Brrr, bomb and gasoline don't belong in the same sentence.
Ever have one of those friends that was always the wild and crazy one, would bet on anything, take any dare, guaranteed entertainment for anybody in his vicinity? Art Lacey was one of those people. In 1947 he figured he could boost business at his Milwaukie, Oregon gas station by perching a B-17 on top. Of course he was right, but easier said than done.
With $15,000 he borrowed from a friend, he went to OK and bought a B-17 from the government for $13,000. Since he had only flown single engines, he got a manual and dressmaker’s dummy to fake having a copilot, and took off. He crashed on landing, went back and talked the Air force into selling him a better plane for $1500, had two friends come down from OR, to dry OK, with a case of whiskey for bribing, and flew back to OR, stopping to buy gas with a bad check in CA. It got pretty weird back home, but he got his way, and ran his 48 pump station/restaurant until 1990.
The plane was taken down from it’s 64 year perch in 2014.
Cut up for scrap? Hell no, a bunch of old vets formed a foundation to make that sumbitch fly again. They figure they can do it for $4million dollars. This plane had been stripped of everything inside that could be removed, for souvenirs or other B-17 projects.
Lacey's story, as told by his daughter, is at the
foundation website. After the first couple paragraphs they send you to another page on their site, like entering through the gift shop, but the story is well worth reading. I suspect his wife qualifies for canonization.