The History of Nine-O-Nine

The Original B-17 “909”

The bomber involved in Tuesday’s fatal crash in Connecticut never made it to war, but served as a search and rescue plane and water bomber.

• The original Nine-O-Nine was a decorated veteran of the air war over Europe.
• The second plane served as a water bomber and nuclear test target.
• The restored “Nine-O-Nine” crashed in 1987 and was subject to an extensive rebuilding.

By Kyle Mizokami

The original Nine-O-Nine,  a Boeing B-17G “Flying Fortress” bomber was one of the nearly 13,000 built over the course of World War II, serving in both the Pacific and European theaters. Each four-engine bomber had a crew of ten, a top speed of 287 miles an hour, and could carry a payload of 4,500 bombs on a long distance bombing mission.

The B-17G “909” was assigned to the 323rd Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group. Nine-O-Nine was part of the legendary Eighth Air Force, or “Mighty Eighth,” a bomber force that struck strategic targets across Germany and occupied Europe. The aircraft’s name came from the last three numbers of its serial number, and the nose art depicted a Revolutionary War soldier holding a telescope and riding a bomb.

A restored B-17, built too late to serve in World War II, was later restored to resemble the original Nine O Nine. The aircraft had a long postwar career, including a stint as a target in nuclear tests, before a lengthy rebuilding process restored her to flying condition.

This plane, serial number #44-83575, never saw combat but was converted to a search and rescue aircraft in 1951 and served in Puerto Rico. The aircraft later served as part of the Military Air Transport Service, the precursor to the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command.

Retired from U.S. military service, the aircraft was renamed “Miss Yucca” and parked on a nuclear test range in Nevada. There she was subjected to three different nuclear explosions to test the effects of nuclear weapons on aircraft. After a 13-year “cooling down period” to allow radiation to subside, the bomber was sold as scrap to the Aircraft Specialties Company, which began a lengthy restoration. The bomber then served twenty years as a forest fire water bomber, dropping water and borate on forest fires.

In 1986 the bomber was sold to the Collings Foundation, which restored the plane to wartime condition as Nine-O-Nine. In 1987 the bomber was involved in a serious crash, which the Foundation described as follows:

In August 1987, while performing at an airshow in western Pennsylvania, “Nine-O-Nine” was caught by a severe crosswind moments after touchdown. The right wing lifted in the air, finally coming down too far down the runway. Despite the efforts of her crew, she rolled off the end of the runway, crashed through a chain link fence, sheared off a power pole and roared down a 100-foot ravine to a thundering stop. The landing gear sheared off, the chin turret was smashed and pushed into the nose; the Plexiglas nose was shattered; bomb bay doors, fuselage, fuselage, ball turret, wing and nacelles all took a tremendous beating. Engines and propellers were also torn form their mounts. Fortunately, there were no fatalities to the crew or riders although there were injuries.

Following the crash Nine-O-Nine was restored for a third time, stopping at over 1,200 locations before the October 2, 2019 accident, where tragically seven people lost their lives. A full investigation is still ongoing to determine what caused the crash.
Ref. Popular Mechanics

Perry Gaskill was thoughtful enough to provide the NTSB findings of the incident.

“According to the NTSB report, the B-17G had taken off from Bradley
International Airport, Windsor Locks, Connecticut, with three crew and ten
passengers. Shortly after takeoff, a pilot had reported a problem with one
engine and said he was returning to land. It bomber wasn’t able to make it,
instead clipping a runway light and then hitting a deicer tank on a taxiway
before catching fire. Seven of the 13 aboard did not survive.

Although the aircraft was badly damaged, NTSB investigators were able to
pull together evidence which points to some likely causes of the crash.

The last verbal report by the pilot said the plane was having a “rough mag”
(magneto) problem with the starboard outboard engine (Number 4). This might
have caused faulty ignition and the engine to run rough. After the crash,
the prop pitch on Number 4 was also found to be “feathered” which meant it
was likely shut down.

Also reported was that the starboard inboard (Number 3) engine prop pitch
indicated it was in the process of being feathered at the time of the
accident. This would seem to indicate that both power plants on one side of
the aircraft were having a problem during the critical seconds when the
plane was turning from the base leg to the final approach portion of the
landing pattern.

What was also curious was that the NTSB found that the “left and right wing
flap jackscrews corresponded to a flaps retracted setting.” This apparently
would have meant the aircraft’s stall speed was likely higher than it would
be in a normal landing. Cables and controls to the flaps were found to be
intact.

Mostly ruled out as a possible cause of the crash was a problem with the
fuel. NTSB tests found no contamination in what was left of Nine O
Nine’s fuel tanks, and said that aircraft fueled with the same 100LL
AvGas both before and after the crash had not had any issues.

If anything, the crash of Nine O Nine seems to point to the inherent risk,
however minor, of how relatively minor events can spool in a way to make
things get very bad, very quickly. In the words of Ernest K. Gann, sometimes
fate is the hunter.”

The entire NTSB report may be found here: NTSB.gov

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