B-17G "Texas Raiders" return to flight October 14th, 2009!

After Boeing and Vega had ceased production of B-17s, “Texas Raiders” was built in 1944 by the Douglas Aircraft Company at their Long Beach plant. Built under contract number AC-1862, she was one of the last 20 B-17s built, and was delivered on July 12, 1945 to the U.S. Army Air Corps as
B-17G-95-DL 44-83872. Her fuselage number was 2987, and factory number was 32513.
Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) had past, and the USAAC did not have a need for more of the heavy bombers, so on July 21 of 1945, all 20 of these Douglas B-17s were transferred to the U.S. Navy to serve as PB-1W Patrol Bombers. B-17G #44-83872 was assigned the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics Number (BuNo) 77235.

BuNo. 77235, known as “TE-12” flew her only combat patrols with VW-1 out of NAS Atsugi, supporting the forces fighting in the Korean Conflict.

Fast forward to her retirement from the service in 1956, and it should be no surprise that she was operated as an aerial surveying platform before the Confederate Air Force purchased her for $50,000.00 USD in 1967.

She has flown in countless airshows and has done many overflights honoring significant people or events. She has had the Army Golden Knights parachute from her, portrayed the B-17s coming from the mainland during the Tora! Tora! Tora! act, has stared in movies and TV shows, an has even had an in-flight wedding performed on her!

The most interesting historical tidbit about Texas Raiders that is usually overlooked, is that out of 12 or so airworthy B-17s, TR is the only former PB-1W still flying, which also makes her the oldest AWACS/C&C/Hurricane Hunter aircraft still flying!

In 2001, the FAA issued an Airworthiness Directive (# 2001-22-06) grounding all B-17s, citing corrosion in the wings. After testing, it was determined that Texas Raiders did indeed have corrosion, pitting, and cracks on the wing root hardware, so replacement parts had to be re-manufactured and certified for flight. It was further decided that since she would be out of service for an extended period that she should be completely refurbished. This project will have cost over 500,000 U.S. dollars by the time that it is complete, but Texas Raiders is flying again in time to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first flight of the B-17.

N7227C in her early years with the CAF:

Texas Raiders performs the one wheel landing during the Tora act circa 1971:

Early in her restoration at KHOU:

The 1st time all 4 engines had been started at the same time in many years (June 13th, 2009)

Texas Raiders returns to flight, October 14th, 2009!!

Texas Raiders is currently painted in the combat colors commemorating the U.S. Army Air Corps’
“Mighty” 8th Air Force, 1st Bomb Wing/1st Air Division; 1st Combat Bombardment Wing; 381st Bombardment Group (Heavy) “Triangle L”, 533rd Bombardment Squadron’s plane “hull number” X.