Texas Raiders

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Flying at the Wings Over Houston air show, October 2011

The Commemorative Air Force’s Gulf Coast Wing "Texas Raiders" group maintains and flies the former PB-1W / B-17G Flying Fortress named "Texas Raiders". She is hangared at Tomball Jet Center which is located at David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport (KDWH) in Tomball, Texas.

History of the B-17

Over 75 years ago, the Boeing Airplane Company designed the B-17 for a contract that called for 200 of the aircraft, and by the end of production, Boeing had built a total of 6,981 B-17s. The Douglas Aircraft Company and the Vega Aircraft Corporation (a subsidiary of the Lockheed Aircraft Company) together built another 5,745 B-17s under license from Boeing. About 50 assorted B-17 variants survive today, most being on static display at museums or on air force base air park displays. Of those numbers, only about 10 are flyable at any given time.

“Texas Raiders” was built in 1944 by the Douglas Aircraft Company at their Long Beach, California plant. Both the Boeing and the Lockheed Vega companies had already closed their production lines by this time. She was one of the last 20 B-17s built by Douglas, which makes her the youngest of the B-17s currently flying.

Built under contract number AC-1862, she was one of the last 20 B-17s built by Douglas 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.

Airborne Early Warning Electronics Development

Project Cadillac

“Project Cadillac”, an inter-service committee, based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory or “Rad Lab”, worked closely with the Naval Research Laboratory at NAS Anacostia in Washington, D.C. Together, they demonstrated the ability to place RADAR in an aircraft, and send the video image via the then state of the art technology, a FM TV data link to the navy surface fleet’s Combat Information Center (CIC) for assessment and reaction. The test bed for the project was a Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bomber, modified with a belly-mounted RADAR housing, and redesignated the TBM-3W. The Grumman AF-2W Guardian would later replace the Avengers in the fleet.

The idea was a success, but the RADAR aircraft could not venture far from the fleet without disrupting the TV signal. The fleet needed farther reaching capabilities to have the early warning of intruders that was envisioned. Due to the TV signal’s range issues, it was determined that command and control needed to be aloft with the airborne sensors, letting the data be interpreted and then relayed via long range radio.

Project Cadillac II

“Project Cadillac II” was tasked with combining long range scouting and patrol, airborne enemy threat detection, electronic countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare, and hurricane hunter capabilities into a single aircraft. Instead of sending the intelligence to a ship’s CIC, the aircraft would have its own CIC on board, making it a flying command center. The Navy had developed the first AWACS aircraft.

The PB-1W is Born

The Navy decided to use the B-17 to modify into the PB-1W for use as the original Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. First delivered to Patrol Bomber Squadron 101 (VPB-101) in the spring of 1946, the Navy was to eventually have a total of twenty two out of thirty one Navy owned B-17s in their inventory fully upgraded to PB-1Ws. Late in 1946, VPB-101 would move to NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island, and be redesignated Airborne Early Warning Development Squadron Four (VX-4).

The Naval Air Material Center’s Naval Aircraft Modification Unit (NAMU) at Johnsville, Pennsylvania modified the B-17s to PB-1W specification by sealing up the bomb bay doors and installing 300 gallon drop tanks on each wing, in addition to the “Tokyo Tanks” mounted in the outer wings to give her longer range and loiter times on station. The 3,400 gallons of fuel gave the PB-1W the endurance of 22+ hours of flight time. She was not immediately painted, but was waxed to prevent corrosion. Later in her career, she would have her armor and guns removed, and also be painted gloss Navy blue.

The one-megawatt AN/APS-20 Seasearch S-band Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) manufactured by Hazeltine/General Electric, was then ventral-mounted in a bulbous housing below what used to be the bomb bay. The RADAR relay transmitter, an advanced version of Identification, Friend or Foe (IFF), Radio direction finder (RDF), instrument landing system (ILS), and long range navigation (LORAN) was also installed at that time.

In the nose of the PB-1W, the chin turret and Carl L. Norden Company bomb sight were removed, while the auto pilot remained. The Bombardier’s station itself remained for a look out post while on anti-submarine warfare (ASW) or airborne search and rescue (SAR) missions, and the navigator’s position was left unchanged. In the Cockpit, the top gun turret and armor were removed. The bomb bay had 2 RADAR Consoles on either side of the walkway with the operators facing aft, and their backs against the cockpit bulkhead. The CIC Officer's position was at the right rear of the bomb bay and the left contained electronic and radio equipment. In the Radio Room, the radio operator's table was turned so that the operator faced outboard. The waist guns and ball turret were removed, and bench seats were installed at the waist windows for observers. Floating smoke markers were carried to be dropped during ASW or SAR missions. A latrine and kitchen area was included in the waist section. The tail guns and armor were removed, leaving room for extra parts, or cargo to be carried.

