![]() "It is a truly amazing airplane to fly," said Sean Elliott, an EAA vice president who regularly flies the aircraft on tour and gives flight tests to other B-17 pilots. The aircraft is now more than ninety percent accurate to its wartime construction, with allowances for updated technology in such areas as navigation and brakes. It took EAA more than a decade to fully restore the airplane. Time and finances were against the private group, though, so it donated the aircraft to EAA in 1981 with the provision it be restored to flying status. In the late 1970s, the aircraft was purchased by an Oklahoma group to be restored as a World War II bomber. It was eventually sold as surplus for just $750, and spend nearly 40 years doing assorted jobs ranging from a fire bomber in western United States to a mapping aircraft over the Middle East. The bomber was build in 1944 and delivered to the U.S. This airplane had an interesting life before arriving in 1981 at EAA, an international organization of more than 180,000 members dedicated to recreational flying. This particular B-17 currently on national tour is named Aluminum Overcast, in honor of the term coined by a wartime reporter who witnessed the flying armada of bombers overhead and remarked on the Aluminum Overcast that would soon be flying over Germany. "It had a great record, was nice to fly and very well built." Bob Abresch of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who piloted the B-17s for the 398th Bomb Group during World War II. ![]() Still, the airplane itself evokes strong memories for those who came back from the conflict. That made the odds not in favor of those 18 to 25 year-old men who manned the airplane. More than 4,000 were lost during the war, mostly in high danger bombing missions over Europe. More than 12,000 of these bombers were build during the early 1940s.
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