For the U.S. military, the Boeing B-17s was primarily operated by the Army Air Forces during World War II. A sizeable number of B-17s continued in service with the AAF and its later iteration, the U.S. Air Force. The U.S. Navy also operated the B-17 as its PB-1W early warning aircraft, and the U.S. Coast Guard operated the B-17 as the PB-1G air-sea rescue aircraft. The Navy retired its fleet of PB-1Ws by 1956. The USAF flew its last manned B-17 mission on August 6, 1959, when drone director DB-17P 44-83684 flew a mission at Holloman AFB, and then retired to Davis-Monthan AFB for disposal.

The last U.S. military manned B-17 mission was, surprisingly, actually flown by the U.S. Coast Guard in October 1959, just a few months after the USAF retired its last B-17. So, let’s take a look at the B-17 in Coast Guard service between 1946 and 1959 and, more specifically, that last USCG PB-1G.

Navy and Coast Guard B-17s

In 1945, the AAF earmarked twenty new B-17s for the U.S. Navy and twenty new B-17s for the U.S. Coast Guard. The Navy airplanes came from the end of the Douglas-Long Beach production line, while the USCG airplanes came from the end of the Lockheed-Burbank production line. The USCG was under the administrative control of the Navy during the war, and the Navy designated the B-17 as the “PB-1.” To Navy nuts, this was not correct in that the Navy designation system used the aircraft manufacturer and not the aircraft designer in its designations (i.e. “P” for “Patrol” and “B” for “Boeing,” the “1” indicating the first version of the type). (Thus, the Grumman TBF became the TBM when Eastern Aircraft built it, and the Vought F4U Corsair became the FG Corsair when Goodyear built it.) More correctly, the designations should have been P4D-1W (Douglas) and P3V-1G (Lockheed) but I needlessly digress. The Navy called the B-17s as either PB-1Ws or PB-1Gs depending on USN or USCG service (further explanation: the “W” suffix designated early warning radar equipped, or sub hunter; the “G” suffix designated the search and rescue mission).

Okay, we got through all of that. The Navy assigned Bureau of Aeronautics numbers to the twenty Navy PB-1Ws (77225 through 77244) and sixteen (out of twenty earmarked) USCG PB-1Gs (77245 through 77257, plus 82855 through 82587). The Coast Guard only accepted sixteen of the twenty B-17Gs, the remainder sent off to the scrap yard.

(As an aside, and to answer a question before it arises, the Navy obtained a number of additional B-17s for use as PB-1Ws beyond the initial allocation of twenty. How they got those B-17s from the USAF and other sources is a great story for another day.)

The Coast Guard PB-1Gs

The Navy took on the modifications of the PB-1Gs for the USCG also, mostly done at the Naval Air Materiel Center at Naval Auxiliary Air Station, Mustin, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The PB-1Gs were configured much as the USAF SB-17Gs with SCR-717 search radars installed in the chin turret area and provisions (initially) for the droppable Higgins boats. Armament was deleted from the PB-1Gs and they were finished in the standard USCG air-sea rescue colors of the day. Most of the PB-1Gs were deployed to the various Coast Guard Air Stations (CGAS) to perform the air-sea rescue missions beginning in 1946.

Though employed in the air-sea rescue role, the droppable Higgins boats soon gave way to inflatable rubber boats carried in the PB-1G bomb-bay. Several rafts could be carried, and they proved more workable than the drag-inducing Higgins boats. The PB-1Gs served well on both Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and remained in service for a decade, the first being withdrawn in 1956 and all but one by 1958.

PB-1G 77254 and Map Making

The last PB-1G is the one of interest to this topic. It was PB-1G 77254 (ex AAF 44-85828), and it had a special mission assigned. In the post-war world, there was a great effort made by the U.S. and internationally to finally produce accurate maps of the world. The B-17 played a role in that effort as aerial survey platforms to take high-altitude aerial photographs that were used to create the maps. A process called photogrammetry was used to determine terrain elevations and features. In the case of CG 77254, it was assigned in 1946 for use by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USCGS) to assist in mapping the United States.

A Special U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Camera

The primary modification was the installation of a ungainly camera and camera mount in the location of the former ball turret on the belly of the PB-1G. The camera itself was a complicated mechanism that employed nine lenses with an 8.25 inch focal length. Eight of the lenses were mounted around one centrally mounted lens, with each of the eight lenses directed at an angle to the central lens. The resultant image of the nine lenses produced one view equivalent to a 130-degree field of view that was exposed onto a single frame of two-foot square film. A single image shot from 14,000 feet above the ground encompassed 120 square miles of terrain. The camera itself weighed 750 pounds and utilized 200-foot rolls of film to enable one hundred exposures per reel.

PB-1G CG 77254 was then employed in an twelve-year program coordinated between the USCG and USCGS to provide detailed strip photographs of the United States. CG 77254 spent most of each year between 1947 and 1959 engaged in the project, using a combination crew of USCG and USCGS personnel. Most of the quadrangle charts that form the basis for the modern mapping of the U.S. (i.e. Google Maps) were created or updated using the photographs taken from the belly of the PB-1G. Most missions were flown from altitudes between 22,000 and 30,000 and utilized the Norden bombsight to assist in setting up the photo lines.

The Last PB-1G is Retired on October 14, 1959

The Coast and Geodetic Survey utilized CG 77254 through the 1959 assignment. It’s last official series of flights in October 1959 took it through Seattle’s Boeing Field where the milestone was marked. It had been 24 years since the Boeing Model 299 first flew. Much had occurred in the intervening years but an end of an era was recognized. CG 77254 was indeed the last U.S. military manned B-17 in active service when it was ferried on its last Coast Guard flight to CGAS Elizabeth City on October 14, 1959, where it was parked in retirement.

The camera installation was removed and, reportedly, mounted on a Douglas R5D and utilized for another four years. It was itself removed from service in1963, in favor of more modern cameras. The special camera was eventually transferred to the Smithsonian Collection in Washington, D.C.

Civil Use as N9323R

As for CG 77254: it did not remain idle for long. It was sold as surplus equipment by the USCG at Elizabeth City in March 1960. Its first civil owner was Joe Marrs of Opa Locka, Florida, and it became N9323R with the assignment of an FAA registration. It went through several civil owners until October 1962 when obtained by Black Hills Aviation of Spearfish, South Dakota. It was converted to an air tanker configuration and used for the next fifteen years for air attack on forest fires.

CG 77254 to the 390th Memorial Museum for Display

In 1978, it was traded by its last air tanker owner, AFG, Inc., of Mesa, Arizona, to the USAF Museum Program for an airworthy C-54. The Air Force Museum, now known as the National Museum of the USAF, assigned the B-17 to the 390th Memorial Association for its museum located at the Pima Air Museum at Tucson, Arizona. It was stripped of paint and restored as a 390th Bomb Group B-17G, s/n 42-31892, carrying the name I’ll Be Around. It was displayed outdoors until the museum building was completed in 1986, and then moved indoors to an attractive and informative display setting. It remains proudly displayed at the museum to this day.

More on the Coast Guard PB-1Gs and the complete history of CG 77254 can be found in Final Cut: The Post-War B-17 Flying Fortress and Survivors.