The U.S.A.A.F. B-17 bomber crew was usually 10. After the PB-1W conversion, the navy flight crew consisted of 6 officers, (Pilot in Command, Second in Command, Navigator, CIC Officer, and 2 RADAR Operators/Controllers) and 5 enlisted men (Plane Captain, 2nd Mechanic, Electronics Technician, and 2 Radio Operators).

Texas Raiders' Service History

VX-4

May 1947 saw BuNo. 77235 assigned to VX-4, which was tasked with the development of airborne early warning systems at NAS Quonset Point, a base both on the front lines of anti-submarine warfare and on the cutting edge of research in airborne RADAR and electronics systems. Her first missions were flying patrols off of the east coast to extend the coverage of the “Pine Tree Line” along the 50th parallel. VX-4 flew in conjunction with the first two cold war-era RADAR networks known as "Lashup" and "Permanent", and was also an important component within the nationwide Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) air defense system. VX-4 flew with the tail code “XD”.

VW-2

VX-4 relocated to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland in 1948. While at “Pax River”, VX-4 was redesignated as Airborne Early Warning Squadron Two (VW-2) where she still supported the Atlantic fleet. This is where BuNo. 77235 spent most of her Navy Career. In June 1953, she was once again overhauled, this time at the Naval Air Material Center (NAMC) at NAS Norfolk, Virginia and then transferred to VW-1 in February 1954 to replace BuNo 77240, another PB-1W that had transferred to NAS San Diego.

VW-1

Her last military assignment was with VW-1 the "Typhoon Trackers" based at NAS Atsugi, located in the shadows of Mt. Fuji, on the main island of Japan. Ironically, the base was originally built in 1938 by the Japanese Imperial Navy as Emperor Hirohito's Naval Air Base to oppose the threat of American bombing raids. Besides AWACS missions, the Navy had flown missions for the Joint Hurricane Warning Service since 1943, providing airborne weather data gathering on tropical cyclones in the Pacific. BuNo 77240 took her turns at these flights as well. While assigned to VW-1, she was assigned the new tail code of “TE” and was aircraft number 12 (callsign: TE-12). It is from there that BuNo. 77235 flew her only combat patrols, supporting the forces fighting in the Korean War.

The End of an Era

As electronic technology improved, the size of the electronics did not. Lack of scalability and lack of a pressurized cabin made the Navy look to the only aircraft that could logically follow in the steps of the “Queen of the Skies”, the Lockheed Constellation. In January 1955, VW-1 phased out PB-1W operations for the new Lockheed PO-1W, a Lockheed 749 Constellation, which was later redesignated the WV-1. The follow on aircraft to the WV-1 was the WV-2, based on the Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation airframe. “Whiskey Victors”, as the aviating sailors called them, were much more comfortable for long range patrols, although the PB-1Ws were considered much more favorable to fly by the pilots. The Connie would carry a crew of 22, 6,500+ pounds of electronic equipment, and it was alleged to have been able to power a small city.

Mustered Out

January 1955, BuNo 77235 was placed in Flyable Storage Status at NAS Litchfield Park, Arizona, until officially stricken from the books on July 10, 1956. She was one of the last B-17s left in U.S. service at the time, and said to be one of only 3 PB-1Ws saved from the scapyard or scavenging, and is currently the only flyable example of the type. She mustered out having 3257 hours flying time accrued on the airframe.

From PB-1W to Aerial Surveying

Aero Service Corporation of Philadelphia, PA bought BuNo 77235 for $17,510.00 on October 1 of 1957. U.S. NAS North Island, California is listed on the C.A.A. Bill of Sale. She was civil registered as N7227C, classified as restricted by the F.A.A., and used as a high altitude aerial surveying platform.

At different times, N7227C had laser equipment, Doppler radar, a sensor pressure reference unit, blue spectrograph, Fairchild KC-4, T-11, and Wild RC-8 type 35mm cameras, a Bell and Howell 11Q strip camera, a gyroscopic camera mount, a magnetometer with a trailing cone probe, a Zenith photometer, and an airborne profile recorder probe in the nose installed. A large cargo door was installed on the port side of the aircraft, along with cargo flooring. Aero Service Corporation was bought by Western Geophysical, a company that specialized in using reflection seismology to explore for petroleum. Western Geophysical was later sold to Litton Industries. Even though it had changed owners twice, Aero Service Corporation, renamed ASC Inc., but still based in Philadelphia, sold N7227C to the Confederate Air Force on September 2, 1967.

N7227C Joins the Confederate Air Force

The Confederate Air Force, based at Rebel Field in Mercedes, Texas paid Aero Service Corporation $50,000 for N7227C. At that time, she was white on top with gray undersides and red striping and she also had a large United States flag on the tail. A Confederate States of America Battle Flag was added to it after the CAF purchase. She was repainted olive drab with a dark green camouflage pattern. It was decided that they would not choose to commemorate a single particular aircraft that flew during World War II, so she was named "Texas Raiders" during her first CAF restoration in the 1960s. Nose art was later applied, consisting of the Texas flag and “Texas Raiders” in white block lettering.

