B-17, #44-83785, at Golden Triangle Regional Airport in Mississippi September 2, 2018. Photo by Bill Gabbert.(Originally published on September 2, 2018. Updated on September 3, 2018 to add a photo of the aircraft taken in 1980)
Today I was surprised to see a B-17 Flying Fortress in an unexpected location — the Golden Triangle Regional Airport near Starkville, Mississippi. The old warbird had a paint scheme similar to air tankers — red at the top of the tail and red stripes on the wings. The tail and nose of the aircraft were covered with tarps, indicating work in progress.
It was Sunday and the facility was closed, so I could get no closer than 700 to 800 feet away, and the only camera I had was an iPhone 8.
B-17, #44-83785, at Golden Triangle Regional Airport in Mississippi September 2, 2018. Photo by Bill Gabbert.I grabbed some shots using the 2x lens and still had to crop them extensively, so the resolution is poor, but good enough to read the serial number: 483785. A minute of research on the internet revealed that the full number is 44-83785, and its FAA number N-207EV is currently registered to Fortress and Fighters LLC out of Stow, Massachusetts. For 15 years it was on static display at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum and according to Aerodynamic Media was acquired by the Collings Foundation in 2015 to join their popular “Wings of Freedom” tour.
B-17, #44-83785, partially obscured by two small aircraft at Golden Triangle Regional Airport in Mississippi September 2, 2018. Photo by Bill Gabbert.However since this B-17 was operated by the CIA for 10 to 15 years the original serial number may be lost to history since the agency routinely changed the painted numbers on their aircraft in order to confuse the casual observer.
It served as an air tanker for about 10 years beginning in 1969 when Intermountain Aviation converted it into a firefighting resource. At various times it used tanker numbers 22, C71, B71, and 71.
JD Davis sent us this photo of the aircraft operated by Evergreen as Tanker 22, N207EV, operating out of Hemet, California on November 26, 1980.The aircraft has an extremely interesting history.
It was built in 1945 and never served in combat. In the mid-1950s the Air Force transferred it to the CIA where it was reportedly one of five B-17’s painted black. It worked out of Taiwan and was used for dropping agents into China and to support other secret operations. In 1960 the CIA’s cover story was that it was operated by Atlantic General Enterprises, and two years later was transferred to Intermountain Aviation. Both companies had ties to the CIA. Evergreen Helicopters took it over in 1975 and later Evergreen Equity/747 in 1985.
One of its more interesting missions was in 1962 when it was used on a secret mission, code-named “Project COLDFEET” to exfiltrate two agents from an ice floe where they had obtained information at an abandoned Soviet Union drift station, NP 8, that was part of an acoustical surveillance network in the Arctic collecting information about American submarines.
A B-17 equipped with a Skyhook by the CIA.The agents had parachuted onto what remained of the floating ice after it had cracked rendering the airstrip unusable, which was the reason it was abandoned by the Soviets. After a few days the B-17, working with a P2V that had better navigation equipment, used a “Fulton Skyhook” attached to the nose to swoop up the agents who were attached to the bottom end of a rope suspended into the air by a helium filled balloon.
The video below sheds some light on how the Skyhook works.
In the 1965 movie Thunderball, James Bond was rescued by a Skyhook-equipped aircraft.
Project Coldfeet has been declassified by the CIA, which has a lengthy and fascinating description of the Skyhook developed by Robert Fulton and the training and execution of the effort to collect what turned out to be very valuable information.
Here is how the CIA summed up the results of Project COLDFEET:
“Valuable Intelligence
Operation Coldfeet, [commander of the operation Captain John] Cadwalader reported, produced intelligence “of very great value.” ONR [Office of Naval Research] learned that the Soviet station was configured to permit extended periods of silent operation, confirming the importance that the Soviets attached to acoustical work. In addition, equipment and documents obtained from NP 8 showed that Soviet research in polar meteorology and oceanography was superior to US efforts. “In general,” Cadwalader summarized, “the remarkable Soviet accomplishments in their drift stations reflect their long experience in this field and the great importance that their government attaches to it.”
“Operational Success
Beyond the intelligence obtained, Cadwalader wrote, perhaps the greatest accomplishment of Coldfeet “was to prove the practicality of paradrop and aerotriever recovery to conduct investigations in otherwise inaccessible areas.” Certainly, Coldfeet had been an outstanding operational success. The recovery of Smith and LeSchack had been especially challenging. As Admiral Coates wrote to Thorsrud, the pickup had been conducted “under stronger winds and lower visibility than had previously been attempted; nonetheless, through the exceptional skill of pilots and the coordination and efficiency of the crew, all pickups were made without a hitch, and in the best time (6 1/2 minutes) yet achieved.”(17)
“While the Skyhook system provided an important asset for all manner of intelligence operations, its utility as a long-range pickup system was somewhat undermined during the 1960s by the development of an aerial refueling capability for helicopters. Still, it appears likely that Fulton’s Skyhook did find employment in a number of specialized clandestine operations following Coldfeet, although its subsequent use by CIA and the military services remains shrouded in secrecy.”
I took the image below around 1972 at a fire on the San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California.
16 Comments
Sure do hope this ol’ girl can & will restored to show & shine @ airshows. History!! How many are left??? Betcha not more a dozen world wide unless they’re hidden in some hangar somewhere.
