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PB-1G Flying Fortress Elizabeth City Model, Mahogany, 1/69th Scale

$299.00

Available on backorder

Description

PB-1G Flying Fortress Elizabeth City Model

Fly from Coast Guard Station Elizabeth City again in this handcrafted PB-1G Flying Fortress model. Each piece is carved from wood and handpainted to provide a piece you’ll love. 18 inches.

During the last year of World War II and shortly thereafter, the US Navy acquired 48 former USAAF B-17s for ASW patrol work. Initially these aircraft operated under their original USAAF designations but at the end of July they were given a Navy designation of PB-1W. The B stood for Boeing and the W stood for anti-submarine warfare. This was actually a misnomer as the B-17s in question were built either by Douglas or Lockheed but Boeing had been the primary designer.

Eighteen B-17Gs were set aside by the USAAF for transfer via the US Navy to the Coast Guard to be used as search and rescue aircraft. Rework began to convert the aircraft in question for search and rescue duties. On 1 January 1946, the Coast Guard was returned to the Treasury Department, but nevertheless, the Navy continued to rework the B-17s and transferred the first of 18 to the Coast Guard in July of 1946. These aircraft were Lockheed-Vega and carried Navy serial numbers. An additional PB-1G was obtained directly from the USAAF in 1947 and it served with a truncated AAF serial number. Two additional aircraft PB-1R configured for VIP operation and one aircraft configured for photo mapping were also provided.

The PB-1Gs were stationed throughout the hemisphere and were used primarily for search and rescue purposes. They were also used for Ice Patrol. The photo aircraft carried a nine-lens, 1.5 million dollar, aerial camera for mapping purposes. Interestingly, the Norden bombsight, used by the B-17s in the bombing campaign against Nazi Germany was retained and was used to pinpoint targets for the camera.

The PB-1Gs utilized for search and rescue initially carried the droppable life boat. The PB-1G carried no armament and the B-17 chin turret was replaced by a search radar. The USAAF had made several successful lifeboat drops during the war but no record of an actual Coast Guard drop could be located. The Coast Guard PB-1Gs served well over a period of years – the last was not withdrawn from service until October 14, 1959. https://cgaviationhistory.org/aircraft_/boeing-pb-1g/

United States Coast Guard Air Station is co-located at Elizabeth City Regional Airport in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, along the Pasquotank River near the opening of the Albemarle Sound. It is the largest [1] and busiest Coast Guard air station in the U.S., operating missions as far away as Greenland, the Azores and the Caribbean.[2]

Coast Guard Air Station (CGAS) Elizabeth City is located on the campus of the Coast Guard’s Base Elizabeth City. and is one of several commands located on the Coast Guard’s premier Base. In addition, the Base Elizabeth City complex houses the Aviation Technical Training Center (ATTC) (a headquarters level command which trains enlisted Coast Guardsmen in aviation ratings in “A” Schools and advanced “C” Schools), the Aviation Logistics Center (ALC) and Station.

The missions include search and rescue (SAR), Maritime Law enforcement, International Ice Patrol, aids to navigation support (such as operating lighthouses), and marine environmental protection (such as responding to oil spills).[2]

Currently, CGAS maintains and operates five HC-130J Hercules aircraft and four MH-60T Jayhawk helicopters.

CGAS Elizabeth City was commissioned on August 15, 1940, with four officers, 52 enlisted men and ten aircraft including three Hall PH-2 seaplanes, four Fairchild J2K landplanes, and three Grumman J2F Duck amphibious aircraft. Located sixty miles north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, north of Albemarle Sound and along the East Coast’s northern most ice-free river, the old Holowell Plantation near Elizabeth City, North Carolina, was selected by the United States Coast Guard in 1938 for its potential strategic value as a seaplane base.

During World War II, the air station was under United States Navy control conducting Search and Rescue (SAR), Anti-submarine warfare, and training missions in tandem with Naval Air Station Weeksville, a lighter-than-air airship facility approximately two miles to the southeast that was in operation from 1941 to 1957.

Since then, the AIRSTA Elizabeth City’s missions and assigned aircraft have shifted and grown with changing national priorities and technologies. In 1966 the Air Station expanded after absorbing the coast guard air stations at Kindley AFB, Bermuda and NAS Argentia, Newfoundland.[3]

Recently the Support Center, home of Air Station Elizabeth City was the setting (and used as a double for Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, Alaska) in the Kevin Costner film, The Guardian. Support Center personnel were instrumental in providing the infrastructure and support necessary to the filming of the motion picture. Wiki

Additional information

Weight 4 lbs
Dimensions 12 × 18 in

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