From hangar to wildfire: the B-17 as a civilian air tanker

Sold off as military surplus, several B-17s found a second civilian life as water bombers and aerial firefighting tankers in the United States through the 1960s to 1980s — the airframe now known as "Boeing Bee" flew in that role from 1968 to 1985 — before many of those same aircraft were restored for flight or museum display.