B-17F 42-3490 - The career of a notable aircraft.
B-17F 42-3490 started out its life as a H2X radar pathfinder plane. It was a late Douglas B-17F fitted with a chin turret. It flew missions with the 482nd bombardment group Pathfinder, RAF Alconbury 812th Squadron from October 1943 till March 1944 when it was transferred to the 385th bombardment group, see 385th Strategic Aerospace Wing. After a month of missions with the 385th bomb group on June 21, 1944 it was flown to Sweden by Matthew Totter and crew. Three engines had been knocked out by flack. Totter and crew managed to make it to Bulltofta airfield near Malmö, Sweden. The crew was Interned till November 1944. 42-3490 was then repaired and taken to Stockholm and traded to the Swedish government along with eight other B-17's for the release of American airmen interned in Sweden. Saab then converted the aircraft to an airliner (SE-BAN) which was in service till 1948. At some point later it was scrapped. Parts of 42-3490 are stored at the Arlanda Flight Museum in Stockholm.
|
