Champaign Lady

Last updated
Champaign Lady
B-17 Flying Fortress Project at the Champaign Aviation Museum.jpg
Champaign Lady in 2015
Type B-17G
Flying Fortress
Manufacturer Boeing
Construction number8722
RegistrationN3154S
Serial44-85813
In service1945–57
FateCrashed, currently under restoration to flying condition
Preserved at Champaign Aviation Museum
The aircraft in 1956 in use as an engine testbed Boeing JB-17G.jpg
The aircraft in 1956 in use as an engine testbed

Champaign Lady is the name of a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress being restored at Grimes Field by the Champaign Aviation Museum. [1]

The aircraft was delivered to the United States Army Air Forces in May of 1945 as B-17G 44-85813. It was leased to Curtiss-Wright and modified as a JB-17G engine testbed. The airframe was used to test the XT-35 Typhoon turboprop, and the Wright J65 jet engine among others. [2]

The Ewing Aviation Company acquired the aircraft in 1966 and owned it until 1969 when it was owned by Ewing-Kolb Aircraft until 1970. Black Hills Aviation, owned by Arnold Kolb, then purchased the aircraft. [3]

In the late 1960s the forward engine mount was removed and the aircraft was converted into an aerial firefighter in Spearfish, South Dakota. It was used as a firefighter until 1980, when it crashed at Bear Penn, North Carolina. Remains from the aircraft were used to restore Liberty Belle . In 2005, what remained of the aircraft was bought by the Champaign Aviation Museum. [4] In conjunction with parts from several other airframes, restoration to flying condition began. In 2011, the Champaign Aviation Museum recovered parts from Talkeetna, Alaska to aid in the restoration. [2]

In 2013 nearly 90 volunteers had spent seven years restoring the B-17 at the museum and repaired around 70% of the fuselage. [5]

Related Research Articles

The Lockheed Model 10 Electra is an American twin-engined, all-metal monoplane airliner developed by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in the 1930s to compete with the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2. The type gained considerable fame as one was flown by Amelia Earhart on her ill-fated around-the-world expedition in 1937.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vultee BT-13 Valiant</span> Family of military training aircraft

The Vultee BT-13 Valiant is an American World War II-era basic trainer aircraft built by Vultee Aircraft for the United States Army Air Corps, and later US Army Air Forces. A subsequent variant of the BT-13 in USAAC/USAAF service was known as the BT-15 Valiant, while an identical version for the US Navy was known as the SNV and was used to train naval aviators for the US Navy and its sister services, the US Marine Corps and US Coast Guard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing-Stearman Model 75</span> American biplane military training aircraft in use 1934 through WWII

The Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 is a biplane formerly used as a military trainer aircraft, of which at least 10,626 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Stearman Aircraft became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely known as the Stearman, Boeing Stearman, or Kaydet, it served as a primary trainer for the United States Army Air Forces, the United States Navy, and with the Royal Canadian Air Force as the Kaydet throughout World War II. After the conflict was over, thousands of surplus aircraft were sold on the civilian market. In the immediate postwar years, they became popular as crop dusters and sports planes, and for aerobatic and wing walking use in air shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing B-29 Superfortress variants</span> US heavy bomber aircraft with 4 piston engines, 1942

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a WWII era long range, strategic heavy bomber that was produced in many experimental and production models.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar</span> American military transport aircraft

The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar was an American military transport aircraft developed from the World War II-era Fairchild C-82 Packet, designed to carry cargo, personnel, litter patients, and mechanized equipment, and to drop cargo and troops by parachute. The first C-119 made its initial flight in November 1947, and by the time production ceased in 1955, more than 1,100 C-119s had been built.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piasecki H-21</span> American military transport helicopter family

The Piasecki H-21 Workhorse/Shawnee is an American helicopter, the fourth of a line of tandem rotor helicopters designed and built by Piasecki Helicopter. Commonly called "the flying banana", it was a multi-mission helicopter, using wheels, skis and floats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yankee Air Museum</span> Aviation museum in Michigan, United States

The Yankee Air Museum is an aviation museum located at Willow Run Airport in Van Buren Township, Michigan. The museum has a small fleet of flying aircraft and a collection of static display aircraft outdoors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grumman F3F</span> US Navy biplane

The Grumman F3F was a biplane fighter aircraft produced by the Grumman aircraft for the United States Navy during the mid-1930s. Designed as an improvement on the F2F, it entered service in 1936 as the last biplane to be delivered to any American military air arm. It was retired from front line squadrons at the end of 1941 before it could serve in World War II, and replaced by the Brewster F2A Buffalo. The F3F, which inherited the Leroy Grumman-designed retractable main landing gear configuration first used on the Grumman FF, served as the basis for a biplane design ultimately developed into the much more successful F4F Wildcat that succeeded the subpar Buffalo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing P-12</span> US military fighter aircraft in service 1930-1941

