The aircraft has since been acquired by the Collings Foundation and was last reported, March 2023, dismantled in one of the American Aero Services hangars at New Smyrna Beach, FL. (Credit: Ralph M. Pettersen).

Delivehred to the USAAF as 44-83785 in 1945. To the Republic of China Air Force as 835 in 1956. To Air America as N809Z in 1960. Fitted with the Fulton Skyhook recovery system. To Intermountain Aviation in 1961. Featured in the James Bond film Thunderball in 1965. Modified to a firebomber in 1969. Intermountain merged into Evergreen Helicopters in 1975 Reregistered as N207EV in 1979. Restored to military configuration at Marana, AZ in 1989/1990. To the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, OR in 1996 then to the Collings Foundation in 2015.

Collings Foundation B-17 has been stored disassembled at one of the American Aero Services hangars for quite a number of years.

Seen under restoration to military configuration after retirement by Evergreen Helicopters. (Uploaded in black-and-white as original slide had a strong blue tint.) After this restoration, N207EV was flown for a few years before moving to the Evergreen Museum in Oregon for display. In 2015 it was bought by the Collings Foundation and is currently (2023) planned to be returned to flight-worthy status, replacing B-17 N93012, which crashed at Bradley International Airport on 2 October 2019.

Coming from Greybull we just outdrove the snowstorm coming in from the right.

Evergreen's B17 during maintenance.

Seen soon after removal of Evergreen paintwork and prepartion in USAAF insignia - my Oct 1979 photo gives the intriguing earlier history of this aircraft. Displayed inside the Evergreen Aviation Museum, McMinnville, OR from 2002, although potentially still airworthy

Looking superb in Evergreen's full colours, this is a Douglas-built B-17 with an interesting history. Flew as a CB-17G then VB-17G and became N809Z, used by the CIA with Skyhook Surface to Air Recovery System gear fitted in the nose for Project Coldfeet. This involved the dropping and air retrieval of agents with Soviet ant-submarine warfare intelligence from a polar ice station abandoned by the Russians in 5.63. After fire bomber service, restored to original military identity as per my 1988 photo