B-17E “Desert Rat” Restoration

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The Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Warbird YouTube series recently featured an episode highlighting the painstaking restoration of the rare early-model Boeing B-17E, a Flying Fortress nicknamed “Desert Rat” with the serial number 41-2595. This video offered aviation enthusiasts and historians a rare, up-close look at the monumental work unfolding in Marengo, Illinois. Originally delivered in April 1942, this B-17E was converted post-war into the experimental XC-108A transport—used for cargo flights over the Himalayas before eventually...

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