The Boeing P-12/F4B was an American pursuit aircraft that was operated by the United States Army Air Corps, United States Marine Corps, and United States Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bristol Bolingbroke</span> Maritime patrol aircraft and trainer used by the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II

The Bristol Fairchild Bolingbroke is a maritime patrol aircraft and trainer used by the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. Built by Fairchild-Canada, it was a license-built version of the Bristol Blenheim Mk IV bomber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palm Springs Air Museum</span> Aviation museum in Palm Springs, California

The Palm Springs Air Museum (PSAM), is a non-profit educational institution in Palm Springs, Riverside County, California. The Museum's mission is to exhibit, educate and eternalize the role of the World War II combat aircraft and the role the pilots and American citizens had in winning the war. In addition to flying aircraft, related artifacts, artwork, and library sources are used to perpetuate American history. It contains one of the world's largest collections of flying World War II warplanes, many of which were built in Southern California. Many of these aircraft have been used by motion picture companies in movies set during the second world war.

<i>Liberty Belle</i> (aircraft) Moniker for several B-17 and B-24 WWII aircraft

Liberty Belle was a popular name for United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) aircraft during World War II; over two dozen known individual Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Consolidated B-24 Liberators used the name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hill Aerospace Museum</span> Military aviation museum in Roy, Utah

Hill Aerospace Museum is a military aviation museum located at Hill Air Force Base in Roy, Utah. It is dedicated to the history of the base and aviation in Utah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barksdale Global Power Museum</span>

The Barksdale Global Power Museum is an aviation museum run by the United States Air Force on Barksdale Air Force Base near Bossier City, Louisiana. Hosted by the 2nd Bomb Wing, it maintains a large collection of military aircraft and historical artifacts that illuminate the early days of United States military aviation, the Barksdale base, and the formations of the 2nd Bomb Wing and the 8th Air Force.

<i>Texas Raiders</i> Historic American aircraft

Texas Raiders was an American Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, a Douglas-Long Beach built B-17G-95-DL. The Commemorative Air Force’s Gulf Coast Wing "Texas Raiders" group maintained and flew the aircraft. It was hangared at General Aviation Services, which is located at Conroe-North Houston Regional Airport in Conroe, Texas. It was destroyed after a mid-air collision with a P-63 Kingcobra and subsequent crash during an air show at Dallas Executive Airport, Texas, in the early afternoon on November 12, 2022, killing all five occupants as well as the pilot of the P-63 Kingcobra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alaska Aviation Museum</span> Aviation museum

The Alaska Aviation Museum, previously the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum, is located on Lake Hood Seaplane Base in Anchorage, Alaska. Its mission since 1988, is to preserve, display, and honor Alaska's aviation heritage, by preserving and displaying historic aircraft, artifacts, and memorabilia, and to foster public interest in aviation and its history. The museum has over thirty aircraft on display, a restoration hangar, flight simulators, two theaters, and a Hall of Fame. It provides an emphasis on historic aircraft, aviation artifacts, and memorabilia that contributed to the development and progress of aviation in Alaska, including Bush flying, and the World War II Army base on Adak Island.

The Darwin Aviation Museum, previously known as the Australian Aviation Heritage Centre, displays aircraft and aircraft engines of relevance to the Northern Territory and aviation in Australia generally. It is located in Darwin suburb of Winnellie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Champaign Aviation Museum</span> Aviation museum in Ohio, United States

The Champaign Aviation Museum is an aviation museum in Urbana, Ohio. It is situated on the north end of Grimes Field municipal airport, roughly a mile from central Urbana. The museum is known primarily for its ongoing restoration of a B-17 Flying Fortress to flying condition. It is also a component of the National Aviation Heritage Area, a federally designated heritage area primarily centered around sites pertaining to the Wright brothers.

Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress No. <i>44-83690</i> United States historic place

Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress No.44-83690 is a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber currently undergoing restoration at the Museum of Aviation near Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. It was built as a B-17G-95-DL by the Douglas Aircraft Company and delivered for use on May 9, 1945. It was flown to Grissom Air Force Base for display as a museum piece in 1961. The plane was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. It was moved to the Museum of Aviation in August 2015.

References

  1. "Restoration Update – Boeing B-17G "Champaign Lady"". Warbirds News. 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  2. 1 2 Deyoe, Sue; Talkeetna, KTNA- (2011-08-02). "B-17 Bomber Remains to be Airlifted from Talkeetna to Ohio". Alaska Public Media. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  3. Terry Turner. "Champaign Lady". Historynet. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  4. "Aerial Visuals - Airframe Dossier - Boeing JB-17G Fortress, s/n 44-85813 USAAF, c/n 8722, c/r N6694C". www.aerialvisuals.ca. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  5. Andrew McGinn (2013-01-04). "Work continues to restore the B-17 Champaign Lady". Springfields News Sun. Cox Media Group. Retrieved 2019-11-14.