In 1947, Art Lacey, a gas station owner in Milwaukie, Oregon, discovered that decommissioned B-17 bombers, the iconic four-engine “Flying Fortresses” used by the U.S. Air Force in World War II, were for sale—cheap, approx. $15,000 – at Altus Army Airfield in Oklahoma.
About 5,000 of the more than 12,000 B-17s built were lost during the war, and thousands of these aircraft were scrapped or sold after the war.
“Altus had been a training base during the war, but was closed in April 1945 to become a storage facility for surplus military aircraft,” explains Matthew Burchette, senior curator at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. “There were almost 2,500 aircraft at Altus, and many of the B-17s were virtually brand new.”
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Although an experienced pilot, Lacey had never flown a B-17, or any aircraft with more than one engine. But he had to put some kind of roof, or canopy, over his gas pumps. And he figured one of those surplus B-17s would not only serve that purpose, but also draw customers to his gas station along Route 99E near Portland.
A friend who had heard Lacey talk about the fanciful idea bet him five dollars that it wouldn’t happen. And, partly to win that bet, the story goes, Lacey borrowed $15,000 and headed to Oklahoma.
He bought a B-17 for about $13,000, but it turned out to have defective landing gear – a detail Lacey discovered while trying to land during his test flight. He eventually crashed his newly purchased plane into another B-17 that was up for adoption. An understanding base commander wrote off those two planes for “wind damage” and sold Lacey another B-17, in better condition and with very low mileage, for just $1,500.
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Friends with experience flying B-17s flew to Oklahoma to help Lacey get that plane to Oregon. But once they landed, the challenge was getting the plane from Troutdale Airport, near Portland, about 20 miles away to Milwaukie. Lacey planned to move the dismantled plane across the highway with four flatbed trucks, but was denied a permit. Undeterred, he continued anyway, moving the trucks in the dark of night with hired motorcycle escorts to lend (unofficial) credibility and ultimately paying only a $10 fine.
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The B-17, dubbed “Lacey Lady,” was reassembled to serve, as Lacey envisioned it, as the distinctive canopy for his gas station. And until the late 1950s, motorists could hop on a plane and look around while their car was being filled and serviced. Then they could eat at Lacey’s Bomber Restaurant.
Even after liability concerns forced Lacey to stop touring the B-17, the Milwaukie Gas Station Bomber remained a popular roadside attraction. But over time, brutal Northwest weather, a tough economy and other problems began to take their toll on the aircraft and the company.
The gas station was closed in 1991. And in 1996, four years before he died at age 87, Art Lacey was on hand for the removal of the rotting nose section of the plane — and for what his grandson, Jayson Scott, envisioned as the beginning. of the restoration of Lacey Lady as an airworthy B-17.
“He told me he didn’t have the energy to help with the entire restoration project,” Scott told TPG, “but he knew and approved of what I had in mind.”
It took a while, but in 2014 the nonprofit B-17 Alliance managed to remove the remainder of Lacey’s B-17 from its pedestal in Milwaukie and now houses the aircraft’s parts in Hangar “C” at the historic McNary Field/Salem Municipal Airport in Oregon. .
The bustling restoration facility on the edge of the airport also serves as a museum. There, visitors can learn about the history of World War II, B-17s and Lacey Lady. And it is the place where they can watch the group’s more than 120 volunteers lovingly bring parts of the iconic aircraft back to life.
In addition to its history as an iconic roadside attraction, this B-17 is significant because it has so few operating hours on its airframe and was built in California by Lockheed-Vega, a Boeing subcontractor that built only 2,250 G-model B- 17’s produced. war, notes the Museum of Flight’s Burchette.
The Federal Aviation Administration considers 18 B-17s as airworthy. But only three are currently flying because of an airworthiness directive that went into effect in May, Burchette said. “As for aircraft that are no longer airworthy but are simply on display, there are 39 B-17s spread across the US, England, France and, oddly enough, Brazil,” he added. And some of them are made with parts pieced together from multiple B-17 Flying Fortresses.
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New nose art for the Lacey Lady. HARRIET BASKAS/THE POINTS GUY
Because flying warbirds are “expensive and risky,” Burchette says he would like to see the Lacey Lady restored so it can “get the respect it deserves on the ground,” but perhaps permanently enshrined as the centerpiece of a larger museum .
But Jayson Scott and the B-17 Alliance are determined to get the Lacey Lady flying.
The group estimates that it will cost more than $6 million, in addition to thousands of hours of volunteer work, to hopefully get the plane airworthy by 2037.
“Sometimes we start working on something and then we hit a roadblock, equipment-wise, FAA-wise or mechanically-wise, so it’s hard to put a percentage on how far along we are with the restoration,” Scott said, “but There is no turning around now.”