page_title: Aluminum Overcast
section_title: EAA
hierarchical_section_title: Aluminum Overcast / History / EAA
caption_attribution_description: English: B-17G Aluminium Overcast, 2007 Wings' B-17 Fly-In at Centennial Airport, CO,hosted by Wings Over the Rockies Museum, Denver, CO
context_page_description: Aluminum Overcast, B-17G-105-VE, s/n 44-85740, civil registration N5017N, is one of only nine presently airworthy Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 48 complete surviving airframes in existence. It never saw combat, and it escaped the fate of many aircraft that were scrapped after World War II. It is owned by the Experimental Aircraft Association, and, as of 2019, it is still touring the United States and Canada offering flight experiences.
  Through its association as the "flagship" of the EAA, Aluminum Overcast has become one of the most recognizable examples of the B-17, due to its extensive touring schedule with over one million flight miles accumulated. The overhaul and restoration of the airframe took more than 10 years and thousands of hours by staff and volunteers at EAA Oshkosh, Wisconsin, headquarters. Aluminum Overcast carries the colors of the 398th Bomb Group of World War II, which flew hundreds of missions over Nazi-held territory during the war. Aluminum Overcast commemorates B-17G AAF Serial No. 42-102516, shot down over France in 1944.
context_section_description: On 21 May 1979, the group donated the aircraft to the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Aviation Foundation, under the auspices of the B-17 Historical Society. Aluminum Overcast was put on display until 1983, before it began a 10-year restoration. The extensive work involved the rebuilding of all the interior stations, including the radio compartment, waist gunners' stations, tail turret and navigator's station, and replacing the cabin flooring, as well as locating original equipment such as the Norden bombsight. Where authentic components were not available, realistic replicas, such as the new-manufacture top turret, were substituted. While the aircraft is about 95 percent authentic, recreating the configuration in 1945 when it rolled off the assembly line, concessions to technological improvements such as a modern radio and avionics suite are incorporated to meet the current airworthiness requirements.
  Sent to the EAA's Kermit Weeks Flight Research Center in Florida in 1993, the aircraft was prepared for its first tour, which began in 1994. At present, of the 48 surviving B-17s, there are only 11 such B-17s still flying, with Aluminum Overcast, the high-time leader, already logging 6,000 flight hours by 1969. When Aluminum Overcast is on tours, flying extensively throughout the United States and Canada, it serves as the EAA's showcase aircraft. During a typical 60-city tour, flights are interspersed with opportunities for visitors to actually walk through the aircraft. The connection to the wartime B-17 is maintained through the involvement of many EAA volunteers, some of whom have a personal connection to the period. One of the initial flight crew was Col Harold "Hal" Weekley (ret'd), who had flown the original namesake that was shot down over France. Half-hour flights are also available at all tour stops, with proceeds from the tour helping to keep Aluminum Overcast flying and assisting in the continuing restoration, maintenance and preservation efforts of EAA.
  As fitted out, Aluminum Overcast has one Studebaker 1820 and three Curtiss-Wright 1820-97 engines. Its paint scheme was redone in 1988 and now features a flat aluminum metallic flake paint. Aluminum Overcast is based at EAA's Kermit Weeks Hangar in Wittman Regional Airport (OSH), Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The aircraft's annual multi-city tour is scheduled for spring through fall, with maintenance scheduled for the winter months.
caption: Aluminum Overcast for 
   Denver and the Front Range 
   Denventure 2007 tour stop 
   at Centennial Airport, CO, 2007.
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