Shoo Shoo Baby: B17G At Wright Patterson Air Force Base

It's great to be back and what a time I've had. I traveled back to my hometown in Ohio for a visit with my mom. I visited the Wright Patterson Air Force Base where I spent two days snapping photos and capturing video footage for Ancient Digger. Last month, I featured an article about Planes used during World War I, and let me tell you, to see those planes up close, and then to see planes I'd never knew existed during that time, was amazing.

So before I start sharing, I wanted to start off the Wright Patterson Air Force Base Series with the Shoo Shoo Baby B-17G. For those of you plane and aircraft enthusiasts, you already know the B17G Flying Fortress was one of the most famous airplanes ever built. The B17G prototype first flew on June 28, 1935, yet few of the B-17 flying fortresses were flying prior to the United States’ entrance into World War II.

In 1944, the B17G was assigned to the 91st Bomb Group, The Ragged Irregulars, at Bassingbourn, England. The crew named the plane after the popular song “Shoo Shoo Baby”.  The Shoo Shoo Baby B17G flew 24 combat missions during World War II, with its first mission on March 24, 1944 in Frankfurt, Germany. The last mission was in Posen, Poland on March 29, 1944, however a faulty engine forced a landing in Sweden. In 1968, the aircraft was found abandoned in France and the French government presented the plane to the United States Airforce.

In the late 70’s, the 512th Antique Restoration Group restored the B-17G to its former glory. The aircraft was then shipped to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio in October 1988.

The aircraft flew in every zone yet its most remembered flight was the daylight bombing of German industrial targets.  By 1945, close to 13,000 of these B17 fortresses had been produced.

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Planes used during World War I

Although Kitty Hawk North Carolina would become home to the first manned flight of human kind, the Germans would take these physical parameters into a whole new realm. As the skies offered another battlefield in which to kill and mame, countries that did not embrace this new arena were quickly left behind. During the first world war, the Germans would gain an early edge over most of the Allies as concerned with WWI aircraft. Planes used during World War I became designed around the many German models, which would help the Allies win many later battles of the global war. There are many WWI planes that were important during the war although some played far greater roles than others.

Read more: Planes used during World War I