Greg Strathatos and B-17 Archaeology  spent a week this month doing a beautiful polish of B-17G 44-85778 (N3509G) at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Marked as Miss Angela, this B-17 is in excellent condition (though not currently flying) and it is now that much better after the B-17 Archaeology group finished its work.

This B-17G was late production output from Vega at Burbank and delivered on June 6, 1945. It’s USAF service was primarily as a VB-17G VIP transport, and was sold as surplus in 1959. It was used as both sprayer and air tanker until 1982. It then spent nearly a decade in the Aero Nostalgia hangar at Stockton, California, where plans were made and discarded. One of the plans was for an around-the-world flight that never materialized. It was sold in 1993 to Pond Warbirds and made part of the Palm Springs Air Museum collection. After Bob Pond passed away in 2007, ownership of the aircraft was slated to pass to the museum but complications have kept the airplane on the ground. It is expected that at some point all will be resolved and it will return to the air again. As noted, the airplane appears in excellent condition but will probably require the compliance with a complicated and expensive FAA Airworthiness Directive for the wing attach fittings. These things are not easy…