The Museum’s B-17, built by Douglas Aircraft and delivered May 7, 1945, arrived too late for World War II, and went into storage in Texas. In March 1950, it was converted into a Drone Director Aircraft (DB-17G) to serve as airborne control of radio-operated B-17 target aircraft (QB-17s). It performed these duties during Operation Greenhouse, the 1951 nuclear bomb tests on Enewetak Atoll (Marshall Islands), and later at stateside missile ranges. On August 6, 1959, it controlled a QB-17 in the last operational mission of a B-17 for the U.S. Air Force. Stored at Davis-Monthan AFB, it was acquired by the Museum and has appeared in the movies The Thousand Plane Raid, Fort Apache, and Black Sheep Squadron and the ABC television series, Twelve O’Clock High as 'Piccadilly Lilly'. It is under restoration to fly.
| Status: Restoring to Flight |
| Manufacturer: Douglas Aircraft Company |
| Year: 1945 |
| Model: B-17G-90-DL Flying Fortress |
| Registration Number: N3713G |
| Serial Number: 44-83684 |
| Crew: 10 |
| Max T/O Weight: 65,500 lb. |
| Span: 103 ft. 9 in. |
| Length: 74 ft. 4 in. |
| Height: 19 ft. 1 in. |
| Maximum Speed: 302 mph |
| Cruise Speed: 160 mph |
| Rate of Climb: 720 ft/min |
| Power Plant: Four, 1200 hp Wright Cyclone R-1820-97 turbocharged 9-cylinder radial engines |
| Range: 2000 miles |
| Service Ceiling: 36,500 ft. |
| Armament: 13, 0.50-cal machine guns and 6,000 lbs. of bombs |
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