The Swoose

The Swoose is a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress D-BO, USAAF 40-3097, that saw extensive use in the Southwest Pacific theatre of World War II, and survived to become the oldest B-17 still intact. It is as of 2008 being restored at the National Museum of the United States Air Force [Levingston, Chelsey, "Oldest B-17 to be restored at Air Force Museum", Dayton Daily News, 15 July 2008, [http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/07/15/ddn071508museumweb.html Article on the web] ] and is the only shark-fin Fortress known to exist.

Early history

The 38th of 42 B-17Ds built by Boeing, 40-3097 was accepted by the Army Air Corps on 25 April 1941 in Seattle, Washington. It was ferried to Hickam Field, Hawaii, 13-14 May 1941, by the 19th Bomb Group as part of a group of 21 B-17C and Ds slated to equip the 11th Bomb Group. In response to the perceived hostile activities of the Japanese military, in September 1941, the War Department sent nine B-17s based in Hawaii to Clark Field, the Philippines, assigned to the 14th Bomb Squadron, 11th Bomb Group aircraft number 21, arriving at Del Monte, the only field besides Clark that could handle the Fortresses, on 12 September.

The Japanese surprise attacks of 8 December 1941 on military installations on Clark Field and the Philippine Islands, a full eight hours after the Pearl Harbor raid, caught much of the United States military on the ground and only 17 of the 35 Flying Fortresses escaped destruction. One of the survivors, 40-3097, named "Ole Betsy", was pressed into bombing duty for the next two months until newer B-17Es began to reach the Pacific in January 1942. Spare parts were scarce and ground crews patched up battle damage with parts salvaged from other destroyed aircraft. The last combat mission flown by 40-3097 was a raid on the east coast of Borneo on 11 January 1942, piloted by the commander of the 19th Bomb Group, Major Cecil Combs.

Half Swan, Half Goose

In late January 1942, 40-3097 was flown to a Royal Australian Air Force Base at Laverton, near Melbourne, Australia, where it underwent depot repairs. At this time the tail of 40-3091 was grafted onto 40-3097, leading 19th Bomb Group pilot Captain Weldon Smith to dub the aircraft "The Swoose" after the popular song "Alexander the Swoose" from a ditty by bandleader Kay Kyser about a bird that was half swan, half goose. A depiction of the mongrel bird was soon painted on the starboard fuselage just aft of the main entrance door with the hopeful statement "It Flys." The aircraft never returned to first line duty, apparently flying navigation escort missions for fighters and anti-submarine patrols, but was withdrawn from duty in March 1942 as it was in very poor condition by this time.

General's transport

While parked at Laverton, it was still deemed the best thing available at the airfield, and was selected by Captain Frank Kurtz to serve as the personal transport for General George Brett, then the Deputy Commander of Allied Forces in Australia, and ranking American commander. It carried various military brass for the next four months, including future president, Lyndon Baines Johnson, then a congressman and active Navy Lt. Commander. When General Brett was reassigned to the Caribbean Defense Command following friction between him and General Douglas MacArthur, the Swoose ferried him to Washington, D.C. in August 1942, setting a number of speed records in the process. Used for a War Bond tour, 40-3097 continued to serve as General Brett's personal transport through 1944.

Upgrade

A routine inspection in February 1944 at Albrook Field in the Panama Canal Zone uncovered cracked wing spars and other corrosion. While this would normally result in scrapping, Brett's pilot at the time, Captain Jack Crane, located a pair of B-17B wing panels in the local depot and the aircraft was rebuilt with much of the equipment brought up to B-17E standard. The aircraft was redesignated an RB-17D in late 1944 (obsolete) but continued to be assigned to General Brett until December 1945, when the general himself flew the last operational flight from Los Angeles to Kirtland Field, Albuquerque, New Mexico, for disposal.

Stillborne War Memorial

Despite its distinguished combat record, the Swoose was caught in the rush to disarm and ended up at the extensive War Assets Administration facility at Kingman, Arizona, slated to be smelted down for its aluminium. At this point, Colonel Frank Kurtz convinced the City of Los Angeles to retrieve the bomber for use as a war memorial in March 1946, with the bomber arriving at Los Angeles Municipal Airport on 6 April 1946. However, after three years, the city still had not found an appropriate place to display the historic airframe and in January 1949 it was donated by the city fathers to the National Air Museum in Washington, D.C. Refurbished at March Air Force Base, Riverside, California for its delivery flight, it was flown by Kurtz with National Air Museum curator Paul Garber aboard to a storage facility at Park Ridge, Illinois on 26 March 1949. In January 1950 it was flown to Pyote, Texas for additional storage, and then in December 1953 it was airborne one last time to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, arriving there on 5 December on three engines. It is unlikely that an air delivery of such an artifact would be attempted now.

Deterioration and Conservation

The Swoose was stored out of doors at Andrews until April 1961 during which time it suffered at the hands of both the weather and vandals who picked the airframe clean of souvenirs. It was finally dismantled and moved several miles overland to the National Air and Space Museum's Silver Hill facility where it suffered additional weather damage while stored outside. Amidst mounting criticism about the treatment of historic artifacts like the Swoose and the B-29 "Enola Gay," the Smithsonian finally moved 40-3097 indoors in a dismantled state in the mid-1970s.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday, 3 November, 2007, that the Air and Space Museum's collections committee, an advisory group on the acquisition and transfer of aircraft, vote 5-4 on 28 September, 2007 for deaccessioning The Swoose, and transfer it to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The panel forwarded its decision to Gen. John R. "Jack" Dailey, the museum director, and Donald S. Lopez Sr., the deputy director, who subsequently decided to stand by the committee's recommendation. "There were good arguments on both sides," said Dailey, who had requested a collections review to alleviate a storage crunch at the Silver Hill, Maryland facility where The Swoose has been stored since 1961. The Swoose has never been in a plan to be displayed, Dailey said. The decision now must be approved by the Smithsonian's National Collections Program office. The Air Force Museum is not commenting on the exchange until the internal process at the Smithsonian has been completed.

In July of 2008 the Swoose was permanently transferred to the Air Force Museum for restoration & display.

Trivia

* Actress Swoosie Kurtz (Colonel Kurtz's daughter) was named after The Swoose.
* In the W.E.B. Griffin "The Corps" series of novels, one of the main characters reports having flown aboard The Swoose.

The Swoose, the oldest, intact, surviving B-17 Flying Fortress and the only "D" model still in existence, was transferred from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force on 15 Jul 08.

We are pleased that "The Swoose" [http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123106540] is coming to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force," said senior curator Terry Aitken. "The transfer between the two federal institutions is a demonstration of good stewardship of our national historic collection. Our museum's restoration staff will use their experience and expertise being gained from the restoration of the famous Memphis Belle to accurately restore The Swoose, which is so important to our history."

At this time, the museum staff has not finalized restoration plans. The Swoose will undergo an extensive and detailed technical inspection. Based on the findings, the museum will determine how to best restore and display the historic aircraft. The extensive restoration is expected to take a number of years.

References

* Thompson, Scott A. "Final Cut - The Post-War B-17 Flying Fortress: The Survivors" (Revised edition). Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, 2000. ISBN 1-57510-077-0.