Commemorating the 305th Bomb Group Triangle G

In 1970 photos, Texas Raiders is shown with serial 41-24592, and flying in the colors of the "Mighty 8th" Air Force; 1st Bomb Wing/1st Air Division’s; 40th Combat Bombardment Wing; 305th Bombardment Group (Heavy) with the “Triangle G" tail code. Their motto was “Can Do”. The KY-D coding represented the 366th Bombardment Squadron’s plane "hull number" D. The actual aircraft that was KY-D during WWII was 42-30650, commanded by Lt. Verl Fisher. The 305th flew out of USAAF Station 105 Chelveston, England and their squadron callsign at the time was “Grubby”.

At some point, a scantily clad cowgirl with six-guns in hand, next to a Texas flag replaced the original nose art. A United States Air Force Rockwell B-1 bomber later copied the name and loosely copied the nose art as well. Texas Raiders has undergone many changes to put her back to the B-17 G model configuration that flew with the United States Army Air Corps in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) under the "Mighty" Eighth Air Force.

She was assigned to the Gulf Coast Wing by the CAF in 1972, and remains in their care today. In the early 1970s, she was based at Scholes Field (KGLS) at Galveston, Texas before moving to Ellington Field (KEFD) in Houston, Texas. In 1977, the fully operational Sperry ball turret, a partial top turret, and tail guns were installed. Texas Raiders underwent a $300,000 restoration and rebuild project from 1983 to 1986, which saw the cargo door and cargo flooring removed, original flooring replaced, as well as the bomb bay, operating bomb bay doors, and the bombardier’s chin mounted machine gun turret restored. A $180,000.00+ interior overhaul and new paint job was completed in 1993, with the current nose art being applied at that time.

Commemorating the 381st Bomb Group Triangle L

Texas Raiders is currently painted in the combat colors commemorating the U.S. Army Air Corps’ 8th Air Force, 1st Bomb Wing/1st Air Division; 1st Combat Bombardment Wing "triangle"; 381st Bombardment Group (Heavy) “L", 533rd Bombardment Squadron's "VP" plane "hull number" "X". She now retains her proper original Douglas factory serial number, 44-83872.

In 1942, the 381st Bombardment Group was formed at Pyote Air Force Base, Texas which was nicknamed the “Rattlesnake Bomber Base” due to the amount of rattlesnake dens in the area. After training in the U.S., the 381st was assigned to USAAF Station 167, Ridgewell Airfield in Essex, England, where they amassed a very impressive unit history. The 381st would later become the 381st Strategic Missile Wing, maintaining LGM-25C Titan II intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Currently, the 381st Training Group (381 TRG) is based at Vandenburg AFB, and performs space and missile training for Air Force Space Command.

The original B-17 coded VP-X was Boeing B-17F serial 42-29983, named "Iris", and later renamed "Uncle Sammy". She was lost on August 17th of 1943. Douglas built B-17G serial 42-37719 was named “Dinah Mite” for a time and then “Hellcat”. She was lost on January 11th of 1944. Lockheed Vega built B-17G, serial 42-97503 was named "Princess Pat". She was listed as salvaged on 3/25/45. The last VP-X was Boeing B-17G serial number 43-39300, which retired back to the United States in May 1945. The 533rd Bomb Squadron’s callsign was “Tabby”, so these "VP-X" aircraft would have been known as “Tabby X-Ray”.

Current status

Texas Raiders has finished a lengthy and costly main spar replacement project, started in 2001 due to the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Airworthiness Directive # 2001-22-06, citing corrosion in the wings. TR was flown to south Houston's Hobby Airport (KHOU) where she would be based for over 5 years. 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 from scratch. To complicate the process, the design had to be approved by the FAA. It was further decided that since she would be out of service for an extended period that she should be completely refurbished. This project ended up costing well over 500,000 dollars by the time the project was completed.

Texas Raiders returned to flight again on October 14, 2009, and then debuted at her "home airshow", Wings Over Houston later that month. March 2010 found Texas Raiders relocating to a spacious hangar at the Tomball Jet Center in David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport (KDWH) in Tomball, Texas.[1]

Texas Raiders rejoined the air show circuit in 2010, just in time to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first flight of the B-17. She has traveled to the world renown Experimental Aircraft Association EAA AirVenture Oshkosh airshow, where she was featured in AeroShell Square.[2] She has also participated in the Gathering of 'Fortresses at the Thunder Over Michigan air show, and as a tribute to the unit that she memorializes, appeared at the 381st Bomb Squadron's reunion. In 2012, she participated in the airshow at Dyess Air Force Base. TR was hosted by the 436th Training Squadron, which is the unit whose linage goes back to the 88th Reconnaissance Squadron that Texas Raiders commemorates while performing in the Tora Tora Tora act.

See also

  • Historic transport

References

  1. ↑ "Refurbished B-17 headed for Hooks Airport " Ultimate Tomball
  2. ↑ "Seventy-five years of Flying Fortresses " AirVenture News

External links

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