Aero Vintage Books

I just added two posts at aerovintage: One is on another of the Owen Williams B-17s, B-17F 42-3470 that flew as N66574, OB-RAH-346, N9815F, and HK-580. It crashed in Colombia in 1962. https://www.aerovintage.com/2025/03/07/owen-williams-and-his-b-17s-n66574-the-bozeman-bomber/ The second post has in...

I just posted a brief update at aerovintage on the B-17s at the Erickson Aircraft Collection at Madras, Oregon: ex-Thunderbird, ex-Yankee Lady, and Ye Olde Pub.

https://www.aerovintage.com/2025/02/28/ ... y-28-2025/

Is that photo of 40-3092 at Yale? I have not seen any information that a B-17D went to Yale so I need to chase that down.

Thanks for the head's up.

I just added a 'deep dive' on the B-17F that Paul Mantz flew out of Stillwater, Oklahoma, in 1946 and owned until mid-1950. It appeared in two films... Command Decision and Chain Lightning , before Mantz sold it. It went to California-Atlantic Airways and Owen F. Williams in July 1950, then to Lloyd...

That photo confirms what others (mainly Steve) have reported about that unusual paint scheme worn by some B-17s. There has been much speculation and theorizing about the unusual paint scheme and this seems to finally provide a definitive answer. I'm amazed at how these long-lost photos suddenly surf...

I just added a post at aerovintage.com that explores the history of this somewhat obscure civil B-17 N7726B, that started as the XPB-1W with the Navy. It crossed paths with Owen Williams, the organizer of California-Atlantic Airways, but only briefly. It ended up in Peru flying as OB-SAB-576 but cra...

I think most of the over land shoot downs were at the Test Range at Holloway or China Lake and from what I understand, they were cleaned up fairly quickly after the tests.

Q-Birds is a new book being released next week (December 19) on the manned drones operated by the U.S. military through the years. I've gotten an advance copy of the book and find it particularly fascinating for the detail on the DB-17/QB-17 operations in the late 1940s and 1950s, but it well-cover...

Owen Williams and his California-Atlantic Airways had much involvement in surplus B-17s and other types in the time period from 1949 to 1954. He and his company owned or operated seven B-17s in those years, as well as a number of other types such as a B-24 and P-38. Little information has been avail...

For all those TBM fans out there, I just added a deep dive look at the Paul Mantz TBM-1C he owned from 1947 through its ultimate demise in an August 1958 crash while operating as an air tanker https://www.aerovintage.com/tallmantz-aviation/tbm-n9394h/ This is the 18th such 'deep dives' on tallmantz....

I just added an update at aerovintage on the current status of two of the three B-17s at the Erickson facility at Madras, Oregon... 44-85718 that will become We the People and 44-85829 that was Yankee Lady . https://www.aerovintage.com/2024/11/22/november-22-2024-update-from-madras/ Progress on both...

Just to let the few that read this know, I added a page to my Paul Mantz area trying to get together a list of the some of the principals who worked with Mantz over the years before he morphed into Tallmantz Aviation. It can be found here: https://www.aerovintage.com/tallmantz-aviation/paul-mantz-em...

The wingtip looks clipped to me.

Post-1948 B-17 with chin and top turrets...very unusual, if that is indeed a post-1948 insignia. The main fuselage door also seems to be missing or obscured by the camera angle.

I added a page to my Tallmantz Memories and Recollections section with five Paul Mantz stories provided by Jerry Farquhar, who was a good friend of Paul Mantz Jr. in the mid 1950s, and he spent some time with the Mantz family and at Orange County Airport, witnessing some of Mantz exploits during tha...

I added a post today at the aerovintage site that updates the status of the Movie Memphis Belle (44-83546, N3703G). As per Nick Veronico, who visited the museum last week and received updated information and photos, the B-17 may be flying by the spring or summer of next year. https://www.aerovintage...