW2 era aircraft still flying in commercial service in the 70s and 80s. Here's a B17 being used as a freighter in Bolivia in 1977, carrying chopped cattle, of all things. Looks a little like yours.
Brambleshire@reddit
What book is that? It looks awesome
MagnesiumOvercast@reddit
It's called Superprops : Classic Flying Freighters by Osprey Aerospace