B-17 (PB-1G) Lifeboat
The majestic and famous Boeing B-17 "Flying
Fortress" joined the Coast Guard's aircraft inventory beginning in
1945. After the war, the Coast Guard realized the need for a long
range search and rescue aircraft to supplement its peace-time SAR
capabilities. Concurrently, the Army Air Force was retiring thousands
of the four-engine bombers, many still "factory-new" as they were
delivered too late to see action. The Coast Guard, always quick to
take advantage of anything they could get inexpensively, requested that the
Army Air Force loan eighteen of the bombers to the Coast Guard. The
powerful, long-legged and stable bombers proved to be excellent additions to
the Coast Guard's aviation fleet.
The Army Air Force had developed a lifeboat that was slung
underneath the fuselage of a B-17 that would be dropped to survivors in the
water. A parachute rig would deploy from the lifeboat after its
release and allow it to descend safely to the surface. The Coast Guard
adopted the lifeboat for many of its PB-1Gs (the naval designation for the
Flying Fortress). Additionally, these aircraft were also used for the
International Ice Patrol while another of the versatile PB-1Gs was modified
to carry a nine-lens, 1.5 million dollar, aerial camera for mapping
purposes. Interestingly, the Norden bombsight, used by the B-17's in
their bombing campaign against Nazi Germany, was kept with this PB-1G and
used to pinpoint targets for the camera.
The
PB-1Gs served with the Coast Guard from 1945 through 1959. The final
flight of the last PB-1G in Coast Guard service ended at 1:46 p.m. on
Wednesday 14 October 1959 when PB-1G 77254 landed at
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