I am writing this two days after the horrifying mid-air collision between the Commemorative Air Force’s P-63F Kingcobra (N6763) and B-17G (44-83872, N7227C), much better known as Texas Raiders. The immediate cause of the accident appears to have been the P-63 impacting the B-17G from the rear, hitting at the mid-fuselage point and severing the tail section of the B-17. Both aircraft crashed immediately, the B-17 generating a huge fireball when it impacted. The flight crews on both aircraft were fatally injured. The loss of six CAF volunteers is heartbreaking. The families of those six crewmembers are greatly suffering as is the friends and family in the CAF organization. To a necessarily lesser extent, I think the warbird world in general is shocked about how quickly a celebration turned into an unforgettable tragedy.

There is no point to needless speculation as to why the mid-air happened. It will all be sorted out eventually. The NTSB and the FAA are conducting investigations and when that process is complete, we will have a better idea.

The human loss is paramount. The airplanes are just mechanical objects, though we often ascribe more to them than that. All that being said, besides the loss of life we did lose two rare and historical aircraft on Saturday. I thought it appropriate to provide a bit of the history of Texas Raiders as it has enjoyed a long and multi-mission history since it was built in 1945.

When delivered by Douglas at Long Beach on July 12, 1945, the European war was over and most late-production B-17s were being flown off to storage and an uncertain future. However, 44-83872 and nineteen other late Douglas-production B-17s were set aside for transfer to the Navy. The Navy was developing land-based airborne early warning capability (AEW) and the B-17 was selected by the Navy for the conversions. The Navy designated the B-17s as PB-1Ws and assigned Navy Bureau of Aeronautics serial number to the airplanes. 44-83872 became BuNo 77235 in Navy service. The primary modification to make a B-17 into a PB-1W was the installation of an APS-20 long-range radar, with the antenna installed below the former bomb-bay and covered with a bulbous radome. Typically, four crewmen manned the Combat Information Center (CIC) consoles that were installed for radar operators to relay information to the fleet and to other aircraft in a combat environment. The initial impetus for the AEW development was to protect the fleet from Japanese Kamikaze raids, but the actual development lagged beyond the war’s conclusion in September.

BuNo 77235 did not enter active status with the Navy until May 1947, and then was assigned to various Navy squadrons in the ensuing years. In 1952, it was assigned to a test program to help develop an enhanced moving target indicating system. Its last active duty squadron was with VW-1 deployed to Atsugi, Japan. By the mid-1950s, the PB-1Ws were being supplanted by the Lockheed WV-1 Constellations. BuNo 77235 was withdrawn from service in January 1955 with 3,257 hours of flight time. It was flown into storage at Naval Air Facility Litchfield Park, Arizona, and then struck from the inventory on July 10, 1956.

Instead of being scrapped, 44-83872 was purchased in October 1957 by the Aero Service Corp. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, an aerial survey company. The purchase price was a lofty $17,510 ($184,388 in 2022 dollars), which does not sound like much but within a few years surplus PB-1Ws and USAF B-17Gs were being disposed of for a fraction of that price. Aero Service Corp. had the aircraft registered with the FAA as N7227C, and flown to its home base for modification to become a high-altitude magnetometer platform. It was extensively modified with the deletion of unneeded military equipment and the installation of radios, sensing equipment, antennas, and a cargo door on the left side of the aft fuselage. Over the next decade, N7227C traveled to world for Aero Service doing a variety of survey work. In July 1963, it was loaded down wit two tons of scientific gear and flown to the northern reaches of Canada to survey the solar eclipse that occurred then.

In early 1965, Aero Service agreed to have N7227C temporarily marked in World War II 305th Bomb Group marking for participation in the retirement ceremonies held for retiring SAC commander and wartime group commander Curtiss LeMay.

Also during the early 1960s, the then Confederate Air Force (CAF, now Commemorative Air Force) was looking to purchase a B-17 to help complete its collection of World War II American combat aircraft. Based at Rebel Field in the south Texas town of Mercedes, the small group of dedicated pilots and volunteers already had amassed a significant collection of mostly fighters. They were looking for bombers, though, and the B-17 was at the top of the list. Most of the flying B-17s at time, though, were gainfully employed as air tankers or survey aircraft, and were generally not for sale at the price the CAF could pay, which was not much. They negotiated for several years with Aero Service about buying N7227C, and persistence paid off when the CAF was able to buy the B-17 in September 1967 for $50,000 (that’s $443,470 in 2022 dollars).

So, the CAF now had a B-17 and it was delivered to south Texas to join the small but growing collection first at Mercedes and then at nearby Harlingen. In the late 1960s, the warbird movement had not started, and little attention was paid to paint schemes and markings, or combat equipment, by the CAF and other operators of what now are called warbirds. For the CAF, acquisition was the key, and the B-17 was a needed addition to the flying museum.

N7227C thus retained most of its Aero Service paint scheme, with its aerial survey modifications quite evident, up until 1970. At that time, it was painted in an inventive AAF paint scheme with 305th Bomb Group markings and the tail number of 41-24592. The airplane lacked turrets and other armament, and the inside was still in its last civil configuration, but it looked much more like a combat B-17 with the new paint. It also gained the name Texas Raiders, a moniker it carried forth for five decades.

Over those decades, the B-17 was slowly brought back to a standard B-17G configuration. Turrets and armament were added back in 1977, and the fuselage cargo door was removed in 1980. It also gained an new, more accurate paint scheme at that time. N7227C was largely rebuilt by the CAF between 1983 and 1986, and it emerged in much better condition and a new paint scheme. It also gained the markings of the 381st Bomb Group, which had ties to Texas as the only home-grown bomb group trained in Texas, during the war.

In 2001, the FAA issued an airworthiness directive that required inspections of the wing attach fittings. That inspection plus other needed work ended up grounding Texas Raiders from 2001 until 2009. After 120,000 man hours of labor and $500,000 in parts, the airplane emerged in excellent mechanical condition and a new paint scheme.

Since 1983, the CAF’s Gulf Coast Wing has proudly operated the B-17. It most recently was based at the Lone Star Executive Airport at Conroe, Texas. Through the years, Texas Raiders became something of a flagship for the entire CAF, alongside the CAFs second B-17G Sentimental Journey (44-83514/N9323Z) and the CAF B-29, Fifi.

I’ll also note that the loss of Texas Raiders on Saturday, November 12, 2022, has reduced the number of actively flying B-17s to four: CAF’s Sentimental Journey (44-83514), Erickson’s Ye Olde Pub (44-8543); Yankee Air Force’s Yankee Lady (44-85829), and B-17 Preservation’s Sally B (44-85784) in the UK. There are other B-17s that are undergoing maintenance to return to flight status, but currently these are the only four being flown.