The history of B-17F 42-3360 covers only a period of less than twelve years. In that time, though, it served in the Army Air Forces, was part of a scrap yard purchased in its entirety by Paul Mantz, appeared in at least two Hollywood films, was owned by noted aviator Owen F. Williams, and ultimately was exported to Bolivia where it was destroyed in a 1955 crash.
So, we’ll begin this story with the delivery of brand-new B-17F 42-3360 where it rolled of the Douglas production lines at Long Beach, California, on May 21, 1943. It was one of 605 B-17Fs built between July 1942 and August 1943. Many of the B-17Fs built in the block, B-17F-50-DL, went on to domestic training units, though some did go overseas for combat duty.
The AAF record card shows that 42-3360 went to the Denver Modification Center after delivery, then assigned on June 16, 1943, to the AAF School of Applied Tactics at Orlando AAB, Florida. As per Wikipedia, “…the AAF determined this organization would conduct tactical development and training and provide tactical training for flyers who were preparing to deploy to theaters of operation.” The airplane suffered a taxi accident with loss of brakes on July 21, 1943. It was repaired and put back in service. Shortly afterwards, on August 7, 1944, it was assigned to Wright Field for, presumably, some developmental or experimental program as yet undetermined.
The record is a bit sparse, but it appears that 42-3360 remained at Wright Field through mid-July 1944, at which time it appears that it went overseas to an unknown location, transitioning through Grenier Field, New Hampshire.
As noted, where it was deployed to is unknown. The record card indicates it was returned to the U.S. in November 1944 through Bradley Field, Connecticut. At that time, it was assigned to the 110th Base Unit at Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York. It possibly was in storage at Mitchel Field, but that is speculation only. On July 13, 1945, 42-3360 was transferred to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for disposal. Although not indicated on the record card, it was sent to Searcy Field at Stillwater, Oklahoma, for storage and disposal, joining at least 474 other such surplus aircraft parked on the field.
Paul Mantz and his two partners made the first field-size purchase of surplus airplanes from the RFC on February 19, 1946. The purchase obtained 475 tactical aircraft located at Searcy Field near Stillwater, Oklahoma. This number included 78 B-17s, including 42-3360. The purchase price was $55,425.68, or an average price of $116.69 per aircraft.
For a list of the 475 aircraft purchased by serial number, see this aerovintage page.
In the oft-told story, Mantz made selling the fuel drained from the airplanes that he spent in purchasing them. He selected a dozen airplanes from the group for future use (including the B-17, one B-25H, two P-51Cs, several P-40s, A-20s, and possibly a P-39) and had his partners scrap the rest. Instead of scrapping and smelting on site, the war-weary aircraft were actually disassembled to components and loaded on freight cars for transportation to smelters.
As for the lucky dozen-plus saved aircraft, they were moved to Mantz’s base in Southern California. Most likely all were ferried, those only his B-25 and two Mustangs seemed to have had civil registrations applied. His B-17F most likely ended up at what was then the Metropolitan Airport later renamed as the San Fernando Valley Airport, and now better known as Van Nuys.
Metropolitan Airport was popular with nearby Hollywood film makers and was the scene set for many 1930s and 1940s productions. As for 42-3360, nothing is known about when or how it arrived but presumably it was in the later part of 1946 as the rows of airplanes at Searcy Field were being cleared.
Command Decision was a lesser-known story of the command conflicts in the 8th Air Force. Produced from a play, the 1948 film was overshadowed by the much-better story told by Twelve O’Clock High, filmed the following year. Starring Clark Gable, most of the aerial combat footage in the film came from AAF sources. However, a short scene in the film was shot at Metropolitan Airport in the late spring of 1948 utilizing two B-17s, one of which was 42-3360. The other was B-17G 44-83842, which recently came from a War Assets sale at Altus, Oklahoma. Owned at the time by noted aircraft broker Charles Babb, Mantz leased the airplane for the film. Both were basically set dressing for the scene shot at an unused corner of the airport, but 44-83842 did start engines for the scene. For more on this movie, see this aerovintage page. For more on the fate of the other B-17 used in the film, see this aerovintage post.
