Aviation and space timeline
The milestones of aerospace history, from the pioneers to today.
- 1944
Operation Aphrodite: B-17s converted into flying bombs
Other — At least 25 war-weary B-17s were fitted with radio control and 20,000 lb of Torpex high explosive and designated BQ-7 "Aphrodite missiles", intended to strike bombing-resistant German bunkers such as U-boat pens and V-1 launch sites. A "mothership" aircraft radio-guided the unmanned drone to its target after the skeleton crew that got it airborne had bailed out.
- 1945
The PB-1W brings airborne early warning radar to the US Navy
Other — After the war, the Naval Aircraft Modification Unit (NAMU) at Johnsville, Pennsylvania, converted a number of B-17s into PB-1Ws, sealing the bomb-bay doors and fitting an under-fuselage search radome along with extra drop tanks. Painted in the standard dark-blue scheme adopted in late 1944, the PB-1Ws served the US Navy as an airborne early warning platform until 1955, when they began to be replaced by the Lockheed WV-2.
- 1968
From hangar to wildfire: the B-17 as a civilian air tanker
Other — 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.