JORGE A. DIETSCH MEMORIAL COLLECTION
No. 7951. Boeing 299-O B-17G Flying Fortress (N3509G c/n 8667) "Miss Angela"
Photographed at Chino, California, USA, May 18, 2003, by Jorge Dietsch

Boeing 299-O B-17G Flying Fortress

05/31/2008. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "Delivered to the USAAF after V-E Day (Victory in Europe, May 8, 1945) the aircraft was immediately placed in storage. Later it was converted to a TB-17G, thereafter it was converted to a VB-17G and used as a VIP transport by a two star general in the Caribbean Air Command of the 6th Air Force. It also served in Brazil assigned to the Air Section of the JBUSMC (Joint Brazil-United States Military Commission), transporting USAAF/USAF and US Embassy personnel. While flown by George I. Meleski it was damaged due to mechanical failure at Santos Dumont, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

On August 14, 1959 it was sold to Ace Smelting Inc, Phoenix, Arizona and it received its still current registration N3509G. It was sold to Sonora Flying Service of Columbia, California on September 20, 1960. On May 25, 1961 it was acquired by Leo J. Demers of Madras, Oregon and converted to a tanker and listed as number 97. It was renumbered Tanker E16 when it was bought by Aero Union Corporation of Chico, California on April 29, 1966.

On June 2, 1972 it was sold again, this time to Central Air Service of Rantoul, Kansas and was flown as Tanker number F42, number 42, and number 102. From July 6, 1978 to June 15, 1981 it was owned by Western Air Contractors of American Fork, Utah, subsequently it was sold to Westernair of Albequerque, New Mexico. Aircraft Component Equipment Supplies of Klamath Falls, Oregon bought it on March 28, 1982 and subsequently stored it at Stockton, California in 1984.

In July 1990 it was acquired by Arthur W. McDonnell of Mojave, California, who sold it to Florida Aircraft Leasing Corporation of Miami, Florida in the following February. Two months later it was acquired by The Lone Star Flight Museum of Galveston, Texas and World Jet International of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and it was named Miss Museum of Flying. It went across the big pond in October 1992 and was owned by the Warbirds Of Great Britain at Bournemouth, England.

It returned to the USA in 1992 and since has been based at the Palm Springs Air Museum, Palm Springs, California, named Miss Angela. Presently it is finished in the markings of the 34th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force, 1945."


Created June 30, 2008