The second use of 42-3360 for a film was also shot at Metropolitan Airport. This was for Chain Lightning, a February 1950 release that starred Humphrey Bogart as a test pilot. Most of the location shots were done at the airport, including the wartime scenes that clearly identified the B-17 as being used. Filming got underway in May 1949 and was completed within a few months.
Another Paul Mantz feature in the film was the rebuilding of a surplus P-39, most likely one that he had brought from Stillwater, into a jet powered prototype. Using the landing gear and internal structure, he constructed a futuristic prototype complete with a JATO bottle that provided dramatic, if simulated, propulsion.
For more on Chain Lightning, see this aerovintage page on the film.
After the filming for Chain Lightning was completed, Mantz decided to sell the B-17. It had not yet been registered so Mantz applied for a civil registration and N67974 was issued on March 17, 1950. He then sold the airplane to California-Atlantic Airways of St. Petersburg, Florida, on May 8, 1950. California-Atlantic Airways was operated by Owen F. Williams, an individual who owned or flew at least seven civil B-17s between his first one (N67974) in 1950 and his last one in 1962.
Evidently there were typical issues with presenting a clear title on the airplane for Mantz to sell it. Though Mantz had a bill of sale for his 475 aircraft from the RFC, listed by serial number, in February 1946, that was not sufficient for documenting ownership. Mantz went back to the government disposal agency, now the General Services Administration, to get a specific bill of sale for 42-3360. That bill of sale is dated June 28, 1950…nearly two months after he had actually sold it to California-Atlantic.
Owen Williams, for his part, actually ferried the B-17 from Van Nuys to St. Petersburg via Tulsa, Oklahoma, on April 14 and 15, several weeks before the first bill of sale was executed. Paperwork took a while to catch up.
California-Atlantic Airways was organized by Williams in February 1949 at St. Petersburg. The company specialized in locating aircraft, fitting them for service, and the selling them to customers mostly located in South America. A variety of aircraft passed through the hands of California-Atlantic including the seven B-17s, one B-24J (N66569), at least one B-25 (N66572) and a P-38J (N56687).
So, N67974 arrived at St. Petersburg on April 15 and was rolled into a hangar for modification and maintenance. Not surprisingly, there does seem to be any actual record of those modifications or maintenance in the FAA file on the aircraft, nor is there a record of an airworthiness certificate ever being issued.
However, the airplane flew again by early July 1950, and made a revenue flight from St. Petersburg to Tocumen at Panama City, Panama, on July 5 with Williams at the controls.
As can be seen in the rare photo below (never before published), N67974 was significantly cleaned up and stripped of paint. All indications suggest it was modified to carry cargo with, most likely, an aft fuselage cargo door installed.
Owen Williams and his company were supplying pilots and aircraft, particularly C-46 Commandos, under contract with Lloyd Aereo Boliviano (LAB) from mid-1949 onwards, and Williams logged many cargo flights to and from domestic destinations in Bolivia in C-46s. Beginning on July 5, 1950, N67974 also flew under contract for LAB in Bolivia with Williams as the pilot. Primary routes were between Cochabamba, Trinidad, Sant Cruz, and La Paz, all cities in Bolivia.
After October 3, 1950, Williams logged his flights as flying CB-70, as 42-3360 was evidently purchased by LAB at about that time. CB-70 was the first B-17 to be added to the Bolivian civil register.
Williams continued to fly the B-17 for LAB through November 14, 1950, on the same domestic Bolivian routes, presumably on a contract arrangement with LAB. He left the airplane at Cochabamba on November 14 after having flown the airplane a total of 355 hours between July 5 and that final landing in Bolivia. Williams would continue to fly for LAB on an periodic basis in subsequent years, but that was his last logged time in CB-70.
CB-70 continued to fly cargo for LAB serving domestic Bolivian routes for the next five years. Along with a general reorganization of the Bolivian civil register, CB-70 was redesignated as CP-570 in January 1954.
There are two reports on the ultimate demise of CP-570. One (older) report by Latin American aviation historian John Davis notes it ended up crashing at or near the Riberalta Airport in northern Bolivia on June 3, 1955. The second reports that it was lost on September 21, 1955, at the La Paz airport in Bolivia. The source for that report is Geoff Goodall’s aviation website.
As can be seen, details of the accident are sketchy, but in any event it was written off as there is no further record of CP-570 after 1955.
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