Aero Vintage Books

This showed-up in Ebay -- cropped from the background of an identified B-17.

Trying to read the serial number but not hawing too much success --

1) last number looks like 4

2) Late B-17 with staggered windows

3) unmodified tail gun (so no cheyenne modification)

4) 6-digit s/n

so pretty sure the first couple of numbers would be 337

Attaching a photo-shopped, inverted copy as well.

These are the unidentified B-17G-65's from Avon Park

43-37670
43-37671
43-37679
43-37688
43-37690
43-37691
43-37692

The last three look like "274" to me.

I'll be the contrary one - I think this might be 42-102714. See what you think:

Per Osborne the number seems to fit; non-Cheyenne and served at Avon Park for just under four months (3-31 to 7-30-44) before being written off. Some of the seven-digit serials were tightly spaced so that would account for it looking like a six-digit number.

Scott (AAF Forum) and I have been debating this number for the past two days -- thinking it might be 42-102749

Could be. By the way, have you got a match for 42-10---- A-P1 photographed at Chanute Field? Osborne shows 42-102709 as going from Avon Park to Langley to Chanute, reclamation completed after that.

(Speaking of Dave Osborne's list, I've copied it as a Word doc for my personal use and I've made a ton of additions and corrections based on our research.)

Are you saying the A-P1 is 42-102709

Added this to the listing -- have a bunch of pictures for A-P1 but no complete serial number

The 2nd Squadron aircraft are the hard ones to find -- of the 53 B-17's identified (with tail id's, I only have three 2nd squadron ships)

Working on the G-35-BO's, going to be interesting what I find. Looks like a whole bunch of 42-319## ships went to Yuma and Hobbs

* * *

Osborne's list is a very good start of any B-17 research -- just wish Dave did not take so many shortcuts. Suggest you also down load a full copy of Aviation Archaeology's B-17 accident database (and it is huge) and save it as a Exel file.

* * *

Question -- did you down load all the photos from Jeff Ethels site before is disappeared. I was lazy and only did bits and pieces.

I think I saved a few photos from the site, but not many.

I'm making an educated guess on '709; ran a search for "Chanute" on Dave's list and it was the only candidate.

Bit by bit I'm making corrections; for example an obscure 1944 local newspaper article about a B-17F that made a forced landing in Kansas was reprinted in Air Classics in the mid-'70s. The article mentioned the plane carried the name Olgabelle, so I added that to the listing (it was 42-5303).

He also has 42-5484 listed as going to the RFC at Searcy, but there's film of it as a drone going splat on a mountainside at Wendover...