Warbird Information Exchange

"Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" joined the Coast Guard's aircraft inventory beginning in 1945. After the war, the Coast Guard realized the need for a long range search and rescue aircraft to supplement its peace-time SAR capabilities. Concurrently, the Army Air Force was retiring thousands of the four-engine bombers, many still "factory-new" as they were delivered too late to see action. The Coast Guard, always quick to take advantage of anything they could get inexpensively, requested that the Army Air Force loan eighteen of the bombers to the Coast Guard. The powerful, long-legged and stable bombers proved to be excellent additions to the Coast Guard's aviation fleet.

The Army Air Force had developed a lifeboat that was slung underneath the fuselage of a B-17 that would be dropped to survivors in the water. A parachute rig would deploy from the lifeboat after its release and allow it to descend safely to the surface. The Coast Guard adopted the lifeboat for many of its PB-1Gs (the naval designation for the Flying Fortress). Additionally, these aircraft were also used for the International Ice Patrol while another of the versatile PB-1Gs was modified to carry a nine-lens, 1.5 million dollar, aerial camera for mapping purposes. Interestingly, the Norden bombsight, used by the B-17s in their bombing campaign against Nazi Germany, was kept with this PB-1G and used to pinpoint targets for the camera.

The PB-1Gs served with the Coast Guard from 1945 through 1959. The final flight of the last PB-1G in Coast Guard service ended at 1:46 p.m. on Wednesday 14 October 1959 when PB-1G 77254 landed at AIRSTA Elizabeth City. She had faithfully served the nation's oldest continuous sea service for fourteen years."

Me and my aviation-minded pals at Hamilton High School used to hitchike down Pico to Santa Monica Municipal just to hang out around the airplanes. One day--must have been around 1957--to our great suprise and pleasure, we ran into a B-17 parked behind a southside hanger--in fact, one of the Coast Guard PB-1gs. The crew chief was a friendly guy--he handed us out Phillips screwdrivers and told us to tighten every Phillips head we could find on the outside of the airplane. Later, he let us run around inside, playing 12 O'Clock High. We were shouting orders and chatter to each other down the voice intercoms. The Crew Chief pointed out they were the pee tubes.

Me and my aviation-minded pals at Hamilton High School used to hitchike down Pico to Santa Monica Municipal just to hang out around the airplanes. One day--must have been around 1957--to our great suprise and pleasure, we ran into a B-17 parked behind a southside hanger--in fact, one of the Coast Guard PB-1gs. The crew chief was a friendly guy--he handed us out Phillips screwdrivers and told us to tighten every Phillips head we could find on the outside of the airplane. Later, he let us run around inside, playing 12 O'Clock High. We were shouting orders and chatter to each other down the voice intercoms. The Crew Chief pointed out they were the pee tubes.

Me and my aviation-minded pals at Hamilton High School used to hitchike down Pico to Santa Monica Municipal just to hang out around the airplanes. One day--must have been around 1957--to our great suprise and pleasure, we ran into a B-17 parked behind a southside hanger--in fact, one of the Coast Guard PB-1gs. The crew chief was a friendly guy--he handed us out Phillips screwdrivers and told us to tighten every Phillips head we could find on the outside of the airplane. Later, he let us run around inside, playing 12 O'Clock High. We were shouting orders and chatter to each other down the voice intercoms. The Crew Chief pointed out they were the pee tubes.

Me and my aviation-minded pals at Hamilton High School used to hitchike down Pico to Santa Monica Municipal just to hang out around the airplanes. One day--must have been around 1957--to our great suprise and pleasure, we ran into a B-17 parked behind a southside hanger--in fact, one of the Coast Guard PB-1gs. The crew chief was a friendly guy--he handed us out Phillips screwdrivers and told us to tighten every Phillips head we could find on the outside of the airplane. Later, he let us run around inside, playing 12 O'Clock High. We were shouting orders and chatter to each other down the voice intercoms. The Crew Chief pointed out they were the pee tubes.

Sober--just clumsy.

I hope you realize you’re the ONLY one to have done that.

Hmm...?

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

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