Aero Vintage Books

Provided below is a listing of those B-17s that were released by the U.S. government’s Reconstruction Finance Corp. or, later, the War Assets Administration for non-flying memorial, display or educational purposes. The provisions for these transfers were contained in Surplus Property Administration Regulation Number 4, in a subpart entitled “Disposals for Educational and Public Health Purposes,” issued in May 1945 and applied primarily to technical training programs. Receiving institutions had to pay transportation fees and a nominal disposal cost to obtain the aircraft. However, pricing policy provided a B-17 for as little as $350 and a new Pratt & Whitney R-4360 for $10. Central to the transfer of the aircraft was that the receiving institution had to sign a statement that the aircraft was for non-flight purposes and had to be rendered non-airworthy or dismantled prior to disposing of the aircraft when the institution completed its use of the material. In December 1945, the program was expanded to include a wide variety of public institutions that enabled local municipalities to obtain aircraft for memorial use. In all cases, the agreements retained the scrapping provision that restricted any further transfers of the aircraft unless it was scrapped. Title was retained by the U.S. government.

In many cases, these airplanes were later “sold” by the institutions, who forgot about or ignored the scrapping provisions. The new owners usually then had to make large payments to the federal government to actually gain the legal title. There were dozens of such B-17s (and lesser numbers of other types, i.e. P-51s, B-24s) transferred, many of which disappeared from sight in the early 1950s. This listing is an attempt to put together a comprehensive listing of these obscure aircraft.