An update on Spirit of Cleveland

[Steve Birdsall]

Thanks to the keen eye of Jack Fellows, we might have finally identified the B-17F Spirit of Cleveland.



I suspect it is actually 42-2964, the first B-17F built by Douglas at Long Beach, which I believe was delivered to Wright Field for tests on July 1, 1942. It would have been a perfect choice to send to Cleveland for the July 4 celebrations and christening.

Not much is known about 42-2964, but In November 1943 it was abandoned by its crew in bad weather over Maryland.

So maybe Spirit of Cleveland, intended as a "gift" for General MacArthur, never went overseas at all.

[terveurn]

What is the back story on the identification ?

[Steve Birdsall]

Just a hunch I suppose, based on certain details that would be clearer if we could find better versions of the available images, even censored ones.

[Steve Birdsall]

To expand on this a little bit . . . Spirit of Cleveland is definitely a Douglas-built B-17F and, to my knowledge, there was only one B-17F-1-DL operational on July 4, 1942 when those photos were taken: 41-2964.

Although I don't have access to complete production records and, in the midst of moving house, most of what I do have is in boxes, I think I'm on firm ground with this.