Early history The plane was built in 1945 under license from
Boeing by
Douglas Aircraft Corporation at its plant in
Long Beach, California. One of the last 20 B-17s built by Douglas, it was delivered to the
U.S. Army Air Forces as B-17G-95-DL 44-83872 on July 12, 1945. On July 21, 1945, all 20 were transferred to the U.S. Navy to serve as
PB-1W patrol bombers. 44-83872 was assigned the U.S. Navy
Bureau of Aeronautics Number (BuNo) 77235. The Navy used PB-1Ws as the original Airborne Warning and Command System or
AWACS aircraft, as well as for
electronic countermeasures,
anti-submarine warfare and
hurricane hunters. The Navy sealed up the bomb bay doors and installed wing-mounted drop tanks and the AN/APS-20 Seasearch
radar equipment in a bulbous housing below the former bomb bay.
Radio direction finder (RDF),
instrument landing system (ILS), and long-range navigation (
LORAN) were also installed at this time. The aircraft was left unpainted, but waxed to prevent corrosion, and kept its original
Browning M2 machine guns. The plane was kept in
Brownwood, Texas, because CAF's home airfield in
Mercedes, Texas, was too short for a B-17.
Texas Raiders rejoined the air show circuit in 2010, just in time to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first flight of the B-17. It traveled to the
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh airshow, where it was featured in AeroShell Square. That summer, the plane appeared at Thunder Over Michigan as one of eight restored B-17s, flying in formation with
Yankee Lady, movie
Memphis Belle,
Nine-O-Nine,
Aluminum Overcast,
Liberty Belle,
Thunderbird, and
Sentimental Journey. On May 8, 2015,
Texas Raiders flew in the Arsenal of Democracy Flyover in Washington, D.C., an event that commemorated the 70th anniversary of
Victory in Europe Day (VE Day). The Gulf Coast Wing commissioned a complete new paint job and brand new nose art for
Texas Raiders in late 2016, costing $190,000. The plane was moved in March 2017 to General Aviation Services at Conroe North Houston Regional Airport in
Conroe, Texas. Beginning in 2018, organizers worked with an Air Force parachute team to conduct demonstration skydives from the bomb bay during air shows. == Destruction ==