Bond film B-17

[Canso42]

greetings all,
While loafing and channel surfing i stumbled on the James Bond 'Thunderball' and at the end he and the babe du jour were rescued by a Coast Guard B-17 with the Y fork on the nose for snatching a balloon. Cool scene with several good shots of the low flying Fort though I couldnt get a number from the tail.
Anyone got any particulars on this warbird or the filming?

Merry Christmas all.
Doug

[cozmo]

google is your friend.


google search

other thread

wiki

N809Z

Can't vouch for the quality of the information though. It is the interweb.

I know the configuration you are talking about, just haven't found the picture.

[Steve Nelson]

From a post by Aerovin on another forum:

That was N809Z flying for Intermountain Aviation, a proprietary company of the CIA. Now marked as N207EV and on display at the Evergreen facility at McMinnville, Oregon. AAF serial is recorded as 44-83785 but more probably is 44-85531. Photos of the configuration with the Fulton Skyhook are published in various books including Final Cut. Interesting story behind the Skyhook project, including its planned use for agent extraction from remote locations.

SN

[cozmo]

Looks like the CIA scrubbed the link the other forum suggested. But, I did find this:

Kinda' fun

And has a picture.

[b29flteng]

Also note, the frogmen jump from a C-97 flown by the Wisconsin Air Guard.

[Robbie Roberts]

I have heard stories they used a variation of this extraction in Viet Nam, and other places. I remember reading it somewhere... Don't remember where off hand... Still a viable method!

Robbie

[David Legg]

There is an extensive illustrated article on this B-17 in the latest (Februray 2009) edition of FlyPast magazine.

[Obergrafeter]

You can watch this method in a movie about Viet Nam (The Green Berets)Hey if John Wayne can do it its' got to be good.[/quote]