The B-17 soldiered on with the Army Air Forces and, later, United States Air Force (USAF) after World War II ended in 1945. Though immediately retired as a heavy bomber in favor of the much-more capable B-29, the B-17 was assigned a multitude of roles in the post-war air force. Contrast that with the B-17 stablemate, the B-24 Liberator, that was purged from the inventory as fast as the bombers could be gathered at scrapyards. For the B-17, there still lay a multitude of roles in the first fifteen post-war years. Among the more prominent: SB-17 search and rescue, DB-17/QB-17 director/drones, VB-17 transports, and EB-17 test beds.

As the 1950s drew to a close, however, the B-17 was slowly withdrawn from the inventory. The last remaining mission assigned was that of the DB-17/QB-17 director/drones.

The modifications that created both the DB-17 directors and QB-17 drones were extensive. The drone program was an outgrowth of wartime efforts to remotely-control war-weary aircraft as flying bombs, the thinking being load the expendable bombers with high-explosives and remotely fly them into hardened targets. These early applications were not particularly successful, but post-war developments improved upon the technology and created a viable drone program. The first significant application were B-17s modified for use in Operation Crossroads, the 1946 atomic testing program carried out in the South Pacific. BY 1950, the now-designated DB-17G directors and QB-17G drones had been perfected as a program to test a variety of air-to-air missiles and ground-to-air missiles for the USAF, the Navy and the Army. The QB-17G drones were remotely piloted from a ground operator for taxi and takeoff operations, and then control was turned over to a DB-17G director, with the drone pilot position in the former bombardier position in the nose. Later modifications to improved the drones resulted in QB-17L and QB-17N versions, and upgraded directors became DB-17Ps. By the mid-1950s, the drone program was contained within the 3205th Drone Group with squadrons based at Elgin AFB, Florida, Patrick AFB, Florida, Holloman AFB, New Mexico, and Edwards AFB/NAS China Lake/NAS Pt. Mugu, all in California.

As the 1950s drew to a close, the days of the USAF B-17 service did also. All of the inventory of QB-17 drones were eventually destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Though QB-17 missile strikes were designed to be ‘near-misses’ in an effort to preserve the drones for future use, by 1958 and 1959, the drones were often subjected to direct hits. (The viability of a B-17 as a target for1960-era modern warfare is questionable, but the QB-17 shoot-downs made for impressive filming opportunities to reassure the American public that any attacks by 160-mph lumbering Soviet bombers could be adequately met by U.S. firepower.)

The last DB-17P/QB-17N drone mission was conducted on August 6, 1959, utilizing drone QB-17N 44-83717 and director DB-17P 44-83684 at Holloman AFB with a test of the Falcon and Sidewinder air-to-air missiles as fired from F-101 and F-104 fighters. Details of that last mission are provided by one who was there, Air Force pilot Paul Good, who was assigned to the drone squadron:

“The missions were often scheduled for multiple missile shots. The missiles many times contained a telemetry package in place of the war head that would read out the miss distance thus being able to gain the necessary test data without always destroying the target drone. On this mission the target drone was scheduled for multiple shots, in this case two AIM-4 Falcons and an AIM-9 Sidewinder all with telemetry packages in place of the warhead. The F-101 made two passes launching a Falcon missile on each pass. I don’t remember the exact order but one of the missiles went through the aft fuselage around the gunners window and the other launch took off part of the nose section. After each impact the radar ground control site still had control of the B-17. The on site commander at the radar ground control site made the decision to continue with the launch of the Aim-9 Sidewinder from an F-104. The F-104 made a pass from the rear of the target launching the AIM-9 heat seeker which impacted the number 3 engine. At this time the radar site radar and telemetry showed they had control of the target and cleared the director aircraft in for a pick up. After the join up the director aircraft observed that the number three engine was on fire from the sidewinder impact. The airborne controller( who sat in the nose in the bombardier’s seat) took control of the target and put it in a dive and succeeded in putting out the fire. With the fire out and still having control of the QB-17 they proceeded to return back to Holloman for recovery. After entering the pattern on downwind leg for runway 21 right they lowered the landing gear when the right gear fell out of the gear well and separated from the aircraft. At this point not wanting to land gear up and tie up the runway or have a fire to deal with they were order to take the QB-17 to Northrup Strip, an emergency strip at White Sands Missile Range used for such purposes. This strip is about 25,000 X 500 feet also later used as one of the space shuttle divert fields. The QB-17 was landed and came to rest intact running off the side a little ways. No fire ensued and a recovery crew was dispatched to secure the aircraft. The aircraft was later disassembled and trucked back to the disposal yard at Holloman to join many of it’s kind. I flew a QF-80 mission later that day after it was down and flew over the area and took a look at the QB-17 sitting on Northrup Strip.“

It can be seen that even the use of 1960s-era air-to-air missiles were hard pressed to bring down a B-17.

A few days later, the 3205th Drone Group retired its last director DB-17P, that being 44-83684, and sent it off for storage and disposal on August 11, 1959. A an appropriate ceremony was held by the group to mark the retirement of the last active, manned USAF B-17.

It is worth noting that DB-17P 44-83684 was only briefly in storage at Davis-Monthan. In September 1959, the B-17 was placed on loan with The Air Museum at Ontario, California. It was eventually assigned the civil registration of N3713G and went on to be used in the filming of the TV series 12 O’Clock High at Chino Airport in Southern California. Though it was not flown for the series, it was used to depict a variety of aircraft, primarily the Piccadilly Lily, in ground operation scenes and for set dressing, filmed for three seasons, 1964-1966. The ownership of the B-17 was transferred from the USAF to the renamed Planes of Fame museum in 1999, and 44-83684 remains on display at Chino to this day.

I’ll also point out that much of this material is also covered in Final Cut (5th Edition) available right here on this website. Check it out.