007 Relations

Allieds/friends vehicle

Vehicle Bond is passenger in

Notes

• Appearance
• Facts
• After Filming
• Trivia

Appearance

The Boeing B-17 'Flying Fortress' used is modified for SAR (Search and Rescue) operations and it rescues Bond and Domino from their life raft in the end sequence of 'Thunderball'.

Facts

J.S. Brady reports:
'The Boeing B-17 used in the film was built under license from Boeing by Douglas Aircraft in California. It left for the Pacific a month before Japan's surrender in 1945. Intermountain Aviation used the B-17 for firefighting and to develop the Fulton Skyhook and it was this plane which demonstrated the device in 'Thunderball'.
The bomber was acquired by Evergreen Aviation in 1975, and restored to original condition between 1987 and 1990. Today, fully restored though sporting the markings of a Bomb Group it never belonged to, it is on display in the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, USA. It flies regularly, and is available for hire.'

After filming

In 2014 the Collings Foundation acquired the B-17 from the Evergreen Aviation Museum. It is currently (2024) under restoration. See the planes interesting history at the Collings Foundation website.

Trivia

The Fulton surface-to-air recovery system was developed by inventor Robert Edison Fulton Jr. for the CIA in the early 1950s.

Intermountain Aviation was a CIA airline front company performing covert operations in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War era.

Technical Data

• Manufactor: Douglas (USA)
• Type: Boeing B-17G-95-DL Flying Fortress
• Year: 1945
• Serial number: 32426
  Dimensions
• Length 74 ft 4 in (22,66 m)
• Wingspan: 103 ft 9 in (31,62 m)
• Height: 19 ft 1 in (5,82 m)
  Weights
• Empty: 36.135 lb (16.391 kg)
• Max T/O: 65.500 lb (29.710 kg)
  Performance
• Powerplant: 4 Wirth R-1820-96 Cyclone engines,
  Output 4800 hp (3580 kW)
• Max Speed: 287 mph (462 kmh)
• Range: 2.000 miles (3.219 km)
• Crew: 10
• ID: N809Z (ex-USAF 44-83785)

Gadgets

• Fulton Skyhook

Sources

Jane's Historic Military Aircraft recognition guide, Tony Holmes, HarperCollinsPublishers 1998, page 118.