Nice catch.
On Aug. 23rd of this year, I was checking out my AO for who was up & around KSGU using flightradar. The usual C-172’s and the local college Cirrus’, when I heard an aircraft go over that didn’t sound like one I can usually ID. These days I’m slow as C-130 taxiing with the gear up, so when I checked the radar, it was N9323Z, American Heritage Museum’s B-17G out of Mesa, AZ. Even though where I live I am able to get a visual on most flyovers around 4500′, by the time I got my camera and zoom it was too late. It was heading NW at 150kts at 8000′. All I could find was the 411 from FAA registry.
Anyway, love those old birds and great to see the time & effort to have ’em up and useful. BTW, great website!
Very interesting! Since this aircraft was used as an air retardant bomber, I’ll guess it’s the same b-17 I pumped retardant into at the usfs base at Paine field, Everett, wa about 1976. Once the pump failed to shut off and made a mess until I got to the emergency shut off. Cool plane though.
John
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_Boeing_B-17_Flying_Fortresses About a dozen airworthy ones remain, which is awesome!
Very interesting, Bill. The video you linked to was especially informative, becuase I was familiar with the Skyhook system from my last tour in Thailand in 1972. We had several C-130’s Skyhook equipped, just like the C-130 shown in the video. Ostensibly they were part of the forces used to rescue downed pilots from North Vietnam, or other countries which our USAF aircraft “never” flew over.
I was just a flight line maintenance weenie so I know very little of the overall operations mode, but there were plenty of CIA operatives on the base whom we dealt with on a daily basis, so the aircraft might have had a “black world” mission as well as their “blue world” operation.
Sure would be a hand tool to rescue firefighters trapped in front of a fire …..
You mentioned the Intermountain and Atlantic General ties to the CIA. So I just thought I’d point out that Evergreen Aviation was a major CIA contractor. Here’s a great book listing different CIA front companies and contractors. The list is surprisingly large for such a secretive organization.
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Almost_Classified_Guide_to_CIA_Front.html?id=rdw9DwAAQBAJ
This B17 was damaged by the hurricane in Florida last year after it left Oregon. The nose had sustained bad damage. It was ferried to it’s current location.
Thanks Mike. Best update I’ve seen. Do you know what the current repair status is? Do you know if the Collings Foundation still plans to add this to the Wings of Freedom Tour?
I really don’t know. I assume they are working on it. Not much has been said. The hurricane really did a number on the nose.
Outstanding information! I’ve volunteered with the Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour. I’d like to share their extensive detail (posted in 2015), also… it includes a fascinating 9-minute video https://www.collingsfoundation.org/2015/12/b-17-flying-fortress-to-join-cf/ Here’s part of what’s in the above link…. “Organized in 1951 in a company called Western Enterprises Inc. of Taiwan, and working with crews sourced from Civil Air Transport (CAT) of Taiwan, five B-17s entered service and began training for missions over mainland China. These planes were drafted into the Republic of China Air Force (RoCAF). Between 1954 and 1959 CIA Operations flew these few B-17s extensively over the Chinese mainland. Because they were not supposed to be there, DSC_0004aCIA operatives “sanitized” the planes, preventing them from being identified as US military aircraft. The serial number and data plates were removed from all the aircraft, and their USAF military records were ended with an LI code or (loss to organization outside the USAF). These B-17’s were painted flat black and identified by three digit serial numbers. The planes had racks where a serial number could be switched by sliding in a new number plate. Our new B-17 is the sole survivor of these five special mission aircraft that fought in the cold war. It is a veteran of an unknown number of dangerous missions over mainland China hiding from Mig 17s! A survivor of secret Cold War aerial combat! The five RoCAF B-17Gs were numbered “739”, “357”, “815” and “835” and“639”(Evergreen’s B-17). During these dangerous missions three were shot down by the PLAAF or PLA (People’s Liberation Army Air Force).
•“739” lost over Fujian May 26, 1954 by AAA, crew of four killed.
•“357”shot down over Jiangxi on June 23, 1956 by a PLA Mig 17, eleven killed.
•“815” shot down over Guandong May 29, 1959 by a Mig 17PF, fourteen killed.
The fourth surviving B-17 RoCAF “835” was given to Air America in August 1960. The fifth B-17 known as “639” was later identified as 44-85531 and ended up at Clark Field, Luzon in the Philippines. It is believed this veteran of secret Chinese over-flights was retired between 1958 and 1960.
“
Great information. Thanks Greg.
My pleasure, Bill.
The info as I know it is that they wanted the B-17 out of Florida before the hurricane. While enroute to Mississippi they suffered a bird strike by a very large bird which caused extensive damage to the nose.
The plan is for this B-17 to replace B-17 “909” on the tour so “909” can undergo a complete overhaul as it has been doing duty on the tour for quite a long time.
The red markings are not for firebomber visibility, but derived from 8th Air Force identification markings. The red tail and wings stripes are consistent with an aircraft with the 490th Bomb Group, 3rd Air Division, 8th AF. The “K” doesn’t seem to be consistent – the letter should be a “G” or a “T” depending on sources.
See https://web.archive.org/web/20030715154304/http://armyairforces.com/tails.asp
Will it be going back to Florida?
This aircraft IS the one used in the Thunderball movie.
Comments are closed for this article!