ram957 Posted September 8, 2018 Share #1 Posted September 8, 2018 I recently acquired a Scrapbook from a WWII Aviation Cadet. Its full of items from his induction in 1943 to late 1944. It has a lot of greeting cards , family photos and items from Amarillo AAF and Stockton AAF. On one page was a plain white, actually yellow now, envelope with the notation A souvenir from the B-17 Mary Ann. In the envelope was this Data Plate from B-17B 38-584...This particular ship was in the movie Air Force as Mary Ann....needles to say Im ecstatic!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Keith Posted September 8, 2018 Share #2 Posted September 8, 2018 SCORE! Very cool find! Thanks for posting it. BKW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobgee Posted September 9, 2018 Share #3 Posted September 9, 2018 Great find! Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garandomatic Posted September 9, 2018 Share #4 Posted September 9, 2018 Holy cow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M24 Chaffee Posted September 9, 2018 Share #5 Posted September 9, 2018 Very cool to add that to any collection! Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ram957 Posted September 9, 2018 Author Share #6 Posted September 9, 2018 Here she is in the movie... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray175INF Posted September 13, 2018 Share #7 Posted September 13, 2018 It was cool to begin with but having a picture of her is the cherry on top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5thwingmarty Posted September 13, 2018 Share #8 Posted September 13, 2018 If this is a data plate from the movie's Mary Ann, this solves a bit of a mystery. If I recall correctly, there had been a discussion on the old ArmyAirForces website about the identity of the Mary Ann. The actual serial number of the plane is not shown in the movie or any of the stills. I don't even think there was even a consensus as to what planes were actually used in the movie, and there was some talk that although the planes may have been B-17B's, some of the -B models had been upgraded with features that made them look like -C models. If the info on Joe Baugher's website is correct, 38-584 was written off in October of 1943 and went to "Class 26" at Hobbs AAF after that. I don't know what "Class 26" was, but I do know there was an aviation mechanics school at Hobbs along with a Specialized 4-Engine Pilot School that had B-17s there. It would make sense to use an old plane for the mechanics to practice maintenance tasks on. A friend of mine who was a B-17 Flight Engineer told me these data plates were attached to the bulkheads on each section of the fuselage that was built as a sub-assembly. I'm not sure how many sub-assemblies there were for B-17B fuselages but I would guess at least 4 or 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ram957 Posted September 13, 2018 Author Share #9 Posted September 13, 2018 5thwingmatry....Class 26 means it's a static aircraft ..... mostly used for instructional purposes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5thwingmarty Posted September 14, 2018 Share #10 Posted September 14, 2018 Thank you for adding that bit of info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ram957 Posted September 20, 2018 Author Share #11 Posted September 20, 2018 Found a few more pictures.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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